Looking at two cars

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Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Originally Posted By: Vikas
Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Black one was awesome. Needs the intake gasket...so I left. Oh well
How did you figure that out so quickly? It is on the dealer's lot claiming to be immaculate. So, somebody who is not intimate with the model, would have been taken in??

I have had three 3800's but, it was leaking oil out the side externally and had the tail tell sludge in the top of the radiator and in the overflow. Classic intake gasket failure.
Easy fix, car had good heat, didn't over heat and when idling the fans would come on and cool it down. So it is early on in the failure. Ran awesome.

I am not sure a Honda dealer would have known to look for this. The were willing to deal after I noticed it. I can't blame the dealer as the were very nice and it was CLEAN.
I would have grabbed it and done the intake gasket afterwards myself.
 
I did! I just drove it home, they knocked it down to 7500 based off what need to be fixed. Sales tax was 9.8 percent.

Runs great. Valve cover gaskets and MAYBE an intake gasket. It has the updated ones upon closer look. They are metal. So I will do a flush and oil sample in 3000 miles that will tell. I am very happy with it. Pics to follow!
 
Tough call...I think the black car looks better on the outside, but it has some mild mods, which is a little bit of a red flag. Mild mods could mean they really cared about it, or it could mean you have to clean up what someone else did. For example, did they use or make a correct jumper harness to install the TV/touchscreen plaything in the dash, or did they simply chop off the factory pigtail and splice it up? Same with those F-body brakes...are they there just because the owner cared that much, or did they need to upgrade the brakes because they beat on it?

The maroon one, while pretty plain looking, is at least a totally stock car. I also like the cloth interior much better than that greased up leather in the black one.

I'd probably go with the maroon one unless it looks like the black one was maintained better.

OT side note, the dealer with the maroon one also has an Infiniti G35 couple that is the only G35 I can remember seeing with cloth seats. I didn't even know they offered cloth in those cars...
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Drove the black one home. Brakes are bone stock, looked like F-body in the picture. They are red from GM. Engine bone stock the only mod is the Radio. The stock one was in a box in the trunk with paper work form the install at car toys.
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Ran flawless. Parts to fix will be here Friday. Should get to it this weekend. If not no hurry, I will do it after Thanksgiving.
 
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Here it is as home. The aftermarket radio is very nice. Blue Tooth and GPS. Tires are new, an off brand but they ride nice and are quiet. No rattles no squeaks. The transmission surprised me the most, shifts awesome. Best part... the GPS had the old owners phone number it. Gave him a call he gave me the run down. He was unaware that the valve covers needing replacing, the intake gasket was done at his local GM shop, apparently they did a bad flush, score, but I will do it anyway. It takes about 4 hours. Transmission was serviced at 34,000 miles.

He traded it in on a Grand Prix GXP, the V8 one. Heck of a nice guy.
 
COOL!!
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That thing looks SWEET!!

Bonus that the Comp Gs are fairly rare (I don't recall EVER seeing one on the street), so you will not be 'passing yourself' all too often.
GREAT deal on a nice ride (I wish I could get a 'beater' like that!!
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).

Does Borla, SLP, or Corsa make a catback for that car?
 
They do make exhaust, but it is a loud 3800 drone. So stock it stays. I REALLY like this car! HUD, power sunroof, heated seats, lumbar and leg support air adjust, tranny temp.(which was a good indication of how healthy the cooling system is)and a bunch of other stuff I will never use. Much different than the Buick in road manners even though they are both W-Bodies.

Buick still faster
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. My buddy took it home tonight, but he took me to get the car and we did a little blast to 70, He was pulling away
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. The GTP will stay stock 04 requires more work to do a pulley swap.
 
The bad intake gaskets were on the '97-'03 3.1, 3.4 and 3.8 engines. The problem was fixed at the end of the 2003 model year and the '04 and newer cars did not have that problem. Can't speak for the valve cover gaskets.

You got a great car. Enjoy.
 
Nice car. I clicked the link for the black one and the website said it was sold. Before I skipped to the last page...figured you took it home. Nice score.
 
So I flushed it tonight. Replaced the hoses, minus the heater hoses. It appears they did a good job on the gasket, the radiator was spotless, the over flow had all the [censored], cleaned that out. Upon further inspection I found that it also had a brand new GM water pump. So someone did it right. Just needed another flush. Valve cover gaskets this weekend and that is it.

Glad I looked at. This has been my favorite 3800 car thus far.
 
Might as well change the supercharger fluid while you're in there as you don't know if it's the original. Cheap insurance.
 
Originally Posted By: dailydriver
Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Glad I looked at. This has been my favorite 3800 car thus far.


Does it seem any more balanced and responsive handling wise ('tossable'?) than the Buick, so far??


Yes! In fact as far as my 3800 cars go, this one is the best!


Originally Posted By: PhillyJoe
Might as well change the supercharger fluid while you're in there as you don't know if it's the original. Cheap insurance.


Good idea. It is cheap insurance. I hate that fluid worst smell ever.
 
Nice car. The blown 3.8 has great torque off idle and is a great highway cruiser.
So did I read that your Buick pulled away from your gtp on the highway. You would have been at full boost pressure so I'm surprised you couldn't blow his doors off.
A friend had a gtp,I'm unsure of the year. The digital display had a gauge that showed boost percentage which was nice when trying to drive for fuel economy.
The wide track really helped the car feel planted to the road. Nice cars.
 
Originally Posted By: Clevy
Nice car. The blown 3.8 has great torque off idle and is a great highway cruiser.
So did I read that your Buick pulled away from your gtp on the highway. You would have been at full boost pressure so I'm surprised you couldn't blow his doors off.
A friend had a gtp,I'm unsure of the year. The digital display had a gauge that showed boost percentage which was nice when trying to drive for fuel economy.
The wide track really helped the car feel planted to the road. Nice cars.

The Buick is supercharged as well, except, I had some mods done to it. The GTP is bone stock probably runs right around 14.80s. The Buick runs 13.70's to 13.90's.
They are essentially the same drive train, but one has a little more love from the previous owner, me.
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
what is "supercharger fluid"? I hope you guys are not pulling "blinker fluid" trick on me!

Superchargers have oil in them to keep them lubricated. It is separate and does not mix with the engine oil.
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
what is "supercharger fluid"? I hope you guys are not pulling "blinker fluid" trick on me!


And it is just in the snout. The actual blower vanes spin on sealed bearings.
 
Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Good idea. It is cheap insurance. I hate that fluid worst smell ever.


Yes, when I had my old '90 T-Bird SC, I used to wear nose plugs when changing that acrid, VILE fluid, just to keep my stomach contents in their place!
When I did get a whiff of it, it kind of smelled like fermented, cheesy, puke mixed with dog excrement, especially the sheared, old stuff coming out of the Magnuson snout.
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