'78 SA...could be a steal? You tell me...

[Evolution1980]

Was at brunch this morning when I had a guy approach me after seeing my vette outside. Says that he has a 78' Silver Annivery that he is trying to sell ('broker' was the word he used) for a lady that needs to dump the car to afford payments on her new truck.

To keep the story short since I'm also short on the nitty-gritty...
(everything is being taken for face value, so everything here is prefaced by "...supposedly ____")

The car 38K original miles. Good condition. For some reason, the original motor blew up. Had it replaced at a local Chevy dealer not too far from me. The new motor has 1100 miles on it. Blah blah blah...the lady selling it is dumping it for $5500. The car has new radiator, brakes, lines, tires, ...engine..., etc. He has all the paper work to show for it.

My first question right off the bat were: Why/how did the original motor "blow up" after only 38K miles? After that, my concern is how the new engine was broken in. Did they just stomp on the gas and run it hard to see if it performed better than the old one? I'm sure that's a question I won't get answered. Anyways...

I haven't seen the car yet, and know very little about it. Like I said, I was at breakfast, and the guy didn't have the car there. I can't officially afford the car, but I could make arrangements if it really is a steal. Then just turn it around in the spring when prices go up a bit. I know that ain't much info to go on, but what y'all think? The price sounds reasonable. It could be something to jump on, but on the other hand "If it sounds too good to be true..." I've already been on both sides of those two arguments.

 

[Dave L.]

Regardless of the price I would want to see the car first.The price does sound very good.

Dave

 

[78SilvAnniv]

38k on engine, then Ker-BLOOEY!

38k divided by 25 years = 1.52k/year.
IF it was driven every year for the same distance.

BUT... you don't know how many miles driven in a year, how long it may have sat (and dried out) or how often the engine oil was changed if it had infrequent driving.
I think those could contribute to a low mileage motor going to the machine shop in the sky.

As for the new engine...(stupid question coming up...sorry)...how important IS it to 'break-in' a motor and how is it done?
I'm recalling something like the first 500 need to be easy miles done at various rpm's?
What could happen to a brand new engine that is abused right out of the box, what problems would it encounter in the future (or immediately?)
Heidi

$5k sounds like a great price if it is as it has been presented. Of course, do see the vehicle first for your own assessment of "good condition".
h

 

[page62]

Go see it. Everything else is just TALK!

 

[Mad-Mic]

break in period is 1000 miles less than 3500 rpm basically just cruise it. i can't really say if thats right or not for a good break in but thats what the dealer says on all new cars.

as far as break in periods go what is "broken" in is the crank bearings, wrist pins, and rings seal up. when you first drive a car with no miles on it, it will act like it's missing, no power, very muffled and feel just plain dogged out until a few hundred miles. this is VERY important on rings having a good seal. you can tell when it "breaks" in cause it will start revving easier and shouldn't blow any smoke cause the rings are sealed. improper break in can scar the cylinders, crack a ring or spin a bearing on the crank. when i used to race motocross when i was a kid i changed my rings out on my KX 80 and 125 once a month (actually ring and piston) and you could really hear the difference in just a few hours of putting around and feel the difference in power.

on the other hand with our top alcohol dragster the motor is rebuilt after every pass. only thing that is not done (usually) is pull the pistons out. everything else is changed out besides the intake, blower, and heads. all the main bearings are changed heads pulled to look for any burnt pistons basic general check mic'ed and put back together. the only "break" in it gets is about a 15-20 second start which we call a warm up to put some heat in the motor. it is revved up to around 6000 rpm sometimes higher depending on how much heat we need in the motor for the run. i talked about when i first got my C-4 and had to "re-break" her in. basically it was the same deal. the car was never ran hard, had low miles, and acted like a fresh motor. all sluggish, very doggish with not alot of power. after a few hundred miles she started to open up and i started to hammer on her and could tell the difference before i did a complete tune up. i wanted to "re-break" her in before i did the full tune up and trans fluid/filter change.

my guess is when it blew up it didn't blow up like most of us would think a motor would blow up. it probably spun a main bearing or cracked a ring and blew big time smoke. it's not uncommon for this to happen. this doesn't mean the motor wasn't salvagable but to the dealer it was probably cheaper to just replace with a new one than spend the labor costs on getting everything tore down, machined, and put back together. just like if you bought a crate motor and it blew up. you wouldn't just return the spun crank and send them the bill for the costs to fix it. you would return it and they'd send you a brand new one.

if the car was driven semi easy the first few hundred miles i'm sure it's ok best way to find out is just check it out, fire it up, let it warm up, and then look for any leaks, listen for any valve tapage, and look for smoke. after it cools down open the hood look for any visual leaks in the engine compartment then pull the dip stick for both oil and tranny if it's an auto, look at the color of the oil/tranny fluid, then smell it for a burnt smell, and then run your fingers down it feeling for any metal flakes. also look at the end of the dip sticks for discoloration. if the metal of the dipstick(s) is discolored with a dark color it means between fluid changes was way beyond the recommended maintenence schedule. this will give you a good indication on the life of the tranny/motor has left. check the radiator coolant for rust. 2 more things to look for is look up under the car at the shocks look for heavy grease or sludge around the shocks themselves. heavy sludge could mean a bad shock and also look up into the back of the tire (rims) for any sludge there also. if you find some there means it's a leaky caliper and that isn't good either

my theory is after a few hundred miles and she is good to go ride her hard but not too hard. it's ok to go WOT just no big long burnouts and stupid stuff on a fresh car. what happens in theory is the motor tightens up because of more heat it will recieve producing a stronger seal between the rings and cylinder walls which equals a little higher compression and a bit more horsepower.

hope this helps ya Evo and good luck! if it passes them tests you'll have no prob making a few bucks off it and the person your selling to is getting a deal also! plus you know it's in sound operating condition.

 

[cruzer99]

I can't see how you could get hurt at that price. Even if you had to do a major tune-up (belts, hoses, plugs, wires, and fluids).
My 2c's: Engines today really don't require a "break-in" period, just drive them on the road normally and not at the drag strip for a reasonable amount of time.
When a race motor is built it is set up with loose tolerance (like it had 20K or 30K miles on it), to go fast because it will be rebuilt shortly. A factory motor is built with tighter tolerance to last longer and requires you to take it a little easy the 1K miles or so.