Cascade Crew

IROCDave · Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2014 1:53 am Post subject: Opportunity Knocks....

I met (Steve) a guy +/- 3 years ago on a job that had a 2006 GTO that had every aftermarket suspension part Holden offered on his 2006 GTO. He used it for track days at PR's. I introduced him to my brother who has an 05 GTO.
Long story short, Steve's wife got a great job in San Frisco and they moved 2 years ago. Last year Steve asked if I wanted to buy his GTO, I wasn't in a position to pick it up. I told my brother about it and he bought it for his son (Jason) who was in the Army in Afghanistan.
Jason came home last fall and has been driving the car since. Jason is using his GI bill to go the central College. He got sideways on the way home this morning on Stevens pass and a semi ran over the nose of the car and it stuffed in to a snow bank. He was not injured. From the single picture I have seen all of the damage appears to be on the front clip, in front of the radiator. This car has 10K invested in suspension and brakes before my brother bought it for his kid.
I would be really interested in putting the motor and transmission in my 87 IROC...but it I feel like I am poaching. What would be a fair price for an 06 6.0 litre and 6 speed manual transmission?

What I should do is trade him my wifes 03 Tahoe that runs great and has 115K on it. She wants a new Denali or almost new Escalade anyway.

Thoughts?

Alphius · Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2014 7:58 am Post subject:

eBay is notoriously slightly overpriced but most '06 GTO LS2/T56 on there are going for around 6-7k with low mileage.
I got my '02 Camaro LS1 and T56 with 89k miles and all accessories/harness for under $4k shipped as a comparison point.

Keep in mind that for a thirdgen swap you will need a lot of parts if you are using a GTO engine. You need the F-Body oilpan and front accessory drive as well as an F-Body T56 shifter cup and shifter. You will also need to either convert the LS2 to cable throttle or find a way to mount and use the DBW throttle and TAC module in your Camaro. In addition, you need the conversion mounts and transmission crossmember to bolt the whole thing into your car. There are some caveats to keeping A/C, however there are multiple ways around that problem depending on what you want to do.

Since I have done this swap in my thirdgen recently, if you decide to move forward with it I am available (and close!) to show you my car, talk about the swap, help with yours, anything you need.

iansane · Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2014 10:30 pm Post subject:

I will buy your oilpan if you do pick this up for the '87. Very Happy

On a financial note, I have no idea what they're worth. As a complete unit 5k wouldn't surprise me. Since you have the entire car, doing the DBW intake would be fairly straight forward. GTO Pedal assembly/TAC module. I was under the impression you could use the GTO acc though?

Alphius · Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 9:00 am Post subject:

After some more research I might have been wrong about the GTO accessories. They may work as they are very similar to the F-Body accessory drive.

IROCDave · Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2014 10:26 pm Post subject:

My brother wants to spend some time looking the car over to see if it's worth repairing. Borrowed a car trailer from work and going over tomorrow morning to pick it up from Ellensburg and bring it back to my brothers garage. I cant see my nephew repairing it, parts are ridiculously priced from GM and my nephew only had basic insurance. He would be better off buying another GTO and transferring the parts he wants and parting out the rest.

IROCDave · Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 11:39 pm Post subject:

Picked the car up this morning and brought it back to my brothers home. Had to go to a company awards party so couldn't stick around for the autopsy. What I do know is that the frame horns are bent down and both front fenders are hitting the front edge of the doors. The radiator is shot and was pushed back in to the accessory drive. It would need every part of the front clip including the frame rails. It looks like it is sitting level but with all the debris hanging off it I could tell how far back the frame horns are bent.
I cant see my nephew repairing the car, it would have to go on a frame rack first. People part these things out all the time and there are a couple of rollers on LS1GTO for sale but none close.
On the way over my brother said the guy that built his engine said the engine, transmission and wiring harness were worth 2K. I told him BS and if it comes down to that I would pay more for it.

The dilemma is that my brothers wife doesn't want the car at their house for long and my nephew doesn't have a place to store it and or the funds that it would take to fix it. How many times has this scenario played out over the last 50 years, LOL.

Anyhow, I told my brother to let his son make the decision as to how to proceed, just keep me posted as to what he wants for the engine and transmission. I'll try and post up some pics later.

iansane · Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 10:53 am Post subject:

2k?! That's just nuts. Double that, at least.

IROCDave · Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 1:51 pm Post subject:

Waiting for the other pictures to up load. An yes, 2K is way to low.

iansane · Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 3:45 pm Post subject:

Looks sad and frumpy.

Alphius · Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:50 pm Post subject:

Ouch. That looks like it would take more than it is worth to repair for sure.