Camaro 4th gen LT1 experience

[a112]

As I'm becoming mentally older, I ditched various ideas about the vehicles I would like to have in future due to various reasons.

- Moved to a larger city where I mostly go straight in traffic.
- Currently driving Alfa Romeo 166 2.5 V6 24V that I love (and hate) and it's (unfortunately) a manual but it's a nice ride and quite well isolated/equipped/comfortable
- As much as I love fast road driving, I'm doing that about 10% of the time now because I don't have anywhere to go drive like that.
- big cars with two pedals and torque suits my needs/likes at this time
- I like stock/standard cars very much lately
- I like rough condition cars that don't look new but fairly used for their age, it gives them the charm and patina ( I know I'm crazy)
- availability of the parts is important
- simplicity of the components is important ( Alfa has 4 cams, 6 coils, transverse layout - every time You're doing something it's best to remove the engine and trans)
- bought a Peugeot 106XSi 1.6 for fast road so my primary car has to be something different than my usual stuff

Drove a W302 '70 Mustang few days ago, loved the engine/trans combo.

I concluded that I would like an old school small block Chevy in my life. The cars in Croatia with that engine are counted in two digits and older ones are expensive.

4th gen F-Body comes to mind and is available, cheap in somewhat good condition.

As the parts availability in Europe is somewhat complicated vs the USA my main questions are:

1. Does it rust?
2. Is it an electrical/trim nightmare?
3. How good/bad is the quality of the interior and switches etc.
4. How often components fail? (that are not the Engine/Trans/Brakes/Drivetrain)
5. Can You live with that car in regular daily life?
6. How good is the ride quality?
7. How good is the steering rack? (slow/fast in comparison to let's say a modern VW or something 90's Japanese
8. Is it fun to drive fast and how well balanced is it?

I'm not looking for the answers like You should buy a newer LS1 equipped Camaro as I found a '95 LT1 car that I'm going to see and I'm not sure is roadworthy so driving is probably not an option. I would like to buy it and make it roadworthy but it's a tough call since there is no another one in the state that I know is on the road.

Again keep in mind that owning an American car in eastern Europe is complicated and expensive.

List of the cars I had/have is really mixed and I would like to keep it that way and explore everything. I'm currently keen on something American to stir up the list.


Thank You all in advance and have a nice day.

 

[Dennisch]

1 yes, but it depends where it lived its life. Check the rear inner wheel arches.

2 Not really, they are relatively simple, yet can have the gremlins. Check the wiring under the dash if possible before buying. If it has been tampered with. Stay away.

3 cheap interior, switches etc are of decent quality.

4 Not more than other cars from the period.

5 Apart from it using quite a bit of fuel, you can.

6 It's a 90's car.

7 It's rack and pinion, but also 24 years old.

8 It's not a sports car, but neither is it a land barge.

95 LT1

You don't want that. The ignition system isn't the greatest design out there.

 

[a112]

Thank You. If Optispark is the biggest problem I'm not so worried as I have a Standalone laying around that could be used to manage the ignition.

 

[Tornado]

1. Does it rust?

Not so much. It has some problem spots (noted by Dennisch), specifically around the rear suspension mounting points, you need to watch out for if it was just completely neglected; but the body panels themselves of this generation F-Body are almost entirely SMC like the C4. No one was typically dumb enough to drive one in winter anyway.

2. Is it an electrical/trim nightmare?

They are largely too simple to really worry about. If it has a BOSE stereo you might as well rip it all out because it was mediocre when it was new and most of the speakers are probably blown. 1995 was the first year of the redesigned Optispark; which was still badly placed in the engine bay but not as susceptible to water damage. The problem with the 4th gen is that the engine is practically under the cowl (less so with the LS1), so some routine maintenance is annoying.

3. How good/bad is the quality of the interior and switches etc.

It is a GM car that isn't the Seville or Aurora from the darkest days of the company, debuting soon after GM's brush with bankruptcy. You will marvel at how the company who designed all of the interior components for a car that they also designed the interior for could come up with pieces that neither fit together well nor look remotely like they entirely belong on the interior hardpoints. Some of the design work approaches those boutique manufacturers from the early 00s (Panoz, Qvale) that stuck random SN-95 Mustang interior pieces in their completely different cars

The main positive is that it at least looks sporty compared to the Catfish restyle, which looks like a Lumina inside and has considerably poorer-wearing materials even if they seem screwed together better.

4. How often components fail? (that are not the Engine/Trans/Brakes/Drivetrain)

They chew up window regulators. They chew up window guides. If you ever slam the humongous doors with their heavy windows, you'll definitely break the latter and maybe the former. Unless it looks new, you will need to replace weatherstripping at some point because if it's not new it probably leaks (especially on T-Tops). They can chew up suspension bushings.


Water pump. Water pump. Water pump. Ask if it has ever been replaced, then replace it anyway.

5. Can You live with that car in regular daily life?

Depends on your commute. They are hard to see out of in a way that is amusingly opposite of the 5th gen. The windows are humongous and actual "blindspots" aren't really there in the common parlance of porthole windows and huge pillars, but you feel like you're laying down when driving one and you basically cannot see any exterior body panel from the inside of the car and the hugely canted windows don't help. Ergonomics are kinda eh because they are also laid out as if you're laying down in the car.


It's not so bad if you're on the taller side.

6. How good is the ride quality?

They absorb bumps fine (too well, in fact), but they can be skittish on really bad roads at high and really low speeds. The seats themselves in the earlier 4th gens are great, with good bolstering but also a soft feel. They are rattly because they are willowy and platicky, but this is something that strategic velcro/foam placement can alleviate (for the trim pieces at least).

7. How good is the steering rack? (slow/fast in comparison to let's say a modern VW or something 90's Japanese

Vague for feel but competent/well weighted.

8. Is it fun to drive fast and how well balanced is it?

The OEM Z28 shocks are atrocious and make the car feel wallowy and more flexy than they actually are (though they are flexy) and should be replaced if nothing else. The brakes are mediocre on the early cars. They can take much more aggressive wheels/tires then they came with (another car that can run 315s all around!), just like the C4; though you don't want to go too crazy or you will shred the rear diff. Many C4/C5/Camaro SS parts bolt right on to improve all three; which makes them handle better, ride better and takes some of the skittishness away. Subframe connectors also help. None of it is expensive to do; though that may be a bit different where you are.


They are well balanced and had staggered tires to try to keep you out of trouble, but at higher speeds they will grip on rails right until the point that they suddenly stop. Crappier roads can exacerbate this. The vague steering can make it hard to tell when you're approaching this point. The improvements noted above help with it a lot, but it will never communicate what it's doing with you as well as, say, an E36 or even a C4.