Ive found a really good deal on a complete decent milage 98 6-speed Camaro. Now I know there have been alot of issues with the 98 engines, but since I am planning on swapping cam and intake anyway, should whatever issues the block may have be enough to make me hold out for an 01-02?

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'94 Rx-7 R2

I've heard anecdotes about piston ring issues, and obviously the mileage will be higher...

On the LSx series motors, I believe pre-2002, back to 98, the sleeves are really thin, and you can only bore them either .004, or .010, I think the never LSx motors can only be bored .010 before needing a re-sleeve.....

If it's in good shape it may never need boring, but it would really be worth paying a little extra to get a motor you know is in good shape...

naw, i say go for the 98. i know everyone that uses a 98 motor, are really happy. the only real issues i've heard with them, is with their oil pumpage. i guess if you upgrade the vavle train and throw in a nice came, and up the rev limit, they can start to lose pressure, or just not supply enough oil in the really high RPMS. but i'm sure you can fix that with a new oil pump. its been discussed on here before.


~Steve

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Steve

BEAUTY

go for the 98 and save a ton of money over the 01-02 engines. its a no brainer to me.

i haven't heard anything about piston ring issues.

part of a valvetrain upgrade should include a good timing chain and ported ls6 oil pump anyways so thats not really an issue. (though it may be noteable that the '98 cam is actually larger than the later LS1 cams)

the intake on the 98 is not an ls6 intake. buy a used LS6 one.

the 98 actually has slightly larger injectors that some of the other years, not a bad thing.

the cylinder walls are a bit thinner

stock exhaust manifolds arent as good as the 01-02 manifolds. doesnt matter if you want headers.

the computer is a little larger size wise (but not much) and apparently not quite as good as the newer ones, but as i understand for most people it wouldnt matter, only in wild FI situations.




i have a '98 engine and for the money i have in it i couldnt imagine doing it any other way. you guys can HAVE your $5,000 '02 LS1 swaps... i've got like $1,800 in my '98. that means i could have bought 2 of them, blown the hell out of the first one, swapped to the second, and still have money left over after it was all said and done.

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1990 RX-7 TII
1998 LS1/T56

/\/\/\/\ ditto on what he said.
the ONE drawback of the '98 is the cylinder liners can only be honed, not bored over. so if you ever have any exploding pistons and need to over bore to remove scratches from busted ringlands or shrapenal in the combustion chambers, you will need to have a competent shop replace the liner or liners and that gets costly and at that point you could just source a bare block but keep all of your other parts off the '98 block.

I love my '98 and saved a ton of money on it too.

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LS1T56FC widebody '87 sport - SOLD
current car - '04 WRX STi silver debagded wingless
my cardomain

What are 98s going for? what kind of miles?

Andrew

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"you were the gun, your voice was the trigger, your bravery was the barrel, your eyes were the bullets."

I picked up a '98 with about 60k on it, with all sensors, maf, and PCM for $1600. The only drawback was I had to drive to Indiana and it didn't come with accessories or a wiring harness. It was originally an Automatic so I figured it would have less hard miles on it than a M6.

i got a 98 short block for 500. i used a ported oil pump with it for safety sake.

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Spencer Montgomery

H/C LS1/T56 FC
04 Cobra IRS
NO: a/c, p/s, egr, emissions
progress thread

Only thing I don't like about 98's is the goofball computer. Change the computer and I'd have no reservations about running one.

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91 FC Coupe - 00 LS1/4L60E
9.94 @ 134.7 1.41 60ft - N20
10.5x @ 129.x 1.4x 60ft - Motor
NHRA Legal to 10.00
California BAR Certified
http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...iK/1991%20RX7/
2003 Suzuki SV650 - Does what the car won't do.. pulls the front up!