Need some help with which one to buy?

[NitrousMan]

I'm looking at buying a GN and I've located 2 possible cars.

Car #1 is a one owner car with 105000 miles on it and is all stock except for a K&N filter and a chip. The car was repainted 2 years ago with all the weather stripping replaced and T-Top seals replaced. Interior is mint condition with the digital dash and no gauges added. The motor and trans have never been rebuilt but have had the fluids changed at regular intervals and the car has had the A/C upgraded to R-134. The rearend is a stock posi with 342 gears. The owner did replace the exhaust with a dual exhaust 2.5" system. The car has stock wheels on it with newer tires. The car has never been wrecked. He will take 7500.00 for it.

Car #2 is on it's 3rd owner with 153000 miles on it. The motor is all stock but it has had some things added to it.

Red Armstrong XP pump w/Billet regulator.
Cold air induction w/K&N filter
LT1 MAF w/Translator
009 42 lb. injectors
power plate
Progressive alcohol inj.(6 mos old)
F body radiator w/dual fans
3 in. Down pipe
Hooker Cat Back dual exhaust w/test pipe
New timing chain and gears
upgraded rockershafts w/LT1 comp cam valvesprings
Tubular lower control arms w/poly bushings
Eaton posi
Driver side airbag
pinion snubber
line lock
Vacumn brake conversion
Nitto 275 extreme drag radials (1500 mi.)
GNX flares
Direct Scan w/laptop

The car was repainted about 5 years ago with all the weather stripping replaced and looks very nice except for a small chip on the bottom of the door that has a little rust and on the hood and fender it was hit with a shingle that scratched the paint to the point that it can't be buffed out but no dent. This car has the standard dash. The car has stock wheels on it. The interior is not perfect but it appears to only need a few things like the covers for the screws that hold the door straps on and it has a monster tach that has a large hole drilled through the side of the dash to the right of the speedo and just normal wear and tear. This is a solid roof car. The A/C has been upgraded to R-134 but the vents will only blow on the floor and the antenna doesn't go up. The car has knock, oil pressure and boost gauges. This car is just under 7500.00.

I'm looking for a daily driver but I would like to be able to get it into the 11's without hurting it's reliability sometime in the future. From everyone's experience here which car do you think would be more reliable and a longer lasting car? Thanks for any input.

 

[strikeeagle]

Neither. The nice one has T roofs (which totally suk azz) and the beat one is, well, beat...

 

[NitrousMan]

Why are the T-Tops bad? Why do you think the other one is beat?

 

[cwelk87gn]

I'd have to vote for car #1. Like strikeeagle said T-tops aren't really the most desirable option because they take away from the structural rigidity of the car causing the car to flex badly under hard acceleration and they are bad about leaking and rattling. However, if you plan on cruising around on nice days with the tops out and keeping it in the garage, I think it would be a good buy. The #2 car sounds like its ragged out.

 

[vicious6]

I would definitely buy car #1. That is my opinion. The only drawback with the T-Tops is that they do rattle, sometimes leak, and yes they do effect the rigidity of the body. But there are some things you can do to remedy these problems. Adjust the T-Tops to stop the rattling, change the weatherstripping to remedy the leaks, and install additional braces such as the GNX style braces which go in the trunk behind the back seat. I have a set of these in my GN and they seem to help alot. With the first car you know pretty much what you are getting being a 1 owner and all. The second car you know as well...a car that has been run hard. Just my 2 cents.

 

[no-nos]

i was going with car #2 until you said iy has a knock ,
do you know what the knock is? cause the upgrades are a good combo, but if not go with #1 imo

 

[NitrousMan]

My Dad has a T-Top car and his solution to handle the 1100+ ft lbs of torque was a full Halo cage. I know the T-Top one will have more flex but in it's current stock form I wouldn't think it would be a problem. The first thing I would do if I got it would be to put all the GNX braces in it. To look at car #2 you wouldn't think that it was beat. The car was all stock until the last owner bought it with just over 130000 miles on it and it's always been garage kept down south so it's never seen snow. Does the price on both cars sound about right?

 

[kh440]

Gotta go with the herd here. 153k and you don't know what it's been through you're rolling the dice, but with all those mods it's a pretty safe bet it's been run hard, plus interior refurbishing isn't cheap. I might buy at 6000 but not 7500.

 

[NitrousMan]

Is the price on car #1 good?

 

[no-nos]

i'd say yes, it's about right i've seen some go higher than that, both cars are priced good except car#2 has that dam knock which would definetly lower the price imo.

 

[NitrousMan]

It has a knock gauge not an engine knock.

 

[NitrousMan]

ttt

 

[vicious6]

Yes the price on the first car sounds fairly reasonable considering the way they are going through the roof at this point!!!!

 

[NitrousMan]

I see a lot of people asking big money for their GN's but I don't see a lot of them selling.

 

[CHARGED]

I like the idea of a one owner car as they are usually kept better and not beat on.
But a stock car can be beat on just as much as a modded car, all you need is a threaded rod, a chip with too much timing and the wrong gas with no tuning equipment and boom

Wouldn't pay much attention to the rigidity factor of Ttops if this will be nothing more then an 11sec daily car. I have both and guess which one has the stress cracks on the pillar, yes the hardtop and it was stock when I bought it. If the Ttop seals were done right they shouldn't leak or have much air noise so I'd say if you don't mind them get it.

Since they are higher mi cars I'd get a compression test done at the least, check for crank play, which one idles smoother, trans slipage, noise from the rearend, ect
Either one you get you may possibly be looking at a trans or engine overhaul in its near future.

Even thou the 2nd one has alot of $'s in mods I like the 1st one as the slightly better buy as I'd rather do the little upgrades myself anyway and just hope the original owner loved her and didn't beat on her. JMHO

 

[no-nos]

Originally posted by NitrousMan
It has a knock gauge not an engine knock.

i'd say car#2 i thought it was a knock in the engine, i say car#2 cause eventualy you may want to upgrade and at that price your saving alot of green, your getting a solid roof and the car should run nicely, the ac might just be a hose mine does that at times, i know it the hose that's back by the distributer?( not sure on speeling) i would go with#2 save money on mods the car sounds like it was taken care of i would'nt worry to much about the miles

 

[NitrousMan]

The one owner #1 car is having difficulty finding someone with a digital camera so he can send me pictures so hopefully he can do it soon or the other car might be gone. The vent problem on car #2 he thinks is just some valve in the dash that goes bad on GN's I guess. The only thing that really bothers me on #1 is it's been kept outside since it was new because he doesn't have a garage. It may be fine since it just had a paint job 2 years ago with all the weather stripping replaced but what about the undercarriage? Couldn't that be rotted out from being outside year round in a northern state? Hopefully he gets some pictures sent out soon.