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Opinons on this trade?

G

GoingPontiac

New member
Hey everyone. I currently own two ford mustangs (please dont flame me), and i am going to look at tradeing my 83 5.0 for a pontiac GTP. I dont know much are these cars, but im guessing they are all auto....I just wanted some of your opinions on the trade. My mustang is currently only used in the summer for fun drives and bracket racing. It runs pretty consistant low 14s and has scraped the 13s on a good day. The pontiac im suppose to be looking at has 140,000 miles but the tranny was replaced about 4k ago, and is still under a 1 year warranty. I believe the car is a 2001 and it looks pretty clean from the pictures. The guy wants $3600 for the car, and this would be a straight up trade for my mustang. I have heard these cars can do low 15s to high 14s, and i was wondering if you could verify that. Also, is 140k high for your cars? and should there be any things i need to be looking for that are common on a GTP?

Again please dont flame me for loving fords, and give me some real answers....dont just bull**** because you love pontiacs lol.
 


GoingPontiac said:
Hey everyone. I currently own two ford mustangs (please dont flame me), and i am going to look at tradeing my 83 5.0 for a pontiac GTP. I dont know much are these cars, but im guessing they are all auto....I just wanted some of your opinions on the trade. My mustang is currently only used in the summer for fun drives and bracket racing. It runs pretty consistant low 14s and has scraped the 13s on a good day. The pontiac im suppose to be looking at has 140,000 miles but the tranny was replaced about 4k ago, and is still under a 1 year warranty. I believe the car is a 2001 and it looks pretty clean from the pictures. The guy wants $3600 for the car, and this would be a straight up trade for my mustang. I have heard these cars can do low 15s to high 14s, and i was wondering if you could verify that. Also, is 140k high for your cars? and should there be any things i need to be looking for that are common on a GTP?

Again please dont flame me for loving fords, and give me some real answers....dont just bull**** because you love pontiacs lol.
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the $$ sounds just abot right for the mileage on the car, if it's in good shape. with good choice of fairly basic mods, you can be in the 13's pretty easily.....but with the car having 140k miles on it, i wouldnt go all out on mods to the engine, especially if it hasnt had any modding done to it thus far. with a stock motor, at that point, a daily driver no-mod theory would be best for it. However, you could indeed nab a low-mileage motor to play with, but if you're too hard on the new trans, that will go too, if it was just a stock rebuild/replacement.

it really depends what you intend to do with the grand prix.
 
I have 160k on my '97 and only trouble has been the trans (just replaced) they are auto (even better for bracket racing) sounds fairly even on trade I would guess. The real question is do you prefer playing with the rear drive, or can you deal with front drive
 
A stock GTP runs between a 14.8- 15.2. with very minimal mods you can run a mid to high 13. they are vry consistent. a 2001 is a very good year for the GTP's....

I would have honestly traded in a heart beat. the GTP's are very reliable.

5.0's....sounds like you take very good care of it. why are you having second thoughts?
 


It is actually a 1997 not a 2001....i had my information mixed up. The only reason i am having second thoughts is because i already have a daily driver and i just keep a second car for fun. If i were to trade i would probably do some exhaust and intake work. Besides that i would go with a smaller pulley to up the boost a tad and then i would be happy with the car. I am worried because it is a high mileage engine, and i dont know anything about these pontiacs.
 
GoingPontiac said:
Also, is 140k high for your cars? and should there be any things i need to be looking for that are common on a GTP?
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Nope, that mileage isn't high for these cars. I have well over that, and going strong.

But don't think it will run without any maintenance. You are going to run into things like oil leaks from valve covers & oil pan. LIM gasket, if it was never done before. Supercharger coupler. Belts & pulleys. Wheel bearings going bad. Struts going out. Tie Rod ends shot. Power steering rack and pump going south.

While these are basically minor things that are fairly easy and cheap to take care of, they can be a nuisance to some, and a deterrent from driving the car. While I love my GTP and think it is a great running car, someone else might not think the same thing. My in-laws for one think I spend too much time working on my car. I think they spend too much damn money on car payments every month. :D
 
these blocks can withstand a lot of power, the current record holding FWD GTP at 9 seconds has a stock bottom end. I believe a few 97's have been known to be weaker than the later years if I'm not mistaken but 97's will still do a good job.

140,000 miles on a 97 and you want to run conistantly on minimal mods is achievable. The first thing I would get is a guage that will tell you your knock, at all times, wired into the car, some people just scan once for knock and think they're fine but it will change since the weather and conditions are hardly ever the same.

The work you would need done to run a 3.5 or 3.4 pulley from the factory 3.8" pulley would be first to get some exhaust work done. To run a 3.4, you need at least front powerlog since it is the most restrictive manifold compared to the rear, then you need a 3 inch downpipe with a u-bend delete. Check the for sale section here and other sites for deals on downpipes and powerlogs/ported manifolds. You could probably skip the front powerlog and go with a 3.5" pulley, either way scan for knock.

The next step would be to get some intake work done, there is a write-up in the "How To" section for ideas on building a fender well intake. After you get a cold air intake it is time to do some pcm work and extras. You can get a pcm 1.0 with a tune for a 3.4 and cold air intake from multiple vendor's for $100.

Next put in some colder plugs, a lot of people go with Autolite 104's. few $'s

After that work is complete, then add the 3.4" pulley, and watch for knock. Should put you at high 13's low 14's.

At the track since it is a higher mileage car, you may want to put something to block your back springs so it doesnt shift all the weight back there at launch, my car has some higher rate gm springs in the rear as it solves the rear end sagging problem on the gp's.
 


97;s have a ****ty computer system, a vac controlled trans, and its a first year car.

its widely know not to buy the first of anyting
 
scooz14 said:
97;s have a ****ty computer system, a vac controlled trans, and its a first year car.

its widely know not to buy the first of anyting
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ummm you're a bit harsh on the 97's

are the elec systems different? yep. are they more problematic than the 98 and up? nope. vac controlled trans? nope not on my 4t65E-HD in my GTP. the GT/SE with 4t60? yeah i think they do.... but not the GTP

and while i see your point about not buying first year cars, i can see that to a point, but moreso this is true in the first year or two of the car... this late in the game, its not that big of a deal.
 
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My GTP (and the one that the OP is considering) does not have a vacuum controlled tranny. The 97 GTs do....as has already been pointed out.

As for the PCM, I have a PT and can tune my car just like anyone else. Nothing different. Sure there are some minor differences, but nothing that is limiting me from running fast, or efficient, etc.

As i said, I have had 2 97s, put almost 100k miles on them, and have had zero problems associated with the first year of production.
 


Mine is a '97. 163k mi. No major problems.....yet. But, I do agree with the first year of new bodystyle. They seem to do the next year a little better. The first one is kinda like a lab experiment. In my opinion.
I would have done the deal. Trade!
 
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