slayer Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 Hello eveyone. I'm new here and don't own a w-body....yet. My girlfriend ownes a 94 cutlass supreme though. I'm 20 years old and currently drive 98 s-10 snail..er..I mean truck. I'm a huge performance nut. I had to sell my GTA trans am, and I've had the itch ever since. Being a college student I'm looking for a low budget/high performance car. I have two questions for y'all. 1. I the other day I was driving and noticed an early 90's gtp for sale for $300. I called the guy and he said the timing belt broke while he was driving. He basically just wants to get rid of the car and not go through the hastle of fixing it or paying someone to do it. It has about 150k miles on it. When a timing belt breaks on one of these cars, what does it take with it. Should I expect the valves to be dammaged? I am mechanacally enclined enough to fix it myself(and I read the walkthrough on 60degreev6.com). so how much money should I expect to shell out on the new belt, pully, tensioner, and possibly valves? 2. about how much do these cars weigh. Thanks. Any general info will also bu much appreciated. slayer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay3800 Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 Being a college student I'm looking for a low budget/high performance car. I'm a college student as well, so I hear ya, BUT w-bodies do NOT make good low budget/high performance cars. They weigh between 3100-3500 pounds generally (the convertible Cutlass was the heaviest). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybe2fast Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 Oh! do they ever! bend the valves that is, you will have to have the valves replaced or replace the heads. Get them shaved and the car will haul ass, with them off already! good performance upgrade! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gp90se Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 w-bodys are easy 2 swap motors in if you can turn a wrench and not afraid 2 get in over ya head, the 3.4 motor is a great motor. You can also bolt in a 2.8/3.1/3100/3400 if you want something a bit easyer to work on without as much power. low buck hi perf - camaro/mustang/LT1 into your s10, etc etc etc welcome 2 the site Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 I thought they only bent valves if the belt went at higher RPMs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NORBI Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 I heard that 3.4 DOHC doesnt bend valves, but i know that 2.8 and 3.1 does because when my timing chain broke it bend 2 valves on my 2.8 but for 1200$ i got a 93 3.1 in my 88 CS. 300$ is a good price if you fix it and they are fun cars to drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Oh! do they ever! bend the valves that is... um... the 3.4 is a non interference design, except for the 95? and 96 3.4s ask him what speed he was going when he broke the belt and if he was accelerateing or not. other then that if you can get it cheep enough and don't mind doing your own work it should bea good car to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slayer Posted September 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Thanks for the info so far guys. More information is always welcome though. The car is a 92. The owner said the belt blew while he was getting on the highway. He also agreed to drop the price to $200(i think he just wants it gone). For that price, I just can't pass it up. Even if I can't get it back into running condition, I could make a good profit parting it out. Also, if I wanted to completely rebuild the engine for boost, how much would I be looking at? So far, I haven't been able to find many options for strong engine internals. A turbo build might be a fun senior engineering project . any ideas are more that welcome thanks slayer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedCavyRS99 Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 do a L67 swap you should enjoy that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Is the GTP startable? There isnt any way that I know of to tell if there is engine damage due to timing belt failure until you tear the 3.4 up and put it back together. The belts went on my 95 and there was no engine damage at all; they went on my 92, and well... its ruined. Early 3.4's are supposed to be non-interference engines, so its anyone's guess at this point. But if its a GTP it should have a bunch of goodies inside, right? whats the rest of the car like? if its in good shape minus the belt problem, it would be worth it to fix up. ohh sorry i forgot but welcome to the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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