Almost bought one!

So became very close to becomming an owner of a 92 GTO.

It innitaily looked really good as it recently had about 10k worth of work carried out; engine rebuilt, brakes,
clutch, flywheel, transmission etc. It did need a complete respray and i was fine with that as it was “mechanically sound”…

The cars located 250 miles away from me and initially agreed a price and paid a deposit. That’s when the flood gates opened with some “transparency”…

It started with there’s an engine light on due to the custom exhaust. - thats fine i can live with that and would read the code myself to confirm.

Next thing is the cars putting out too much boost… turns out it has an ameeican aftermarket ecu with an “aggresive map” according to the rebuilder. When i looked into it the USDM map has wrong timings amongst other issues. The rebuilder couldnt change the map it and recommended a stock ecu put back on. Obviously this hasnt been done and no guarantee that it will be a simple (or cheap?) fix with the common issues associated.

When going through the paperwork i also notice as well as the ecu replacement it needs a wheel bearing, 4 wheel alignment and prop shaft bearings. This wasnt previously disclosed ( wheel bearing also didnt appear on the fresh mot)

So with all this in mind i tried to renegotiate the price but in the end walked away… If the engines just been rebuilt and the builder cant get it to run right (although I suspect the owner didnt want to pay for any additional work) what does that say for my chances.

Maybe someone more local or knowledgeable then me would be less worried. For me, it was too much of a risk with the distance driving it 250 miles home.

So i continue on my hunt for a mk1

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I think you have had a lucky escape !!

I have loads of garages call me with Jester, Chrome or other American ECU’s fitted and no one can get them running over here in the UK. Like your engine builder Cant !!

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