Thread: 97 GTP, no anti-freeze, blew freeze plug out. Worth to buy?

Like the title says, my GF's Dad has a 97 red 2 door GTP with 220k on it, said he'd sell it for $500. This would be my 3rd one. It needs tires, driver side wheel bearing, along with whatever else having just water in it and freezing caused. The purpose of this thread, is to see what other problems I may find along with the freeze plugs, and elbows i'm sure. I've posted on other forums, and they've said there's a good chance the block would be cracked. I haven't really gotten the chance to check it out, under the hood wise. I have the opportunity to work on it and try to get it running before I buy it. I'm not going to throw a lot of money at it. I've got about $500 to get it running. That's the budget anyway.

Think it's worth it? What are my problem areas going to be? What should I expect? The car is in fairly decent shape, no dents, a small scrape on the front bumper(which is the OEM, btw.), HUD works, black leather's in good shape. Everything works.

I've always loved the GTP's for daily driving. And I would really like having this one, as long as it's not going to be a major headache. If I do get it running, and end up buying it. The only mods I would do would be, U bend delete, Cold air, ZZP tune, shift kit, and maybe mufflers. Other than that, i'm leaving it stock and going to drive it til the wheels fall off. Or the trans goes. Lol

Thanks in advance for the advice guys, it's nearly impossible to find a good tech forum for GP's anymore, as Clubgp has gone to ****.

It'd probably just be easier to get a motor from the junkyard then to deal with the headache this motor is probably going to cause.

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That's my fear. I'm not going to go through all the trouble, I was trying to fix it for under $1,000.

Honestly if it was me it'd be new motor or nothing it's really not that hard to change a motor. If the body, interior are in that good of shape and the tranny shifts Okay I'd do it.

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Originally Posted by Tonkin2000GT

Honestly if it was me it'd be new motor or nothing it's really not that hard to change a motor. If the body, interior are in that good of shape and the tranny shifts Okay I'd do it.

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I'm capable of changing the engine, it's just I don't really need another car, I have a nice daily. I was just buying it hopes of being able to put a GTP on the road for under $1,000.

people have gotten the rear plug out and put a block heater in. cause you cant swing a hammer between the tranny and block.


id fix it and keep it for a spare or flip it.

Originally Posted by Scottydoggs

people have gotten the rear plug out and put a block heater in. cause you cant swing a hammer between the tranny and block.


id fix it and keep it for a spare or flip it.

I've never put one in before, but I imagine it will be a pain. But that's not the main problem, that will come after I put the plug back in, fill up all the fluids and I fire it up and see what's leaking.

Originally Posted by FordMan77

I'd bet the LIM gaskets need to be changed along with the coolant elbows. Just a guess though. If you scour the interwebs you could find a motor for less than $500, change some gaskets, change fluids and get it running for around the $1K mark. Then you have a nice GTP you can sell for a profit.

The elbows I planned on replacing anyway. I'd say i'd be a bit over my budget, but i'd be willing to do that if it would be a reliable daily...But there's no guarantees with used engines. It also needs a battery, forgot about that.

Check the rear strut towers. The car may look GREAT from the outside but on the inside it might be nice and rusty. Since you're in Indiana I'm going to assume it's been in the rust belt.

The last 4-5 W-bodies I've looked at from CL were decent on the outside but the strut towers were completely gone.

Originally Posted by buck531

Check the rear strut towers. The car may look GREAT from the outside but on the inside it might be nice and rusty. Since you're in Indiana I'm going to assume it's been in the rust belt.

The last 4-5 W-bodies I've looked at from CL were decent on the outside but the strut towers were completely gone.

I'm staying at the casino tonight, i'll check tomorrow afternoon if the weather is worth a ****. Thanks for the heads up.