New here - Should I Buy this car?

[lttletimmy]

Hey Guys,

I've been lurking for a while and I finally feel like I'm ready to get a 240sx as a track car. I stumbled upon this one and it seems like it would ultimately save me a lot of money since so much is already done, but it seems hard for me to justify spending this much on a primered S13 that's not perfect.

I drove it today and it seems solid for the most part, and seems to have been very well maintained.

here's the car:
Cars For Sale: Car Details - AutoTrader.com (http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?ct=p&car_id=250140854&dealer_id=63166355&car_year=1990&model=240SX&num_records=25&systime=&make2=&highlightFirstMakeModel=&start_year=1981&keywordsfyc=&keywordsfyc=&keywordsrep=&keywordsrep=&engine=&certified=&body_code=0&fuel=&awsp=false&search_type=both&distance=100&marketZipError=false&search_lang=en&showZipError=n&make=NISSAN&keywords_display=&color=&page_location=findacar%3A%3Aispsearchform&min_price=1&drive=&default_sort=priceDESC&seller_type=b&max_mileage=&style_flag=1&sort_type=priceDESC&address=91423&advanced=&end_year=2009&doors=&transmission=&max_price=8500&cardist=5)

and can also be seen here:
1990 Nissan 240sx W/ SR20 Det. (http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/cto/824489692.html)

I assume he's asking the lower price ($7500).

The good:
has a lot of parts I would have bought anyway, including:
S14 SR20DET with 74k km (~46k miles)
Nismo 2-way LSD
Tein Super Drift coilovers
hybrid intercooler
5-lug
Z32 brakes
seems well maintained
would most likely save me in the long run

The bad:
Needs a paint job
needs a new roll cage and harness bar (I'd prefer something beefier)
needs new seatbelt harnesses (has 4 pts that were cut in theft)
needs new seats to accommodate the 6 pt harness i plan to run
steering wheel is crooked
water temp guage doesn't work
windshield is tinted which I don't dig
Not yet CA registered, but he said he'd take care of that for me

So ultimately I'd probably end up spending 2-3k on top of the car's cost to get it in track ready shape in my eyes. I would also probably swap out the emanage with an enthalpy tune.

Anyone have any thoughts or feedback on the car? I'm somewhat leaning towards getting it but I'm pretty torn right now. Does this seem like a decent deal to you guys?

[mannynbd]

looks clean i would check it out and ask the guy to lower the price, its also going to be a pain having to register it. for 7k you can find something better

[n_my_coupe]

ill sell you my 91 coupe with a fresh RB20 for 2700.00 and you could put what you want on it..coilovers,wheels, roll cage.etc you could buy mine and build a way nicer car

[MrFairlady]

for 7k you can find something better

Damn...maybe in Socal.Must be nice to be the 240sx capital of the world.


I'm about to pay $6800 for a 91 hatch: thats not S14 SR'd or 5 lugged,....but its GT2871,SR,Nismo Lsd,fmic,etc,etc - SE wheels - Clean Interior 260+/-whp?

of course Cali is obviously where its @ for a S13..or any S chassis.:-/

[Ben G]

agreed 7k something alot better idk about that clean though

[lttletimmy]

So you guys think I can get a more complete car than this for less? I've been looking and this one seems to stand out from the crowd. Does anyone know of any better examples for sale right now?

[thats14guy]

for 7k you can find a high mileage s14 kouki 5 speed with sr

[Boostin on you]

MAKE YOUR OWN CAR with that money.

[racepar1]

Build another car from the ground-up yourself. Dealing with somebody else's janky ass work is frustrating. If your work is janky then at least you have nobody to blame but yourself.

[lttletimmy]

Building my own car is tempting and was my original plan but my garage access is limited, especially if it's going to involve dropping an engine. Also, if you add up the parts on this car without counting labor it comes out to waaaaaaay more than the asking price, but i do agree I should try to talk him down.

I definitely wouldn't mind finding a cheaper swapped car and doing the rest of the work myself, but it will be hard to do it on a budget, especially considering this is an S14 SR with fairly low miles and no probs.

Or am I just too new to realize how common something like this car is? :hide:

[drift freaq]

Building my own car is tempting and was my original plan but my garage access is limited, especially if it's going to involve dropping an engine. Also, if you add up the parts on this car without counting labor it comes out to waaaaaaay more than the asking price, but i do agree I should try to talk him down.

I definitely wouldn't mind finding a cheaper swapped car and doing the rest of the work myself, but it will be hard to do it on a budget, especially considering this is an S14 SR with fairly low miles and no probs.

Or am I just too new to realize how common something like this car is? :hide:
That car is way overpriced in the current market. SR cars are going cheap in California these days. I know I have picked up several and taken them back to stock or parted them. You would be basically buying that guys car for the sake of the parts and paying to much.

If you really must have a SR car keep on looking as there have been cars even posted on Zilvia with S14SR's in better condition than that car and under 5k.

[Cloud9]

MAKE YOUR OWN CAR with that money.

yeah that what i thought so i did, and i ended up paying 3k more. Only plus is i put in it what i wanted and all. so with this said. buy a 1k chassis thats clean do your own

[xplicit240]

dude for 7k and your out in cali. you can make your own and better with that kinda money.

take time. most of the guys in this community took time to build their own cars.

trust me in the long run youll appreciate it more and youll care for it more.

just my .02.

atleast when you start your own project you know what needs to be done and whats already done. and you can learn on the way.

[Yellow4g63]

let him register the car and take care of all that stuff before money changes hands. Seems kinda high for a S13 with little mods. Seems like your really paying for the S14 SR20DET. If your not good with cars take someone with you to look it over or go with him to a shop and have them look over the car.

[honeybadger]

You can spend way less money and buy just as good of a headache (cuz thats what that car is)

[lttletimmy]

let him register the car and take care of all that stuff before money changes hands. Seems kinda high for a S13 with little mods. Seems like your really paying for the S14 SR20DET. If your not good with cars take someone with you to look it over or go with him to a shop and have them look over the car.

I feel good with cars, I just don't have the resources to facilitate doing an engine transplant myself. I'll definitely let him take care of the registration and everything before I get it, if I do. This thread is definitely swaying my decision at the moment, and I'll definitely give it some time to think it over.

Maybe I'm just not used to how much people mod their S13s, but this seems like a lot of mods to me:

Engine:
• S14 SR20DET Engine Swap
• Blitz Blow off Valve
• Koyo Aluminium Radiator
• Dual Flex-a-Lite Fans
• Hybrid Bar Plate 3 row Intercooler
• 3” Stainless Down Pipe by Mcineey Motorsports
• 3” Complete Piping
• Warlbro Fuel Pump
• Apexi N1 Muffler
• Nismo Engine mounts
• Greddy Emanage Ulitimate
• Dry Cell Battery relocated to trunk

Drive Train:
• Nismo Limited Slip Diff
• ATTAIN Front hubs
• 91 300ZX Rear Hubs
• Skyline Master Cylinder
• Front and Rear 91 300ZX Drilled & Slotted Brakes
• Stainless Steel Brake Lines
• Tein HE Drift Coil Overs
• Tein Camber Adjusters
• Tein Tention Rods
• Cusco Stress Bars
• Kazama Tie Rods
• PDM Racing Control Arms

Interior:
• Recaro Seats
• Momo Stearing wheel
• Singnal Auto Quick release hub
• Drift knob Ebrake
• Greddy Boost Controller
• Blitz D1 Turbo Timer
• Auto Meter Boost Gauge
• Auto Meter Air Fuel Gauge
• Suede Upholstered Interior
• Cusco 6 Point Roll Cage

I really appreciate all the help and I hope I'm not coming off as defensive, I'm just surprised that people are calling this a lightly modded car and still a bit surprised that, with all these parts, this is considered way overpriced.

[DreEzed]

Have you owned someone else's project before ? It's a pretty big headache especially when things go wrong problems start to pop up and wished you had different parts , etc. It's better off just starting from the ground up.

[drift freaq]

I feel good with cars, I just don't have the resources to facilitate doing an engine transplant myself. I'll definitely let him take care of the registration and everything before I get it, if I do. This thread is definitely swaying my decision at the moment, and I'll definitely give it some time to think it over.

Maybe I'm just not used to how much people mod their S13s, but this seems like a lot of mods to me:

Engine:
• S14 SR20DET Engine Swap
• Blitz Blow off Valve
• Koyo Aluminium Radiator
• Dual Flex-a-Lite Fans
• Hybrid Bar Plate 3 row Intercooler
• 3” Stainless Down Pipe by Mcineey Motorsports
• 3” Complete Piping
• Warlbro Fuel Pump
• Apexi N1 Muffler
• Nismo Engine mounts
• Greddy Emanage Ulitimate
• Dry Cell Battery relocated to trunk

Drive Train:
• Nismo Limited Slip Diff
• ATTAIN Front hubs
• 91 300ZX Rear Hubs
• Skyline Master Cylinder
• Front and Rear 91 300ZX Drilled & Slotted Brakes
• Stainless Steel Brake Lines
• Tein HE Drift Coil Overs
• Tein Camber Adjusters
• Tein Tention Rods
• Cusco Stress Bars
• Kazama Tie Rods
• PDM Racing Control Arms

Interior:
• Recaro Seats
• Momo Stearing wheel
• Singnal Auto Quick release hub
• Drift knob Ebrake
• Greddy Boost Controller
• Blitz D1 Turbo Timer
• Auto Meter Boost Gauge
• Auto Meter Air Fuel Gauge
• Suede Upholstered Interior
• Cusco 6 Point Roll Cage

I really appreciate all the help and I hope I'm not coming off as defensive, I'm just surprised that people are calling this a lightly modded car and still a bit surprised that, with all these parts, this is considered way overpriced.

I told you before, SR cars are going for cheap. Do you have a problem with reading or listening?
Fact is it only looks like he has a lot of mods because he listed every damn thing out. It does have some decent stuff, but some of its kinda old school(TEIN HE) and other parts are just so so.
Though like I said its way overpriced for a car that has a primer paint job and the fact that SR cars with lots of mods have been selling for 5k and under lately.

Plus remember anyone that has done all this stuff most likely has driven it hard. The fact that its primered and not painted makes me suspect the chassis is beat. Seriously with all that stuff I am sure its been driven hard.

[Fonix36]

in my opinion dont by speed make it

[lttletimmy]

I told you before, SR cars are going for cheap. Do you have a problem with reading or listening?


No hard feelings, dude, I was just posting all the parts for the benefit of everyone because it sounded like some people didn't read the full ad. I appreciate the feedback and I'm definitely looking out for cheap SR cars. :cool:

[!Zar!]

That car is worth 3.5k.

4k tops.

I know.

[SexPanda]

shits not worth that much. Its not legal, its been broken into, paint jobs are expensive, blah blah.

I'd offer him 5... tops.

[Rayne]

That car is way overpriced in the current market. SR cars are going cheap in California these days. I know I have picked up several and taken them back to stock or parted them. You would be basically buying that guys car for the sake of the parts and paying to much.

If you really must have a SR car keep on looking as there have been cars even posted on Zilvia with S14SR's in better condition than that car and under 5k.

Build another car from the ground-up yourself. Dealing with somebody else's janky ass work is frustrating. If your work is janky then at least you have nobody to blame but yourself.



The above are quoted due to wisdom.

If the owner is in another state, registering the car in California, is not going to happen. Unless he drops the stock motor in and replaces the intake and exhaust with some thing approved by CARB.

As stated above that car is over priced.

[HS13KLS]

buying a built car and driving it like you built it is so effing lame.
dont be another douche.
and lower the price..
do you really HAVE TO HAVE AN SR?
how old are you btw?

[SexPanda]

do it yourself.
Save some money
find a shell, swap in an sr for 3 grand, check around here for deals on suspension and interior and what not, and for under 10 grand, you will have a beastly track machine you've built yourself, and is twice as good as that one.

[lttletimmy]

I'm 25. This would be a second car. I had no intentions of claiming I had built this car. Wow, I never had any idea I would get this much negative feedback just for asking about buying a modded car and not realizing it was overpriced.

[lttletimmy]

And one other thing, I realize that a lot of the fun is in the build and I've built several project cars before. The thing is that there's something to be said for the time saved, I work 14-15 hours a day and don't have a lot of time to wrench on a project car. It would be nice if I buy a drift project car to be able to actually drive it rather than spend all day in the garage working on it rather than driving it.

I know I can get a stock 240 and build it bit by bit but I would at least like to get something that's a little fun to drive instead of an understeery monster.

I have a good idea of what I'm doing, I just can't spend the amount of time that some of the rest of the people on this board are able to working on the car. I have a good amount of track experience and I feel like I'm in a good place to start transitioning into drifting.

I'm not trying to say anything bad to anyone here, it's just a little frustrating when I instantly get accused of trying to be a douchebag who claims he built the car himself or having my age or experience level questioned. I'm coming from a different place than some of you and am new to the 240 scene, but not to cars in general.

Thanks.

/flame suit on

[xplicit240]

rofl. so buy a shell spend the money for parts. have a shop build it! ahahahahahh

/flame thrower level *HIGH* MAXIMUM

[exitspeed]

No.

Buy a stock car and build it yourself.

[jordanpelly]

This car sounds tight and it would be nice to get a car that battle ready, until you get a nasty surprise because one or more of the parts were mickey moused. you may still be spending time in the garage...

[lttletimmy]

thanks again, i'm definitely leaning towards doing it myself, just need to figure out how to have a car that's up and running in a decent amount of time.

Sorry about the rant earlier, woke up on the wrong side of the bed.