kad5118

I know that there is a huge advatange to having a 3 gen motor vs my current l98.I am just stuck with figuring out my options.I could easly rebuild my l98 when the time comes.and make a little more effiecent or i can just get a 5.3 vortec and cam it up have fine tune and get head work done.Do you guy think that if i were to put a gen 3 vortec engine in my 91 trans am would it lessen the value of the car in the future.

gbayfisher

Having been in the same situation a couple years ago, I will lend you my two cents.

One thing i quickly realized is that us Third Gen enthusiasts over value our beloved hunks of metal and plastic. Unless you have a low mileage TTA or 1LE, or one of the other very rare combos, these cars simply have little to NO value, only its worth to the owner.
Build and use the car in a way that makes you happy, and don't save it for the next guy.
There are many threads discussing this topic with every detail and cost covered. You will notice a huge spread in the cost of the LS swaps. This is due to the range of fabricating levels, and the cost of good clean pullouts.

Do some heavy research and you should easily figure out what is best for you.

Good luck

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

Any LSx swap will increase the value over your L98 in the market. Maybe less than what you have in it. The cars are never a good investment

AutoRoc

iTrader: (1)

5.3/5.7/6.0 are good ideas.. No matter the body style!!

IROCgiraffe

iTrader: (3)

Great thread with some very good points made. These cars are made to be enjoyed. There are plenty of pristine examples out there, so no need to go out of your way to keep it original when it makes more financial sense to upgrade and/or modernize. I was in this same dilemma when thinking long term about my car. After reading this thread and others, just makes sense to restore/upgrade these cars with more "up-to-date" equipment when/where applicable.

1gary

A LSx makes more sense.

kad5118

thanks for the response guys.yea i do understand where you guys are coming from.with updating some of the parts with more modern parts.for those that have done the conversion.was if worth it.

oddscrounger

As stated in most threads LS engines are way more efficient and it might be nice to put a newer engine in there. They are right; for now the value on these cars is limited. Only the rare options or something that is completely bone stock will retain any kind of value. However, I contend that in 20 years these cars will shift into the category of "classics." If you still own your 3rd gen at that point, you might be kicking yourself for messing with it. With that being said; I have an 87 IROC 305 TPI and in the next year I want to drop a 383 stroker in it.... lol

cuisinartvette

Any more "resale" you might get (not a whole lot) will probably be swallowed by the cost of doing the swap its the little stuff that kill$ ya.

Do what you can afford and will make you happy right now

watajob

iTrader: (29)

LSx = big power, more work/money

L98 = decent power, less money, stupid easy

micktroup2

As I said to my sons, "you will never get your money back on a hot rod! What you consider 'cool' someone else will think was a bad idea." I also heard Jay Leno say on his website(jaylenosgarage.com- great site, by the way!), "if you made money on a restoration you did it wrong!" My point is do what makes you happy. GM made 880,000 of these things- unless you have a low mileage original, they aren't worth crap. My Z28 is about to hit 200,000 miles; I paid too much for it probably but I love it. The L98 is running fine, now that I fixed all the stuff the PO never serviced, but it will get an LS1 eventually. Make it your own!

1gary

Now I take a different point of view.It is much cheaper to buy one already done than build one.So if your thinking is everyone's mind set is to lose their shorts on a sale,it is a buyer's market.You find someone who has what you want,but needs money,you take advantage of that situation and make YOUR deal.When you resell it you can sell it at the purchase price or alittle more.So you see that if you follow the same pattern to lose money building one yourself,you end up with the same end result.

1gary

Jay doesn't work in his collection himself.He pays people to do that so of course he is losing money.Hummmm,I sure wish I could get on that meal ticket working on his stuff.See he doesn't care.He is on purpose trying to burn off some of his income.

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

Buying someone else's project is a great way to get alot of car for little money, but you inherit alot of risk in doing so

kad5118

i agree

1gary

Old habits die hard.If you don't change your thinking from the mob and learn what to look for in someone else incomplete project,you will end up with the same end results which you then can't complain about.

A buyers market and your choice to be the shark or get eaten.

Johnny Blaze

iTrader: (15)

If you have the time and money then go LSX.

1gary

How about find a incomplete LSx car where money is needed by the seller??.

kad5118

well its seem harder and harder to find an incomplete lsx project now and days

kad5118

my L98 now only has 137,000 miles on it now

1gary

We Have a long history buying incomplete race cars,finishing them,racing them for a year,and selling them for a profit.Rule one is never "marry" into any car.Everything is for sale.
If you never change,nothing ever changes.$$$$

kad5118

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

It would help if you told everyone your performance goals.

85 ZXX

iTrader: (1)

This is a very wise and true statement. I agree .

kad5118

well i am looking to be on pair with a stock corvette as far as power.I will say around 430 hp.I know that i can reach that goal with buy building a semi high compression or 383 sbc with my block and some better heads.I also know that i can build a 5.3 to those desired power levels also.they both would be efficient as well.So thats why the decision between the two are up in the air.

I do love the idea of a ls in my trans am,But i also love the idea of my motor looking stock and really shocking when i step on the gas pedal.

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

You have quite a few options. If this isn't a daily driver, then I would seriously consider swapping to E85 (which is a breeze), bump your compression up two to three points, much bigger cam, bigger injectors, and stealth ram intake. Yes, ethanol is that good of a fuel in terms of cost, and you won't detonate. If it is a daily driver, and if E85 isn't as accessible, I would rebuild the stock L98 and throw a smallish turbo on it, you will compete with stockish corvette's, and then some. Could also go the naturally aspirated heads and cam route, but you'll only be wanting more as the other cars out there get more and more faster. I like LSX engines just as much as everybody else, but I enjoy sticking to what the factory offered during that time, even LC2's, but that's just me...

1gary

Quote:
Originally Posted by watajob
LSx = big power, more work/money

L98 = decent power, less money, stupid easy



Quote:
Originally Posted by micktroup2
As I said to my sons, "you will never get your money back on a hot rod! What you consider 'cool' someone else will think was a bad idea." I also heard Jay Leno say on his website(jaylenosgarage.com- great site, by the way!), "if you made money on a restoration you did it wrong!" My point is do what makes you happy. GM made 880,000 of these things- unless you have a low mileage original, they aren't worth crap. My Z28 is about to hit 200,000 miles; I paid too much for it probably but I love it. The L98 is running fine, now that I fixed all the stuff the PO never serviced, but it will get an LS1 eventually. Make it your own!



As I already stated,you follow the crowds methods you end up with the same result.People are convinced in these builds they have to go belly up to the retail counter and pay the price.Don't do any research on overstocks in parts that are out there,don't do any networking with manufactures at
like auctions or swap meets and there when at a swap meet walk around in a study of there shoes like robots.They go to those events with $500 in their pockets expecting to be a player.The lack of depth involved in guys in these builds in incredible and then cry about how much money they loss.If you don't fight off a consensus that you have to be just like everyone else then you aren't fighting hard enough for your own money.Look at this way,if you don't ask to a deal,you won't get one.Right now with what you own you have the potential of a stepping stone to a built you would rather own.

Ya know,I could post how you could build a first class $10,000 to $12,000 engine and supply you with all the links to do it.But I would be not advising you correctly on how to do that the right way.

Well....................it's you money to do with as you choose.

micktroup2

Jesus 1Gary, you are a cranky bugger! His original question was 'would it lessen the VALUE' not what makes the most power. I think my contention- that you will never really get the money out of a third gen you put in- is valid. That is why I said do what you want. Years ago, the hot ticket was dropping SBC engines into E and S-type Jags, because the original engine was a bear to keep running over here. Heck, I just saw one a month ago in the junkyard! Now those cars are worth nothing compared to an original, numbers matching car. So who knows, maybe one day, 50 years from now, my grandson will grumble that gramps had this great classic Camaro that he messed up by 'improving' it. But I doubt it. And as to Jay Leno- he may work on his cars, who cares?? He writes the cheques so he damn sure knows what everything costs! Put 500 hours into your 3rd Gen and at mechanics rates, it owes you $50,000- do you think you can sell it for that?

1gary

Car collectors are the worst example or the best example of what I am talking about and money and a time line is the base.The O/P asked a question about value and that is what I am posting about and how to play that out.A time line and money with a car collector is to buy the best deal going of a complete car with the hope of a return on that investment of many yrs a percentage that can't be had investing the money anywhere else.The serious collector there isn't much building going on and trust me the purchase is with the sole intent to sell it all at some point for more than what's in it.A high risk game with a high return.

What I am suggesting as what we have done with race cars is a steal of a deal on a rollers combined with finishing out the car with parts that are far,far,from retail parts.And yes that does take hard work to get done.The contacts created is one of the keys.A prime example is lets say X manufacture has two sets of really good heads that he is motivated to sell.Maybe they are cosmetic blems.He won't sell just one set,so we buy both.Depending on our race plan we either sell one set making the second one free or use the money selling both sets to buy another deal on heads we want.We have a saying,"it's all junk until it turns back into money" and that is the money's growth being always the main topic.You pick a point where your not loving a car with too much money being spent on it and where the car is at it's peak and turn it over.A much different time line than a car collector.Never marrying into anything and where everything is for sale activity.Each turn watching the percentages of return on the money for growth.

Now he has a low mileage car that I would expect could be verified by car fax and take the position there is a buyer out there that would be more than willing to spend more than he has in it right now.Solely because right now it is a low mileage car,he doesn't want to miss out a on opportunity to turn it to see the growth on the original purchase price.(remember marry nothing and those all important percentage points)What compounds his move is his desire for something else.So to get all google eyes over this car and make the mistake of mod'ing is the same mistake everyone else makes where it ends up being a loss.Then to buy at retail all the parts for it makes it doubly worst.Then just like everyone else,complaint how much money he lost at the end.The whole game plan was heading for a lost right from the beginning.Bad decisions,for the next purchase praying on that same common mind set of a seller that you have to lose money who might be in trouble because of the amount he already spend on the car,has to deal with you not completely investigating what it is going to take to make it a viable sell-able car and what it going to be worth when done.And after looking at it hard and knowing how much it is going to take to finish it,that is the turn key to make a offer given the future selling price or to just walk away for a better deal. If you don't look hard at each one,you have no one to blame but yourself.But it all leads back to the idea "it's all junk until it turns back into money".

Yes "Jags That Run" sold a number of kits to SBC conversions.

micktroup2

You know, the GREAT DEBATE in Detroit has always been- are you a 'suit', or a 'car guy'? In other words, are you an accountant or a 'gearhead'- a guy who just flat out loves cars? Are you are looking at your 3rd Gen as an investment(I think you may be a fool) or because you just love YOUR CAR? If you plan to 'turn it and burn it' then do what makes economic sense. If you love your car, do what makes it work for YOU! I don't plan on selling MY car, so I will do what I want to make it MINE. If you want to do what to you makes economic sense, then I guess we will see you at Barrett-Jackson!!

kad5118

thats a good,