I need an opinion here

[LA_phantom_240]

Okay, so I bought an s14 in September and didn't have much time to look it over before buying it (kinda got stuck and needed it to get home lol)... and the car had some what appeared to be minor body damage. The more I messed with the body, the bigger the job became. So here is where I need to make a decision about the car. While modifying my exhaust hangers to line up right, I noticed the frame rail under my trunk behind the subframe and what not is crinkled. I realize now that my car SHOULD have been totalled some time before I bought it... It has 158k miles, with 'supposedly' 85k on the motor. It runs very smooth and seems to have decent power, but it is nearly pissing oil from somewhere I have yet to determine, and when I crank the car up after a few hours of not being run, the timing chain is EXTREMELY noisy for about 3 seconds and then she seems kosher. The interior is in great shape, though. Its an SE 5 lug 5 speed... and that's about it as far as good stuff lol. So I'm debating just throwing cautious driving to the wind and letting some large vehicle hit my car's ass and totalling it, then buying it back from the insurance company to transfer my parts to another s14. It just seems like mine is too much for me to tackle. What do you guys think?

[kdashy]

Haha I hope you're not serious about insurance fraud.

Parting out the car seems like a waste.

You should probably just try and sell it as is.

[an_orange_s2k]

^^i agree somethings will bite u in the bite. esp. if u posted it on the internet

[Naughty240]

thats not something you wanna type haha. you dont know whos on here

[HS13KLS]

yea...i was going to say..insurance fraud...not good lol..

but first how long have you had the car, id talk to the buyer..

[JRas]

insurance fraud

sell it

or

fix it

[pirate_texxx]

find an area where the local high school kids hang out and park it with a for sale sign. they dont really care, mommy and daddy will buy it for them so they can be the cool drifter kid with a s14.

[GSXRJJordan]

As far as drivability is concerned, anything behind the subframe is just to hold the bumper up - serves no real purpose (aside from basic stiffness, which can be compensated for by chassis bracing).

If there's more to the body work that you feel like you need to do to be happy, take it to a body guy (note: body guy, not body shop) and get a for-real, cold-hard-cash estimate on what it will take to make you happy... then think what a clean S14 in good shape would cost. If they're close, sell it and buy the new one - if not, keep it and be happy you've got a 5lug SE with nice interior.

[Dream240]

While intentionally letting someone hit your car is insurance fraud, crashing your car is not. The whole insurance claim situation is a big gray area. You have to decide if you want that karma on your head.

As far as the body work, what have you done to it already? How much money have you put into it? Will you break even if you just sell it? If so you might want to just part with it and cut your losses. I've had to do that and even though it's hard you feel better when you're driving around a car that you got to pick out while you had peace of mind. Makes for a much better driving experience.

God I hated driving around a car that I know I got ripped off for.

[jackjack]

you need to make a decision. is it worth fixing? if not, sell it and look for another.

[drift freaq]

Hoping someone will hit your car can be a understandable desire, though maybe not completely correct. LOL Actually attempting to have someone hit your car or crashing it intentionally to collect definitely falls into the possible fraud catagory. Talking about it here ahead of time? You have already fried yourself.

Like GSXR said basically the damage your talking about is non handling impairment damage. I can see how it would bother you esthetically. Some people get freaked about that stuff. Some people want a perfectly straight unibody with no damage or repair others are only concerned if it effects the overall handling ability or straightness of the chassis itself. I have seen cars like yours drive perfectly fine.

The bigger questions to ask yourself about this is,are you comfortable with it? What are you going to do with the car? Are you concerned about its resale value and stating its never been in a accident or hit?
I have gone both directions on this type of subject myself. Having owned a incrediable low mileage salvage title and having owned amazingly straight chassis's(clean title) that have never been hit, to amazingly straight chassis's that were clean title but repaired properly in non handling issue area's. I.E. full quarter panel replacements with no bondo.

I used to be all about finding the ultimate uber clean perfect chassis. Result was I bought and sold some very clean cars in my quest. LOL at this time I would say if your happy with your car otherwise roll with it.

Finding cleaner chassis's now is getting harder and harder and its not going to get any easier.

[Phlip]

lol, insurance fraud...
http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=180553

[an_orange_s2k]

find an area where the local high school kids hang out and park it with a for sale sign. they dont really care, mommy and daddy will buy it for them so they can be the cool drifter kid with a s14.

hahah do that, you'll prolly make $$$

[landins13]

post it on mautofied.com also people are paying stupid amounts of money for 240's on there

[LA_phantom_240]

I'm not purposely going to get my car totalled... I'm just not going to be pissed off if someone hits me. I bought the car for $2200, and I have an exhaust, header, strut tower braces, sound deadening, a new battery (yellowtop), the whole stereo system is newish, and a few other things I'm forgetting... In short, most everything I've done can be transferred to a shell. I'm going to buy another KA, rebuild it, and throw it in the s14 I have now, and when something happens I'm just gonna pick up a shell. The reason the body damage pisses me off is because the whole rear end of the car doesn't line up. The center panel sits like a quarter of an inch past the passenger tail light, and about half an inch past the driver's side. The trunk lines up like ASS... and I have a dent in the quarter penel, which i believe was caused by the impact in the rear of the car. Yeah.... But I'm not gonna go a purposely wreck my car, I'm just not gonna go and ruin my car by trying to avoid wrecks like I did the other day and smashed my passenger mirror avoiding some dumbass on her cell phone swerving into my lane. That would have been a good one too lol... of course it would have been in the front and not the rear. The front end is worth salvaging lol.

[EDacIouSX]

sound deadening and stuff? sounds like you aren't going for any track time... if so just keep the car, 2200 is a pretty fair price for an s14 se.


find an area where the local high school kids hang out and park it with a for sale sign. they dont really care, mommy and daddy will buy it for them so they can be the cool drifter kid with a s14.

Although this is a good idea, the major proble with it is that you aren't considering high schoolers jacking the car... lol. actually the i dea will probably work

[drift freaq]

I'm not purposely going to get my car totalled... I'm just not going to be pissed off if someone hits me. I bought the car for $2200, and I have an exhaust, header, strut tower braces, sound deadening, a new battery (yellowtop), the whole stereo system is newish, and a few other things I'm forgetting... In short, most everything I've done can be transferred to a shell. I'm going to buy another KA, rebuild it, and throw it in the s14 I have now, and when something happens I'm just gonna pick up a shell. The reason the body damage pisses me off is because the whole rear end of the car doesn't line up. The center panel sits like a quarter of an inch past the passenger tail light, and about half an inch past the driver's side. The trunk lines up like ASS... and I have a dent in the quarter penel, which i believe was caused by the impact in the rear of the car. Yeah.... But I'm not gonna go a purposely wreck my car, I'm just not gonna go and ruin my car by trying to avoid wrecks like I did the other day and smashed my passenger mirror avoiding some dumbass on her cell phone swerving into my lane. That would have been a good one too lol... of course it would have been in the front and not the rear. The front end is worth salvaging lol.

if shit does not line up and it pisses you off sell it. Find another.

[LA_phantom_240]

if shit does not line up and it pisses you off sell it. Find another.
I don't want to sell it with the damage it has. I don't want to sell it to someone who doesn't know fully what is wrong, but then again I would take a huge loss doing so. I'm just gonna keep it and get another s14, strip this one to nothingness and drift it till the KA dies... then get a different motor and repeat lol... or I'll get one of the local s14 shells, sawzall the ass of the car off, and give it to my friend jeremy who does great bodywork and let him have at it... he got a prelude that went through a building, straightened the frame and pulled the body out, and it looks BRAND NEW. I'm really amazed at what he can do, seeing pics of the car after the whole, 'went through a building' thing...