Papagoose

The Car is my sig has seen its better days, but I got her dirt cheap (2k). There are more things I gotta fix than I care to post, so I will get to the point. My car currently has about 149,000 miles. It has piston slap, and quite a few leaks I havent sourced yet. My question is, how much life do you guys think she has left? When she is warmed up, she runs great. And I don't drive her at all until she is warmed. I dont dog on it all the time, but there is the occasional "getting the bugs out" as my mom would say. She is my daily driver.

Kraest

Not much longer. Probably around 200k.

69z-28

start fixing the issues. ANY vehicle/motor will last forever if it is maintained properly and you fix issues when they happen instead of driving the car into the ground. Eventually you will need a rebuild but that can be kept on the cheap side by keeping it in good shape now.

Chrome383Z

oh prob 300-400k if you take great care of it (minus fixing tihngs like water pumps, alternators, etc).

it will be really down on power prob 40-50% by that mileage though due to loss of compression.

CamaroCasanova

Got 203k on the 98...Has the piston slap no leaks though. Have gone through a transmission and I am about to change out the rear end it is on its last legs. The LS1 is still going though I have changed water pump, pulleys, hoses and two tune ups since I got it at 129k 3 years ago. We have driven the crap out of it.

Papagoose

Not trying to drive her in the ground, but I don't make much money either lol. Most of the things I gotta fix are things they did not fix after the wreck (happened before I got it). eg., I have to prob replace the subframe (had alignment done and he could only get the right side to 3.6 caster, stock is 5ish... and that is the side it was hit on), needs new paint (they put a VERY cheap paint job on it and it's flaking off BAD), metal bumper needs replaced, various oil leaks (I am thinking the oil pressure sending unit is the biggest culprit), and various odds and ends that are not deadlining faults, as we would say in the Army. But, at 2k, I figured I could make a little something out of it. I was just wondering how long I had with proper maintenece before I had to rebuild/replace motor.

I am building it in honor of my best friend (former navy shipmate) who passed away last year due to a heart condition... he was a HUGE fan of Camaros, and had a few himself. I am basically looking to make it have everything he wanted in his that he never got to finish.

bill2129

my ls1 has 142k on it. the car was a family car and was passed down to me. it was always treated like a baby. never taken to the track or floored. right now it has no leaks or any problems at all. yet... i beat on it sometimes. its a v8 so i try to enjoy it. i hope it can get to around 220k before it goes!! its a beautiful car and would hate to see it go ):

NEWBIE T/A

These cars are pretty sturdy, and the suspension parts will bend to absorb some of the force.

I'd have that lower control arm looked at - it may well be the culprit.

I have 108K on mine, and the presumed piston slap (sounds like a rod knock when cold, changes by speed, but goes away completely when warm, and has done so since 66 K ) has so far not affected anything.

I hope/expect to get at least to 150K at which time I may have to look into a "freshening" for HP sakes.

Gotta keep up w/ those new pesky 5.0's ...

Britt

30th6

143k miles on my 99 ss.with a few boltons it wents 7.80s spinning in the 1/8th.no power loss here just a small oil seep around dipstick tube,and piston slap like most other ls1s.

SVD

My Formula just passed 140,000 miles last night. I just completed a day trip (300 miles total) with my car club, and it didn't miss a beat. In fact, it seems to thrive on long trips when all the carbon and build up gets blown out during the trip.

GhostZ28

mine lasted 91k before it started knocking, of course it might have lasted longer if I hadn't damaged the oil pick-up O-ring installing the F13 ..oops. i wish I could punch the 21 year old me for that smooth move

z0s0

Just out of curiosity, what's with the piston slap on the ls1's? Is that common? Not intending to hijack a thread or anything, just curious, seen a few people mention it.

Papagoose

short story, the pistons are not matched to the block, and sometimes a piston or two does not quite perfectly fit the bore, so it slaps around a bit, but when it warms up, it expands to the cylinder bore, and the slap goes away. Google it for more info.

y2kmaroonz

I have 219,000 on my 2000 and I'm the only owner. I have driven it year around for the most part 65 miles a day. I have been looking to replace it sometime this summer or next summer... It still runs great and doesnt have piston slap, does use a quart of oil between 3000 mile changes and smokes when you get on it...