Kenny McCormick

We love our Ford trucks, and they're very dependable. But they handle like crap. My dad wants something sporty to drive to work, something that's actually fun to drive on our twisty roads...and something that'll do more than 65MPH...so we've been looking at cars to buy. We've found a rather nice red '92 Camaro V6 to potentially buy.

We went to look at it yesterday. It seems fine aside from one major issue: The radiator is full of rust colored sludge, and the coolant level is six inches below the radcap. Since the car has 240K on the clock I figure it's just routine neglect and old age, not that difficult a fix. New rad, flush the block and heads out, new waterpump and T-stat, and done. Good as new. There is a chance, however, that I'm wrong, that it's something deathly wrong with the engine.

Since the F150 is reliable and we're not trading it in, we're likely gonna buy it anyway, but I want to know what you guys think we should offer for it. It's a dealer sale, same guy we bought the '84 F150 from and the Explorer from, so we've got a good rapport with the guy. Should be able to haggle him down just fine. So here's what I'm thinking:

If it's just neglect: Offer $1500
If it's a bad intake manifold gasket allowing oil into the rad: Offer $1000
If the motor's completely boned, head gaskets toast, etc: Offer $500, build a 350 to drop in.


Sound fair to you guys?

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MetalBeerSolid

No offense, but a V6 Camaro? Definitely not the first thing I'd chose for fun in the twisties...

A 350 swap is definitely the best plan, out of those options. But personally I'd be looking for a different car.

EricM9104

A V6 camaro can be plenty of fun.
Little underpowered, but works. It's not the car, it's the driver.

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1997 Nissan Hardbody XE 4x4 | KA24E | 5spd | 191k miles | 100% Stock

1997 Nissan 200SX SE | GA16DE | 5spd | 240k miles | 100% Stock

1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass Cierra | 3.0 V6 Carb'd | Autotragic | 138k miles | 100% Stock

lemans81

Which V6? I know in the late 80s thru early 90s there was the 2.8L, 3.4L, 3.8L(and I think maybe the 3.1L was in there...maybe I am wrong). The 2.8L is not worth paying money for lol.

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“If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed.” --Mark Twain

2008 Dodge Caravan SXT
2005 Chevy Cobalt

Mike

'92 V6 is a 3.1, 2.8 quit in '89 on those. Though the 3.1 is a bored out 2.8 iirc

3.1 IS notorious for head gaskets. If it's losing coolant I would be VERY careful.

You know the drill on how to check stuff like that. Sniff the exhaust, check the oil color, etc. I'd have a compression test done personally to be sure. Compression test don't lie.

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Take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green, and the girls are pretty. | Save a tree, support your local drag strip!

Kenny McCormick

The V6 cars often handled better than the V8 ones due to better weight balance when dealing with Mustangs and Camaros.

350 swap will likely happen eventually anyway someday. The condition of the V6 determines how long until the swap happens.

3.1

Going to do next time we look at it. They didn't have the keys so we couldn't get it running, but they were going to either find them or have a locksmith cut a set so we could start it and give it a thorough once-over before making a choice. I did do this. Oil is oil colored, and it smells like oil. Level was good, too, maybe a quarter of a quart below full. Given that the oil was pretty far into the brown shades that oil gets as it ages I'd say it's not burning or leaking much at all. No trace of milkshake on the oil cap either.

Oh we'll do that before we buy it. When my dad and I go to look at it again we're bringing a tool bag. One of the things in that bag will be a spark plug socket, and another will be a comp tester. We're also bringing a 3' long screwdriver so's we can have a listen to the bottom end. Neither does driving it. I've had a head gasket go I know the telltale signs firsthand.

My question still remains, though. Are my price ideas fair?

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Mike

Well how's the body?

It sounds like you haven't driven it yet so that'll tell how tight the gearbox is. I believe that's a 700R4/4L60 (as opposed to the 4L60E) which ain't known for being a great tranny, but there's worse.

As far as prices, I don't know how they are there. Here you can find a somewhat cancered 4th gen V6 with ~200k for around $1500, a 3800 powered one for another $500 or so. IF the body is in rough shape, with that mileage and questionable problems, $1500 would be a big ask around here. As you know, that varies by location, though. I live in the land of cheap F-bodies.

You might want to bring some extra tools (mirrors, knuckles, etc) with if you're pulling plugs. I don't know about the V6 3rd gen models for sure, but I know the V8 4th gens are absolute bears to do plugs on. Better to have extra tools than not enough.

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Take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green, and the girls are pretty. | Save a tree, support your local drag strip!

Kenny McCormick

Only issue is a rather large dent in the sheet metal just behind the front bumper clip. We checked behind it and there's no damage whatsoever to the core support and the panel gaps are still good, so it's just cosmetic. There's no cancer to speak of. It just recently, and by recently I mean you can still smell the assembly lube on them, had brand new struts installed front and rear. Gearbox feels great, clutch feels okay but with the engine off I can't tell if it's worn or not. Far as we can tell so far there's nothing wrong with the car except the goo in the cooling system.

You know us too well to know we're not looking at one with a failmatic in it. Come on now. We wouldn't even be giving this thing the time of day if it was an automatic.


Oh that's no big deal. The 3rd gens were still easy to work on. We'll have no problem getting the plugs out with a standard ratchet set.

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Raptor22

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Its an MN-12 thing... you wouldnt understand.
[1989 Ford Thunderbird / 1985 Ford Bronco 4x4 / 2004 Ford Mustang GT]

Kenny McCormick

We're not driving all the way to South Dakota for a Turbo Coupe. We had one before, we liked it, it was a great car, but it isn't worth driving that far to get one.

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