NOHC_WBody Posted March 5, 2005 Report Posted March 5, 2005 or..."You should buy a 3.1 car" I went car shopping this afternoon. I found a small local lot that had a 96' Z28. 6M/T-Tops/blue/grey cloth. Turns out they wanted an arm and a leg & part of a foot for it, so I felt obligated to test drive it and abuse it a little. As I was leaving the lot, a couple pulled up in a 1st gen Neon, and the male jumped out, and ran over to a 92' Z34 Lumina that was near where the Z28 was parked. The F body ran pretty well, but the probably stock clutch was on it's last legs. I brought it back and as I was about to leave, I walked inside to give the keys back to the owner of the place & I asked about the Z34...how much he wanted for it. He replied "It's in the middle of being sold" The guy that was happy to get out of the Neon turned to me and said "Ain't it cool?" "Did you look at the timing belt?" I replied. "What for?" "Well, those things are notorious for eating timing belts, as well as alternators. I've owned a couple of cars with that motor in it. It's a maintenance hog" The owner interjected with a "But sir, it's a strong running car, it's been totally checked out one hundred percent" and a dirty, scowl my way. I walked over to the guy(the one buying the Lumina) and said "c'mere, outside with me for a sec" I walked him over to my car, opened the trunk and pulled out a ratchet, extension and a socket. "Let's go have a look at that timing belt, shall we?" "Are you sure we're allowed to do that?" "You're allowed to have a car looked over, or do it yourself...it's common sense. Do you want a car that's about to eat a timing belt? Do you know how much these things are to have fixed? Close to 500 bucks at a dealer." The whole time, the owner's standing at the front door of the place, looking at me like I just ate his children. "But could I change it if it broke?" "Yeah, but it's a royal pain in the ass. You have to dissassemble the front of the motor...time it...it's not something I want to do again. Go price an alternator change at a dealer for it if you want a laugh" I pulled the t-belt cover and sure enough....this guy's "one hundred point inspection" apparently didn't include pulling a plastic cover off the front cam carrier....something that took all of 2 minutes to do. The belt was half gone..it was almost totally frayed & there was black t-belt hair literally stuffed into the cover's space. "You sure you want this car? Seriously, you didn't sign anything yet did you?" "Nope...not now." "Run...get in your car and find a 3.1 car" "Thanks for your help dude" As I was walking over to my car, the owner started to come outside & started yelling..."Hey you, get yer ass the fuck over here you fuckin' bastard!!!!!!" So, I ran the fuck for it...if my window had been down, I'd have jumped in that shit like the General Lee. Quote
1990lumina Posted March 5, 2005 Report Posted March 5, 2005 Lol, awesome. I could just see the owners expression as you showed the potenial buyer the timing belt lol!! - Jeff L. Quote
NOHC_WBody Posted March 5, 2005 Author Report Posted March 5, 2005 Dude was steaming. I seriously thought I *might* get my ass shot. Quote
Crimson Fury Z Posted March 5, 2005 Report Posted March 5, 2005 now put one of those happy/other type add in about that place! Quote
john99gtp Posted March 5, 2005 Report Posted March 5, 2005 wow nice story man. I could see some car dealers around here pulling out a gun when that happened over this way, LOL Quote
Aaron Posted March 5, 2005 Report Posted March 5, 2005 They aren't maintanance hogs, but we have argued enough about that...To suggest a 3.1 over a 3.4 is just plain stupid, there really is no reason I'd want a 3.1 over a 3.4. But with the timing belt in that condition, I believe you were in the right to tell him that this isn't a good car. I woulda done the same, minus suggesting a 3.1, and then I woulda taken a knife, and cut the rest of the belt, and ran off saying "prove it" as he yelled at me. "The F body ran pretty well, but the probably stock clutch was on it's last legs." So it had 5 or 10,000 miles on it? lol, those LT1 pull types don't last worth a SHIT! Quote
Jeorge Posted March 5, 2005 Report Posted March 5, 2005 They aren't maintanance hogs, but we have argued enough about that...To suggest a 3.1 over a 3.4 is just plain stupid, there really is no reason I'd want a 3.1 over a 3.4. But with the timing belt in that condition, I believe you were in the right to tell him that this isn't a good car. I woulda done the same, minus suggesting a 3.1, and then I woulda taken a knife, and cut the rest of the belt, and ran off saying "prove it" as he yelled at me. "The F body ran pretty well, but the probably stock clutch was on it's last legs." So it had 5 or 10,000 miles on it? lol, those LT1 pull types don't last worth a SHIT! You work on your own cars dont yea...... a 3.1 is good for a person who just want a point a to point b car and a 3.4 for a person who wants to get there quicker. Quote
Aaron Posted March 5, 2005 Report Posted March 5, 2005 They aren't maintanance hogs, but we have argued enough about that...To suggest a 3.1 over a 3.4 is just plain stupid, there really is no reason I'd want a 3.1 over a 3.4. But with the timing belt in that condition, I believe you were in the right to tell him that this isn't a good car. I woulda done the same, minus suggesting a 3.1, and then I woulda taken a knife, and cut the rest of the belt, and ran off saying "prove it" as he yelled at me. "The F body ran pretty well, but the probably stock clutch was on it's last legs." So it had 5 or 10,000 miles on it? lol, those LT1 pull types don't last worth a SHIT! You work on your own cars dont yea...... a 3.1 is good for a person who just want a point a to point b car and a 3.4 for a person who wants to get there quicker. Yes I do. A 3.4 is great as well for people trying to get form point A to point B. I drove it to school everyday, never any out of the ordinary problems, even tho every weekend it got ran to 7200rpm repeatedly. But come Monday morning, started right up. Quote
NOHC_WBody Posted March 5, 2005 Author Report Posted March 5, 2005 They aren't maintanance hogs, but we have argued enough about that...To suggest a 3.1 over a 3.4 is just plain stupid, there really is no reason I'd want a 3.1 over a 3.4. But with the timing belt in that condition, I believe you were in the right to tell him that this isn't a good car. I woulda done the same, minus suggesting a 3.1, and then I woulda taken a knife, and cut the rest of the belt, and ran off saying "prove it" as he yelled at me. "The F body ran pretty well, but the probably stock clutch was on it's last legs." So it had 5 or 10,000 miles on it? lol, those LT1 pull types don't last worth a SHIT! Aaron, he didn't really seem like the type that was mechanically inclined. The 3.1 was just the first thing I thought of. And yeah, everyone here's argued for or against them being maintenance hogs, but after owning two of em', I'd say they need a little bit of "special attention"...certainly more than dude was willing to put out for it...Take for instance if it was one of us here..maybe we'd have done our homework on what kind of car it was...problem areas, asked on the forums here, or somewhere car specific. 5 bucks says he saw it and was like "Didn't good ol' Dale used to drive onea' dem thangs? I gotta have it" Cutting the belt? I don't know about you, but I'll be damned if I'm going to jail for destruction of property/vandalism. The F-Body had close to 100K on it...here's the kicker...he still wanted 8500 bucks for it. Quote
dbtk2 Posted March 5, 2005 Report Posted March 5, 2005 $8500 for an LT1 f-body with 100K!?!? Shawn Quote
NOHC_WBody Posted March 5, 2005 Author Report Posted March 5, 2005 $8500 for an LT1 f-body with 100K!?!? Shawn Yeah...I shudder to think what he would have charged that guy for the Z34 too. Quote
Aaron Posted March 5, 2005 Report Posted March 5, 2005 Cutting the belt? I don't know about you, but I'll be damned if I'm going to jail for destruction of property/vandalism. The F-Body had close to 100K on it...here's the kicker...he still wanted 8500 bucks for it. Well as you run, yell it wasn't me Yah that much for 100k is way too much. We just got 10 out of our 94 Z28, but it had 40k and was in PERFECT cond. Quote
5speedz34 Posted March 5, 2005 Report Posted March 5, 2005 That's one funny ass story; well at least you did you're good turn daily. Quote
topless94style Posted March 5, 2005 Report Posted March 5, 2005 Fucking awesome, im tempted to drive around to all the local small time dealer ships with LQ1 cars and do the same to unsuspecting buyers Quote
Brian P Posted March 5, 2005 Report Posted March 5, 2005 actually this brings backa memory when this '95 Cutlass vert came in for a "vehicle evaluation package" at my job. I requested to do the inspection even though I work as a service writer. MY GOD I never found so many typical w-car problems on one vehicle as well as the LQ1 under the hood. My answer to the potential "buyer" was stay the fuck away. Quote
loominaz34 Posted March 5, 2005 Report Posted March 5, 2005 Sure, all four tires were worth 25 points. as long as all four tires hold air, the hundred points is fulfilled. Quote
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