well, i am in the market for my first ls1 fbody. i have gone though 2 lt1 cars and really cant complain, but ready to not deal with opti sparks and water pumps.

i tried searching but couldnt really find what i was looking for. i found a 74k mile z28. since 98 was the first run, are there any common problems to look for or a reason to look for a 99 instead? the guy is asking 6500 obo and it seems like its pretty clean in the photos.

 

I've heard there were a few issues with the hatch pull down motor not working properly. I owned a 98 and put 56,000 miles on it before I wrecked it. I drove that car hard!!! And I never had a single problem with it other than my posi going out. But thats to be expected with the way I drove her. LOL!

 

i didnt even know they had those. i know third gens did

 

The LS1 is a very stout motor. No real issues with it. You'll still have to put up with the dreaded crappy power window motors though.

 

I believe something was different about the intakes from 98' to 99'...I cannot recall exactly what it was though.

 

had a 95 lt1 now a 98 ls1. ls1 is the way to go. 14.20 in lt1 13.50 in ls1 both stock . both autos . same track.

 

what you are talking about is the ls2 intake. i think they started that in 00

 

LS6 intake bacame standard on all LS cars in `01
If you swap an LS6 intake onto `98-00 car you will see a power gain.
An LS1 is an LS1 there are minor differences between the years but in general all LS1's make approx 345-350 HP at the crank.
`98 supposedly have a slightly more resrtictive head due to a difference in how they are cast. But the power difference would be negligeable.
I've owned my `98 since new it serves as my DD/Weekend Street Racer and has been trouble free for 120K miles

 

ls6 intake. my mistake. ya i figure there couldnt be that much difference. i just wanted to know if there were any common problems in 98 with anything at all. not just the motor.

 

I started with my 95 Z28 in my sig. Later I purchased a 94 Formula. I ended up selling the 94, and got my 98 Formula thats now in my sig.

There were a few things different between the 98's and the 99+ cars. The heads were slightly more restrictive, however they made up the power because they also came with a slightly more agressive cam. They also came with a different PCM and MAP bar sensor than the 99+ cars came with. Still leaps and bounds easier to tune than an LT1 car, but not as easy as the 99+ cars. If you plan on getting a 6 speed car, know that the master and slave cylinders in the 98's were known to have issues that the 99+ cars didn't (you can just purchase a 99+ slave and master though as I did). Now, as far as the difference between the 98-00 and the 01-02 cars went, then you have things like the 01+ cars had the LS6 intakes that were already brought up, as well as slightly bigger injectors. Other than that, to my knowledge there really wasn't much of a difference, other than colors and options available.

Overall, its still an LS1, and it still is very simple to make fast compared to the LT1 cars. These minor differences, are really just minor differences. Personally I don't think any of them are worth spending the extra $ that getting a few year newer one would be worth. I would say that the price he is asking is a more than fair one.

 

'98 LS1 Oil Pumps have been known to have issues. So do, some don't. If you get a '98, it might not be a bad idea to upgrade to an LS6 oil pump.