Idle hours vs miles when purchasing

[Adisome]

I know this question has probably been beaten into the ground, but I'm looking at buying a non-deleted Caprice. Given the same condition/year/price, would it be smarter to buy a car with 81k miles and 7k idle hours, or one with 174k miles and 4k idle hours? I think either way I'd delete the car down the road; I just don't want anything happening until then. Any input is appreciated.

[elc32955]

This old thread may help you....

https://newcaprice.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 79&p=34839

Eric

[C5Diaz]

My car had 700 idle hours and 127k and a it still had a failed DOD lifter and bent pushrods.

[elc32955]

Idle hours aren't everything. Nothing you can do about a car that gets driven by Officer SpeedRacer all day every day that's goGoGO!!! Except either fix it or shoot it in the head.....

Eric

[JoeR]

I don't care deeply about the mileage or idle hours on these cars. Other than the valvetrain issues, these 6.0s are REALLY durable. The cranks, rods, pistons, rings, valves, guides, seats take an awful lot of wear and tear. While cop cars can get abused, they see decent maintenance.
Because you're going to do a DOD delete on every one of these eventually, do it now and you'll have a really tough setup.

My 1st LS swap was into my 86 C10. The donor van had 300,000 miles on it. I pulled the engine down and took the block to get bored. My machinist sent it back with only new cam bearings and a quick ball hone on it. It didn't need to be bored. I've put another 30k on that engine since. So unless someone dusted the engine with a high flow air filter, or exposed it to extended oil change intervals, you should be OK. It's not that they don't ever break, because they certainly do, but high mileage on them doesn't scare me.
Do a DOD Delete, Get a sensible tune in it. Drive it like you stole it.

Joe

[bstoner]

I agree with Joe. I did a DOD delete, cam, heads, etc. on my 14 that had almost 200k. Most people think you are crazy, the car is worn out, good for the junk yard, etc. at 200k. It was used by a transit agency for the disabled so it was driven a lot. The cylinders looked fantastic. Cam bearings were fine. No buildup in the heads. I was really surprised at the condition of the motor for that high miles. The valves had some pitting on the seats and one of the lifters scored a cam lobe was the extent of the wear. I would be fine buying either one that you describe. Replace the lifters/cam, upgrade the LS3 timing chain tensioner to the LS2 style, and replace the needle bearings in the rocker arms with the CHE Trunnion kit to address potential issues.