Going to see a 98 SS tomorrow!

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guinnessman

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Hey guys alot of you know im wanting another car, tomorrow i'm gonna look at and drive a 98 Camaro SS it's an AUTO which stinks but it's only $7999 and has 67K miles! It's stock so i was told. Anyway how much faster is this car then my stock 96 LSC??? I drove a Manual GTO and a Manual 95 LT1 Camaro, i just want to know how this car stacks up!

From what i read, Auto Camaro's are beasts and are BETTER for dragging.
 
Ive had a couple. The last one was an orange 99 Auto SS that had 44K on it and I picked up for $4200. Car ran 13.4's all day long and once pulled a 13.01 box stock. Much better then the 94 Formula I had. With exhaust, tune, gears, intake and drag radials it only went a 13.8.

Remember the LS is touched by the hand of gawd and if the world was smart it would be the only V-8 motor in every car made. :p


That being said, interior components suck, stupid big ass hump on the passenger floor, seating position is poor and the car looks like a catfish.

catfishe.jpg


CamaroFish.jpg
 
My brother has a 98 Camaro SS Vert with a 6-speed. He's had it for years, (7+ years). His has about 45k miles on it now.

It's a great car, reliable for the most part.

The problems you should look for
- Does the ABS still work? (the sensors can break which then burns out the abs computer, which then can burn out all the sensors) I believe you need all new sensors and an ABS computer once this all breaks. Easy to see if you have a problem, if the ABS light is on.
- The paint on the hood and wing/hatch, expecially on the 98's is not great. Look for paint peeling on those parts. These SS only parts were not painted by GM at the factory. On my brother's car the paint is chipping off around the hood scope, along the edge of the hood at the windshield side and 2-parts of the wing have chipped off.
- Make sure the limited slip still works (they can burn out and turn the car into a peg leg).

Obviously look for mods. If there are too many it might be beat to hell.

One cool fact about the 98 SS, it has a single exhaust outlet. The idea was that it weighed less than a dual exhaust. Only the 98 SS has this exhaust. The car is also suprisingly loud for a stock GM exhaust (it sounds good).

If the ABS works, the paint is good and doesn't have mods, I'd buy it for that price!

Ken
 
alot quicker

i have an 02 z/28 with an automatic , it would take alot to make a mark viii as quick . they are a great car make sure you keep an eye on the battery cable the side terminal battery on mine has leaked and destroyed 3 cables with 2 differant batterys and took out an alt but its a fun car , i agree its ugly and about the interior but few cars have as much performance potential .if you want to drag race it the automatic is the way to go.
 
14.6@97MPH said:
One cool fact about the 98 SS, it has a single exhaust outlet. The idea was that it weighed less than a dual exhaust. Only the 98 SS has this exhaust. The car is also suprisingly loud for a stock GM exhaust (it sounds good).Ken
Click to expand...

Not true. If the original buyer checked the box for SLP exhaust, you could have it on any year SS. My brother's 97 and 96 have every SLP option you could get.

When the SS first came out and you ordered the optional SLP exhaust you got the "two out the left" or TOTL. The exhaust code is 20TL. The systems installed in 96 did not have the cone of silence in them so they were pretty loud :yes:. This system also made the most horsepower because they flowed really well. Somebody (EPA) told GM/SLP that the sound level was too high and to fix it. The solution was the infamous "cone of silence" which is essentially a tapered washer welded into the end of the exhaust pipe where is goes into the muffler. It reduces the diameter of the pipe from 3" down to about 1.5". When my brother took his out - big difference in sound - and seat of the pants too. Anyway, sometime in mid year 1997, GM/SLP decided to get rid of the TOTL because of the noise issue and people bitching that it didn't have a dual exhaust. They started installing the dual/dual outlet pipe instead of the TOTL sometime in the midyear. This system didn't quite flow as much but was quieter and also looks pretty good.

So: An original 1997 SS could have one of three exhaust systems and be 100% correct. The SLP TOTL, the SLP dual/dual, or the GM Z28 set up which has two chrome RECTANGULAR exhaust outlets.

BTW, of the 957 1997 30th Anniversary SS cars, 871 had the optional SLP exhaust. If you have one of the 30th SS cars with the stock Z28 exhaust, think real hard before you change it! There were only 38 30th Anniversary SS T-Tops, 26 coupes, and 22 convertibles sold with the original GM Z28 exhaust. I'd imagine the numbers are very similar for the regular 97 SS cars.

Hope this helps!
 
Well i seen it and drove it...hard lol.

Anyone thinking a Mark can't be faster then this car for a couple grand knows nothing about our cars lol. I loved it, but seriously my 96 LSC would be just as fast if not faster with 4.10's and a 100 shot spray. Although the LS1 is a great engine, it seriously SUCKS with the Auto transmission, and i mean SUCKS!!! All the power in this car was from 4K and up....no low end at all, similar to our 4.6's.

I need a stick shift car......my search continues.......
 
Camaro's are fun cars in a stick shift! It all depends what you want to do with the car. An automatic can be built to haul @ss if you got the money but if yor going to just have fun with it, then a 6 speed is what you want. I like the 93-97 era for the camaro with the 4 headlight setup! Good luck with your search!
 
You know what it is also though i believe the gears in the Camaro were obviously stock, i think they're 2.73 if im not mistaken. Lol why the hell do they have such loooong gearing it kills the acceleration jeez. I can imagine how fast it would be with a gear swap THAT would be a fun auto car.
 
philly0420 said:
Not true. If the original buyer checked the box for SLP exhaust, you could have it on any year SS. My brother's 97 and 96 have every SLP option you could get.

When the SS first came out and you ordered the optional SLP exhaust you got the "two out the left" or TOTL. The exhaust code is 20TL. The systems installed in 96 did not have the cone of silence in them so they were pretty loud :yes:. This system also made the most horsepower because they flowed really well. Somebody (EPA) told GM/SLP that the sound level was too high and to fix it. The solution was the infamous "cone of silence" which is essentially a tapered washer welded into the end of the exhaust pipe where is goes into the muffler. It reduces the diameter of the pipe from 3" down to about 1.5". When my brother took his out - big difference in sound - and seat of the pants too. Anyway, sometime in mid year 1997, GM/SLP decided to get rid of the TOTL because of the noise issue and people bitching that it didn't have a dual exhaust. They started installing the dual/dual outlet pipe instead of the TOTL sometime in the midyear. This system didn't quite flow as much but was quieter and also looks pretty good.

So: An original 1997 SS could have one of three exhaust systems and be 100% correct. The SLP TOTL, the SLP dual/dual, or the GM Z28 set up which has two chrome RECTANGULAR exhaust outlets.

BTW, of the 957 1997 30th Anniversary SS cars, 871 had the optional SLP exhaust. If you have one of the 30th SS cars with the stock Z28 exhaust, think real hard before you change it! There were only 38 30th Anniversary SS T-Tops, 26 coupes, and 22 convertibles sold with the original GM Z28 exhaust. I'd imagine the numbers are very similar for the regular 97 SS cars.

Hope this helps!
Click to expand...

Not that it matters much but TOTL is different than one 3-inch exhaust. My understanding of the TOTL is it is dual exhaust coming out 1-side, the left. I meant the 98 SS is the only single exhaust pipe Camaro SS. The 98 SS has a single 3-inch exhaust and it is on the 98 SS only (at least as far as I know?). Here's a pic........
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1998...5466767?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item230b6bc20f

I don't know if this exhaust was optional or not, it's on my brother's and the one in the e-bay link above. At first glance people think his car is a V6 with SS badges.

One of the reasons my brother hasn't changed it to a perfomance exhaust is because it's so odd..........and it sounds good.

I'm not sure all the Mark VIII owners need to know Camaro SS exhaust trivia?! :) lol
 
What are you looking for..... speed? How much $$$ you wanna spend? You going to mod the car. Get a bank loan and buy a modded car for 7 grand. A gto is going to be better in hp and handling then the ss imo.
 
Lol good luck finding a Goat for under 12K hahahahahaha!!!

Nah i hate GTO's body they are ugly and plain. I want a 6 speed Camaro SS/Z28 but there are not too many out there.
 
I would do a carfax, and check to see if its a real SS. To the best of my Knowledge, they never made any automatic Super Sport in 1998. They all had the six speed.
 
Tamaqua03 said:
I would do a carfax, and check to see if its a real SS. To the best of my Knowledge, they never made any automatic Super Sport in 1998. They all had the six speed.
Click to expand...
Yes they did.
 
The omen said:
These are neat cars and don't run too bad. I used to beat the hell out them when I would go repo'n with my buddy and we would get one with keys:D
Click to expand...

An old buddy of mine had an 04. Did some cutting in the rear to fit some 305 series tires out back. Add a cam and it sounded nice side exhaust.
 
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