Looking to Purchase First G Body

[UNGN]

He told me i could have it for $4,000 but may try to squeeze him a bit. what tells you that it is an 8.5 axle? And why exactly would someone look for that axle in particular?

It definitely should have an 8.5 axle. It may not be posi, however. Look for a G80 on the RPO tag on the trunk lid.

8.5" axles have square corner ears at the bottom sides of the oval.

 

[gbodydam]

Great car for a Turbo LS1. The Hot Airs are slow stock so they may great sleepers. T-tops aren't as desirable as hardtops for turbo cars, but people like them. Designer series cars are desirable over std T-type.

From the weeds in the pictures it looks like a southern car. If so, the rust is from leaves and clay build up and not from road salt, so every bolt on the car isn't fused... that makes its easily worth $6K to the right buyer. The Trans issue could be a the TV cable, or an internal trans adjustment or an abused transmission.

Where are you located?

I am from Massachusetts so road salt galore. I was told it was kept in a barn from 91 until about 6 to 8 months ago. It has only been parked where it is for maybe a month or two.

 

[lilbowtie]

He told me i could have it for $4,000 but may try to squeeze him a bit. what tells you that it is an 8.5 axle? And why exactly would someone look for that axle in particular?

It's the first year they used the 8.5 and you probably know how desirable they are. I can tell with a quick look but they are very similar, google 8.5 vs 7.5 rear end and you can educate yourself.

 

[ed1948]

Take a camera with flash and place the camera facing up, resting on the ground under the body and take:
2 -3 pics per side behind the wheel to bumper, about 5 pics spaced evenly to cover the rockers inward, starting just behind the front wheel to the rear wheel. -3 pics under front and rear bumpers side to side. several close up pics of the T top seals (look for rust staining), pics of gas tank and bottom of engine oil pan and top of engine compartment
The reasons: the rear frame rails rust just behind the rear wheels, the floor pans rust from water leaks especially pass side and the windshield pillars rust from T Top leaks.
A few months ago I was searching for G bodies and I took pictures of the undersides and reviewed them on my PC before making decisions.

 

[UNGN]

A Mass Car, I would check the underside closely. If the car is a G80 car, the original owner might have drove it to work in the snow for a few years, dooming it for eternity.

It looks pretty original and relatively well kept before parked, so maybe not.

 

[ed1948]

The problem with a car being driven on salty roads even for only one winter and then stored for a number of years is that once salty dirt stays on body parts the corrosive element is activated by moisture in the air attacking bare metal (long sentence, I know)

 

[Texas82GP]

The 8.5" rear axle is much stronger than the 7.5" rear axle that most G-body cars came with and since it is a direct swap into a 7.5 equipped car, it is highly sought after.

 

[gbodydam]

Take a camera with flash and place the camera facing up, resting on the ground under the body and take:
2 -3 pics per side behind the wheel to bumper, about 5 pics spaced evenly to cover the rockers inward, starting just behind the front wheel to the rear wheel. -3 pics under front and rear bumpers side to side. several close up pics of the T top seals (look for rust staining), pics of gas tank and bottom of engine oil pan and top of engine compartment
The reasons: the rear frame rails rust just behind the rear wheels, the floor pans rust from water leaks especially pass side and the windshield pillars rust from T Top leaks.
A few months ago I was searching for G bodies and I took pictures of the undersides and reviewed them on my PC before making decisions.

Thanks guys! Will deffinately do this and look closely at the underbody. Praying its clean

 

[thunderball]

in my area the hot air t types and gn's seem to sell slowly even at low prices. perhaps you could talk him down more.

looks like a fun driver.

 

[UNGN]

Hot Airs don't get much respect from Intercooled guys, but they still are port fuel injected and have more HP and Torque than every other Motor besides the intercooled 3.8L that was put into a G-body.

I guess 2nd place is the first loser.

Convert one to E85 and you can run easy 12 second quarter miles with just upgrades that are needed on a 30 year old car anyway (exhaust, fuel pump, injectors, etc).