Value of 1998 240SX SE?

[alkemyst]

I have been debating recently SR vs LS1 swap for my car...however; I am going for some higher level certifications and may need to get into a more 'professional' car due to job requirements. This sucks as I don't have enough room to keep an extra car here.

It's a 1998 240SX SE (true SE, not a conversion..not a 1995/1996 with kouki lights), about 99,500 miles on the clock. I am the third owner buying it 4 years ago at 70,000 miles. The car is pretty mint with the only defect in the interior being a small slit on the drivers door (about 1" long). I have new window/door seals I still have not put in and most everything else in there is new (mats, upper and lower console panels, new ashtray (non-smoker car but the old ashtray was missing and a CD Changer controller was there), speaker pillar panels, all new clips etc).

The car has been dynamatted front and rear for noise reduction as well with 1/0 guage wire also ran to the rear for a future battery relocation (there is a nice 1/0-4g distribution block for both 4 fused power leads and 4 grounds. It's not a boomer car, but the stereo is really great sounding.

There was one accident in August no unibody/frame damage but the entire front end I have them replace so both headlights, hood, passenger fender, side lights, bumper lights are all brand new.

Mods/replaced items everything was leading up to an engine swap of some sort...it's pretty much ready to go:
Accel Thundersport 300 Plus wires
rotor and cap
NGK V Powers
Black wrinkle powder coated valve cover
Full R33 GTST brake conversion with black powercoated calipers that were rebuilt.
Hawk HPS pads
Injen Intake
5Zigen Pro Racer A Spec 80mm exhaust
3" catco cat
OBX Header
VLSD with new fram gasket and redline fluid
redline fluid in trans
new slave/clutch master cylinder
Whiteline sways
Okuyama Front Strut bar
Cusco Type 40 rear strut bar (under tray type).
Goodyear Eagle Assymetrics (235/40R17) about 1000 miles on them
98 Ford Cobra 17x8 wheels bought new.
Optima Yellow Top replaced in Sept 08
KTS Coilovers
SPL subframe spacers
Nismo Motor/trans mounts
Nismo Power Brace
Kazama outer tie rods, Z32 inner tie rods
Kazama bumpsteer ends
SPL Tension Rods
Cusco Rucas
SPL toe rods
Nismo/Energy Suspension Rack bushings
Alternator replaced last year
Navra Rangepower bulbs and the full candlepower.com catalog on all exterior lights
S14 Kouki Gunmetal Grill
minor stereo system, kenwood MP3/Sirius, pair of CDT fronts, hidden quarter panel 10's and a single amp
rear seat belt delete (I have them if needed to be replaced)
S2000 rear antenna
Alarm
Nismo leather shift knob
C's Short Shifter

The mods are about $10,000 total, anywhere I take this car people comment how clean it is esp. car shows I am just a spectator at.

Being there are so few of these ever listed, I don't know a fair starting price.

Pictures (http://www.driftkat.com/98SEmine.php) the interior shots are prior to be replacing the mats, doing the short shifter, dash plastic (you can see why I didn't have a ashtray though).

Thanks
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[aNskY]

$8-9k in a better economy, you will be taking a big hit on it now,.

[exitspeed]

Car is very nice. I thik it would be worth more if it was stock. But that's just me. The mods that are done though are at least quality parts.

I'd say no more then $7k and I don't think the right buyer would come along too quick. You never know though.

[wow-thats-a-cool-car]

are those mustang wheels? You would get more if you had some really good fitting wheels and you should lower the car...but thats just me

[turbo2nr]

i think the kbb is around 6k for a stock 98 se 5sp. so id say 8-9k as listed above seems to be a good price..

shold of sold her in the drift craze, or wait untill f&f4 comes out lol

[alkemyst]

are those mustang wheels? You would get more if you had some really good fitting wheels and you should lower the car...but thats just me

ummm I had them listed in the OP. They are actually good fitting. Not much more you can do unless you wanted to pull/roll. If I had uber wheels though it would make no sense to include them with the car as opposed to just selling them. Wheels and tires go easy.

They look good and fit well, they are light wheels overall in their price range.

Personally I love the look and would love to have the same style always. It's so easy to wash the car with a spoke design like this.

Wheels though are a very personal aspect...if I had F1N01's someone would say outplayed, etc...

to others...
There is no way this car would go for less that $8k around here. I could whore it at that price. Not sure if these are wishful thinkers hoping I'd post it with a $6-7k BUY IT NOW or something. Even if I parted it out I could get an easy $3k for the mods and require stock trade outs then just sell the car for whatever a stocker goes for. I don't plan on 'ebaying' this car.

If you trust KBB then you should snatch up all the 1988/1988 Porsche 944 Turbo's...even non-'S' models at those prices....good luck.

Dropping an LS1 or a hot engine into this is all that's needed really. A few bucks here and there and you have an effectively 'new' car. I was hoping those in the know would be answering this and not those speculating.

[Def]

Maybe 7-9k is my guess. The problem with selling an old car over book value is that the buyer will need to come up with at best a few grand over a loan value, or at worse not be able to get a loan for it at all even through credit unions.

In my experience, it's almost easier to sell cars that are stupid modified for track usage than a modified street car when they get really old and over "book value" since the track peoples are more likely to have the cash to just buy the car. But as with anything, you get about 25 cents on the dollar for mods, 50 cents on the dollar if it's something really special.

[alkemyst]

Maybe 7-9k is my guess. The problem with selling an old car over book value is that the buyer will need to come up with at best a few grand over a loan value, or at worse not be able to get a loan for it at all even through credit unions.

In my experience, it's almost easier to sell cars that are stupid modified for track usage than a modified street car when they get really old and over "book value" since the track peoples are more likely to have the cash to just buy the car. But as with anything, you get about 25 cents on the dollar for mods, 50 cents on the dollar if it's something really special.

right I understand the value of mods...however are they still financing these at all?

[s13.5guy]

LS1 that thing!!!

I have a good friend with an LS1 hatch....D1 spec/forumla D qualified. Bad ass car.

Dooo it. You can't sell it too fast in this economy...so mod it and have fun with it while no one else wants it

[blueshark123]

yea when u mod it more nobody is gonna want to buy it when ur done so just keep it if u do a swap but as others said right now its real hard to sell cars like this right now

[bigdreezy]

yeah dude throw it in the garage and let it marinate for a minute

[justaKAiswear]

Now, I just cant see you getting over $6k for it. Not sayin its only worth that, but just because thats how the market is now. Loaded 98 SE was here on a local lot for like $4999. Totally stock, just had high miles.

[alkemyst]

Now, I just cant see you getting over $6k for it. Not sayin its only worth that, but just because thats how the market is now. Loaded 98 SE was here on a local lot for like $4999. Totally stock, just had high miles.

high mileage and totally stock is a pretty big problem most of the time.

[Def]

right I understand the value of mods...however are they still financing these at all?

Lots of credit unions will give a reasonable rate for used cars, but some cut it off at 10 years old. They won't go over retail book value though.

The value of mods on resale has really dropped in the 240SX world in the past few years. Back in '03, '04, and even '05 you could get about 60-80 cents on the dollar for mods when selling your car. Not anymore.

It's not as bad as the Honda market though, as those cars seem to gain almost zero value unless there's A LOT of labor put into the car.