PBR
06-27-2004, 01:56 PM
Hello everyone, I've been lurking here for a while, this is my first post :rawk:
I checked out this 240 for sale today and I need advice on if I should buy it or not.
It's a '91 SE HB 5sp with 146,000 miles. It's only had one owner, she bought it when she graduated college and claims to have babied it ever since. She's selling it because she has 4 kids and that just doesn't really work with a 2 door car.
http://pload.losix.com/240_01.jpg
My cougar in the background, any buyers? :) Selling it because the payments are killing a poor college student like me.
http://pload.losix.com/240_02.jpg
The owners fighting in the background.
http://pload.losix.com/240_03.jpg
The whale tail has the typical rust. How much money am I looking at spending getting the rust removed and it repainted? I can probably do the prep work and filling myself.
The rear window wiper also doesn't work. She had a dealer look at it and they said it's not a fuse or anything electrical, so it must be the motor. Cost on finding a used motor? Or even new?
http://pload.losix.com/240_04.jpg
http://pload.losix.com/240_05.jpg
Brand new tires, but they're Sigmas (?!?) and the wheels aren't in great cosmetic shape. I'll definitely be replacing the wheels and tires eventually. At least I'll have a good set for doing donuts on :)
http://pload.losix.com/240_06.jpg
Mechanically it seems to be great. She claims to have always used premium gas, but I don't put a lot of faith into premium. I'm under the belief it's mostly a waste of money unless your engine is tuned for it.
I'm also curious about what that red wire coming off of the battery is. It has an aftermarket Pioneer CD player, so that's a possibility. It also has an alarm system. She claims it came with it from the dealer, but I'm pretty sure it's an aftermarket system the dealer installed. It's got a cheap chrome toggle switch under the steering wheel to turn it off. It looks pretty ghetto. She also lost the remote. So I may end up replacing it all with a good system.
Also the temp gauge doesn't work. It bounces up and down as you drive. Is this a sign of a major problem or probably just a broken sensor? Easy cheap fix?
http://pload.losix.com/240_07.jpg
The interior is in pretty good shape except for this big hole in the driver's seat. I would like to replace them with S14 seats, but how much is a pair of those going to cost me? Or what are my chances and cost of finding a good S13 seat to replace it?
http://pload.losix.com/240_08.jpg
The front passenger side headlight is missing the plastic surroundings you see when you have it up. She said she was changing the bulb and had the whole thing pulled off and laying in the driveway. Someone pulled up and hit it with their tire and broke the plastic surrounds. Easy find at a junk yard right?
I think that's pretty much the extent of the issues. She had the car in NY for it's first 2 years and then she moved down here to NC. They said the exhaust system got pretty rusty from the NY roads, but they replaced that and the rest of the underside is in good shape.
Anyone know about that cell phone antenna on the back? Is there a hole in the glass from that? I'd love to remove it.
The clutch is original. Doesn't really bother me too much since clutches are pretty easy to do on a RWD car like this. It still felt pretty good.
It needs new brakes badly, they squeal and it doesn't look like there's hardly any pad left. I can do that myself, but it's more money I have to spend. The brakes still worked pretty well though, it makes me wonder how quick it will stop with some new pads and rotors! :eek3d:
She wants $2500 for it. I think it's a pretty fair price from what I've seen for sale in this area. She also has other people interested in it, but I was first, so I get first dibs. 240s have been getting snatched up FAST, so I hate to let this deal slip through my fingers. I have to make up my mind fairly quickly.
So is it a good buy? Anything I should be weary of? Anyone have an S13 they're parting out and can hook me up with some parts I need?
edit: DOH! I spelled advice like advise.
I checked out this 240 for sale today and I need advice on if I should buy it or not.
It's a '91 SE HB 5sp with 146,000 miles. It's only had one owner, she bought it when she graduated college and claims to have babied it ever since. She's selling it because she has 4 kids and that just doesn't really work with a 2 door car.
http://pload.losix.com/240_01.jpg
My cougar in the background, any buyers? :) Selling it because the payments are killing a poor college student like me.
http://pload.losix.com/240_02.jpg
The owners fighting in the background.
http://pload.losix.com/240_03.jpg
The whale tail has the typical rust. How much money am I looking at spending getting the rust removed and it repainted? I can probably do the prep work and filling myself.
The rear window wiper also doesn't work. She had a dealer look at it and they said it's not a fuse or anything electrical, so it must be the motor. Cost on finding a used motor? Or even new?
http://pload.losix.com/240_04.jpg
http://pload.losix.com/240_05.jpg
Brand new tires, but they're Sigmas (?!?) and the wheels aren't in great cosmetic shape. I'll definitely be replacing the wheels and tires eventually. At least I'll have a good set for doing donuts on :)
http://pload.losix.com/240_06.jpg
Mechanically it seems to be great. She claims to have always used premium gas, but I don't put a lot of faith into premium. I'm under the belief it's mostly a waste of money unless your engine is tuned for it.
I'm also curious about what that red wire coming off of the battery is. It has an aftermarket Pioneer CD player, so that's a possibility. It also has an alarm system. She claims it came with it from the dealer, but I'm pretty sure it's an aftermarket system the dealer installed. It's got a cheap chrome toggle switch under the steering wheel to turn it off. It looks pretty ghetto. She also lost the remote. So I may end up replacing it all with a good system.
Also the temp gauge doesn't work. It bounces up and down as you drive. Is this a sign of a major problem or probably just a broken sensor? Easy cheap fix?
http://pload.losix.com/240_07.jpg
The interior is in pretty good shape except for this big hole in the driver's seat. I would like to replace them with S14 seats, but how much is a pair of those going to cost me? Or what are my chances and cost of finding a good S13 seat to replace it?
http://pload.losix.com/240_08.jpg
The front passenger side headlight is missing the plastic surroundings you see when you have it up. She said she was changing the bulb and had the whole thing pulled off and laying in the driveway. Someone pulled up and hit it with their tire and broke the plastic surrounds. Easy find at a junk yard right?
I think that's pretty much the extent of the issues. She had the car in NY for it's first 2 years and then she moved down here to NC. They said the exhaust system got pretty rusty from the NY roads, but they replaced that and the rest of the underside is in good shape.
Anyone know about that cell phone antenna on the back? Is there a hole in the glass from that? I'd love to remove it.
The clutch is original. Doesn't really bother me too much since clutches are pretty easy to do on a RWD car like this. It still felt pretty good.
It needs new brakes badly, they squeal and it doesn't look like there's hardly any pad left. I can do that myself, but it's more money I have to spend. The brakes still worked pretty well though, it makes me wonder how quick it will stop with some new pads and rotors! :eek3d:
She wants $2500 for it. I think it's a pretty fair price from what I've seen for sale in this area. She also has other people interested in it, but I was first, so I get first dibs. 240s have been getting snatched up FAST, so I hate to let this deal slip through my fingers. I have to make up my mind fairly quickly.
So is it a good buy? Anything I should be weary of? Anyone have an S13 they're parting out and can hook me up with some parts I need?
edit: DOH! I spelled advice like advise.