buying Camaro... LT1vs.3.8

[MPe488]

sorry I'm new but I'm looking into buying a 4th gen Camaro. I'm looking into a $6,500 51k LT1, or possibly at some 3.8s

Can anyone here give me an idea of how fast an LT1 can be expected to finish the quarter mile stock? I live in Miami, which might affect times if someone else here lives in Denver.

And what kind of mods am I looking at, if I want to get a 3.8 into the 14's? How much can I be expected to pay, and how muhc will they affect gas mileage?

Thanks for the help.


EDIT: it was 51k, not 15, I changed it.

[ October 14, 2005, 04:44 PM: Message edited by: MPe488 ]

[Chet Mo and the Camaro]

ha i am in the same boat with same price range, u want a 15k mile LT1, if thats what u were referring too i doubt you can come close to that!! lt1 stock i say low 14's high 13's a 3.8 can vary it all depends auto vs. manual how good a driver etc etc.

[97camRS]

What year is the car you are looking at (LT1)?

[MPe488]

it's a 1995, the only real difference that I know of is that the 1995 and later had vented optisparks, and they didn't need to be replaced as often.

[vanbibber]

sigh...

95 IMO is the best year Lt1. you get obd1 with ob2 connector. vented opti craps are a plus but its still failure prone trust me. i just went through the PITA of having to replace one.

typically A4 lt1s dyno 250ish rwhp and 290-300rwtq. M6s dyno i little bit higher.

in all honesty other than the opti crap, the motor is a f'n beast. theyve been known to go 200k with no problems.

track times, they really depend on the driver. a good driver that can launch an A4 can hit 13.7-8s to 14.2s. m6s are about the same.

the torque curve is awesome and makes it a great stoplight bruiser. lt1s arent known for its top end though. they make all their power down low. which i personally love. but thats my personal preference. dont get me wrong lt1s arent wea up top but compared to the ls1-2 its weak.

i could have had an M6 but i test drove my A4 and was surprised to see that the car chirped the tires on the 1-2shift and the 2-3shift. the only thing i can say that i dont like about my car is that i have 2.73s. but thats a minor detail.

now on to 3.8s.

most will agree that the 3.8L is one of the best,if not the best, V6 motor ever built. its a very durable motor and is very dependable.

i really havent heard many complaints about the 3.8 as far as things failing on them.

3.8s come stock with 200hp and i think 220tq. i beleive in 2000 or 2001 they got tubular exhaust manifolds. which is nice.

track times once again come down to the driver. mid 15s are pretty common out of these motors in stock form. a couple of people(Little G and Shenanigans) have squeezed out some impressive times out of near stock cars. Little G runs mid 13s with gears,weightreduction,and tons of tuning.(im not sure if he has any other mods maybe someone will chime in on that.) shenanigans(eric) has run quite a few mid 14s with some crazy ideas. keep in mind this is not common though. with basic boltons youre looking at low 15s to very high 14s.

if your looking for out of the box speed go lt1 if you want a car with lots of potential,very reliable, and gets great gas mileage get the 3.8.

either way you cant really loose. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[97camRS]

I agree with vanbibber.

That does seem like an alright price though. Try to talk 'em down to $5500, if you can I'd def. go with that. Just my .02

[vanbibber]

i payed consideralbly more than you did for my 95 with 44k on the clock. that price is REALLY GOOD, but if you can talk them down more power to you.

[2001V6Power]

it all depends on what you want. on my 3.8 i run high 14's. but with my nitrous and port and polish I hope to run in the 12. i rather be the underdog all the time because the win is more precious

[Camaro Dom]

i totally agree with all those other guys here, but i just wanna also bring another subject to light: insurance. i dunno how old you are, but i'll tell you from an 18 year olds point of view. the money you save in gas and insurance pretty much will cover most of the mods you will do to the 3.8L. i personally enjoy working on the car, so its just as much of a treat for me to install the mods as to go fast. i'm gonna put a super in next spring and the way im figuring gas milage is about 1-2 mpg less than the GTP's of '00 were running. that said, when you have a car that does 20 city and 29 highway, the 1-2 mpg wont matter. also my friend has a bonneville that's pushing 250K and it hasnt leaked since his dad bought it in 98. Now dont get me wrong tho, LT1's are undeniably sexy. not gonna lie. they sound sweet, they run forever, and they are very powerful. you're getting a great car either way, so i would just go with the best deal you can get (and 6,500 for an LT1 aint bad at all). good luck

[Rob Bell]

If you can afford the insurance, get the LT1. You can never have too much power. And I don't think the difference in gas cost is that much to really worry about. Maybe a few dollars a week.

My personal experience: When I bought my v6, I wanted a V8 of course, but I could not afford it. I wanted a new car. Insurance for me is not an issue as I'm older, but it was just the price of the car. I upgraded from an 87 cavalier, so the 6 seemed powerful at the time. But I would love to have a v8. But I also have other things more important to spend the money on. It may not have the absolute performance, but f bods are one of the nicest-looking cars on the road. But then I'm a little biased too [img]redface.gif[/img] )

[vanbibber]

im 23 and my insurance actually went down from the v6 to the lt1. it was 125 on the v6 and 110 on the lt1. i doubt thats normal though. but lt1 insurance isnt THAT bad really.

[dz]

Mine's the same as vandibber. I have a v6 and I got a quote to see how much it'd cost to get an SS. My insurance actually gets about $15 cheaper a month.

I don't know why though.

[2001V6Power]

living in los angeles its totally different. the v8 is to expensive for insurance.

[pr95blackbird]

Originally posted by 2001V6Power:
living in los angeles its totally different. the v8 is to expensive for insurance.

exactly, that's why you get the 3.8L, 'slap' a turbo kit on there, and voila, power of a v8 with the insurance cost of a v6, and less than 3/4 the cost, plus the satisfaction and awe you receive from v8 guys saying, pffft it's only a v6 :D

[Fbody3400]

Or, you get a V8, "slap" a turbo kit on it, and 'voila', power of a V8 + V6 together. Where do you get 3/4s the cost from anyway? If you bought a FFF turbo kit, thats 3000 bucks. Plus the starting price of the car, we'll say $3000, thats $6000 all together. Plus supporting mods now, already past the price of an LT1, and about the same speed. It just depends on your taste.