16 Year Old Trying to Get a 240sx

[Santous]

Hello people of Nico, I'm trying to start a 240sx project with pretty bad funding right now. (My current situation is, my dad bought me a car, and it ended up having a lot of problems and I'm still driving it right now, but I want to buy myself a 240sx and put a few performance parts, get a nice interior, and have at least and SR20DET in it. I'm making about 8-9 dollars an hour, about 20 hours a week give or take based on days off from school and stuff.)

Anyway, I need some advice on finding a reasonably priced 240sx. I'm not picky, right now I just want to try and find something that runs and get some advice on some cheap ways to increase performance and I need to find a place that can get me a custom interior. I want to take out the backseats as well. I plan on doing everything except the engine swap myself.

[240sxFTW]

sell drugs.

/thread.

[Santous]

I can't, I don't have a respectable car to enter a neighborhood in which I could sell them

/rethread

[KoukiTony]

sell drugs.

/thread.

Do this and also, you might as well just buy a gutted out shell if you have your mind set on an sr20 and taking the back seats out.

[ZX88]

your looking at about 3.5-5k for a sr swapped s13 keep in mind price grows with condition and quality of the car. but these cars can also be a hand full esspecially when buying a already swaped car. you have no idea on the condition of the engine if it was installed correctly etc. to be honest with you should look for a stock 240 with a 5 speed. buy coilvers, wheels, tires, lsd, and a seat and drive that. As you make more money do a sr swap.

[jspeedm]

save every penny you make for the next 6 months, buy a decent s13, learn how to drive it, then worry about upgrades.

[Santous]

Alright, about how much would that cost and where could I find something like that. I live about an hour away from you KoukiTony so I could go to any local people you might know for the car.

[KoukiTony]

oh nice I didn't realize you were in the area. where to go for which kind? shell or a running car?

[Santous]

Running car, I don't care about the quality as far as cosmetics are concerned, but I want the engine to be in good shape.

[Nali]

SR20 lol!

[Santous]

What year is this model and about how much would it cost (rough estimate, assuming it has a stock engine in it). This is along the lines of what I want the finished project to be.

[AZ89two4Tsx]

16 year olds shouldn't be driving 240sx's!

They're nothing but trouble!

[KoukiTony]

240s or 16 year olds? because both are trouble lol.

any year 89-98 you can get. but since it sounds like you want a cheaper car just check out craigslist, and get yourself a decent s13. be sure you take your time and don't jump on any deals without thinking it through or you may regret it for a long time to come.

[nevertheless]

Look on craigslist silly. Then worry about making it run right.

[matty v]

i bought a sr s13 when i was 16. i wish i would have bought a stock one and used the extra money to get suspension and other things. Also if your trying to buy an car with an sr already in it theres probably going to be some problems that you will have to fix and you dont want to buy the car and not know how to fix them and end up driving another messed up car.

[uraznfriend]

Why do you want a 240 too much trouble expectally in high schooli bought my first 240 2 years ago now im a senior now and i havent gotten the best grades i could have and you never get the girls all the girls hate riding in my car and thats with back seatsbut if your gonna get it it is an amazing car and fun to take to the track

[duffman1278]

Never make your project car your daily.

[amakadius]

craigslist and be prepared for spending money. you get what you pay for.

[Frankenfourty]

If your really set on doing a motor swap dont waste your time on an SR20. Dont get me wrong its a good motor, but they arent exactly cheap. Get a CA18....then you will be cooler. lol. But engine swaps always involve more than you expect, so they get expensive really quickly in most cases.

[Gcustoms]

I picked up my 1992 240sx LE for 2 grand on kijiji, but an sr20det swap will be a little higher in price lol

[StylesCD]

Hello people of Nico, I'm trying to start a 240sx project with pretty bad funding right now. (My current situation is, my dad bought me a car, and it ended up having a lot of problems and I'm still driving it right now, but I want to buy myself a 240sx and put a few performance parts, get a nice interior, and have at least and SR20DET in it. I'm making about 8-9 dollars an hour, about 20 hours a week give or take based on days off from school and stuff.)

Anyway, I need some advice on finding a reasonably priced 240sx. I'm not picky, right now I just want to try and find something that runs and get some advice on some cheap ways to increase performance and I need to find a place that can get me a custom interior. I want to take out the backseats as well. I plan on doing everything except the engine swap myself.

work more. You'd need to log 1000 hours to be able to do what you're talking about. Im in the same bucket cept i work 32 hour weeks at $10 an hours. So by summer i'll have around 7 grand to start turboing my KA (5 grand or so) and doing some suspension work (2k)

[PorkChopExpress]

dont be stupid. i see where this is going. your gonna spend every dime you own on a 89 pos dropped with a sr and wing and think your hot $hit.

keep the car you have, put a few bucks in it to make it a reliable car.

[S13_love]

save every penny you make for the next 6 months, buy a decent s13, learn how to drive it, then worry about upgrades.

[TroubleBound]

[blacksrjdm]

Funny, but this has nothing to do with the topic....

[Bootstrap]

Just save your money, Searching for the right car takes time, i regret buying my first car, even if it may be a once in a lifetime chance it may not be worth it, you have to just wait and see what pops up dude.My First car was a piece of sh** Maxima, Hydroplaned down the highway doing 60 and totaled everything.

[Anime_TuneR]

Hey bud!

My brother and I currently own Kouki 240SX ourselves, and it requires maintenance cost. The reason why I say this is because my brother is still in high school, and its basically pay to play sort of thing. His money goes into it.

His previous cars were 2 S13's with SR20DET swaps already swapped by previous owners. Man, were they headaches and costly. Because most SR20 240's you find on craigslist here in Texas are likely to have prior problems where you can't see them visually. My brother was a victim twice, that's why now he drives a stock 5SPD Kouki and plan to do his swap by a professional.

My advice is to look for 240SX that have been taken care of, probably stock if possible. They're most likely not pushed hard by their owners.

With all that said, good luck on craigslist hunting then and bring someone with car expertise along with you.

Hope this info helps then.

[baron_harkkonen]

I picked up my 1992 240sx LE for 2 grand on kijiji, but an sr20det swap will be a little higher in price lol

I got mine for $400. After gettin it motor ran like s***. During teardow/removal found a 3" piece of fuel line rotted in half. Still pulled it out anyway. Currently rebuilding for a KA24DE-T.

[manticore33]

Put your money into something reliable, or if you do go for a 240sx, keep it stock until it is fully sorted. All older cars have tons of issues, which, if you are smart about it, can be a wonderful learning lesson on mechanics (keeping it running). Also, please consider that the newest 240sx is still around 12 years old. In addition, if you want boost, start with a turbo car. You will have less headaches. I cut my teeth on several turbo cars before getting my current fun car.

Likewise, are you considering college? While it is not as cool having a hot car, education will pay off in the long run, because, in the end you can get your toys when you are making a decent living! Plus, the first couple of years at college are not really car friendly (read paying for insurance, parking hassles, likely to get hit / damaged, and no money to go anywhere!).

Also, consider this, 10k (which is where you'd likely be the end of a swap, or turbo kit, suspension, wheels, broken parts, etc) will buy a lot of nice used cars right now. For instance, I am finding e39 540i/6 sports in that price range with around 100k miles (282hp v8, 6 speed manual transmission, comfy and extremely sporty) or e36 M3s (250hp stock) and e39 m5's (400hp, 6 speed, LSD) for the low 20's with about 100k. And these cars come loaded with all the fat khaki options. Who knows, the newer Infinities will be likely at those price ranges in 4-6 years.

Higher horsepower? What will you do with it besides get into trouble. Unless you are tracking it, for about 80% of driving it is pointless. Hence my attraction to cars that turn, because, well, a curvy road, albeit at legal speeds, is extremely fun and depending on the area, still are challenging.

Seriously, I love my project 240sx for my daily commuting to keep mileage off the other cars. It is an awesome blend of handling with decent power, comparative reliability (sorry, German car whore) and RWD (WIN!). But to make a super 240sx? I think there are better options.

/end my opinion. Arrrrrr!

[Santous]

I'm gonna try and answer everything I just read at once...

1. I'm not an irresponsible teenager, regardless of the stereotype that seems to be placed upon us until we're at least 25.

2. Doing well in school is not an issue by any means. I'm an all A's honor student.

3. I realize older cars have higher maintenance costs. That is why I said I would like to do all of the mechanical work on the car besides the engine swap that I will get at some point myself.

4. At this point, I'm not trying to make it super fast or anything. My first priority is to make it look nice, both interior and exterior.

5. I hate how wing spoilers look.

6. Thanks for all the advice, I'll keep looking around craigslist trying to find stuff. I have a mechanic who can come with me that my family has known for a long time so I don't expect anything mechanically wrong with the car if a buy it for under 3.5k