Hey guys,
Well, I'm about to join the fray!
I went and looked at a kinda rough red '92 base model hatchback today and am going to buy it in the next few days. It has 147k on the body, and the guy put in a KA24DE engine with 127k on it.
The car had a few little mechanical issues that I'm not really sure on:
1. The viscous fan that runs off the water pump seemed to never uncouple. Like it just spun all the time, being pretty loud in the process. In my M3 this fan uncouples when it cools down and barely spins, then couples when it gets hot, spins quickly and increases airflow through the radiator. Is this a common problem or something? I will probably just get some electric fans and take the sucker off if it is not normal operation anyway.
2. The clutch pedal was EXTREMELY soft. My M3 has a pedal that's pretty stiff for an OEM clutch, like it is impossible to depress it with just your hand. This pedal was so soft that I found myself having trouble feeling the engagement point(I've driven only manual cars for the whole 7 yrs I've been driving). I don't remember my Integra having a clutch near that soft, so that's the only Japanese import I can really go from. The car has a new clutch master and slave cylinders and new clutch from what he told me. The clutch master cylinder is definitely new, and I have no reason to not believe him as he seemed like he was giving me the truth.
The car has no accidents via CARFAX and from inspection, although the paint is a lil' rough(original '92 red paint) but the frame had no rust as far as I can tell. It was originally a Miami, FL car and has been in GA for a few years, so I would imagine it'd take alot of abuse to have it rusting out in 12 years.
Anyway, I'm really excited that I'll have a 240SX as a beater for a little while. Eventually it will be turned into a track whore/ridiculously fast weekend car.
About to buy an S13 hatch, a few questions...
Re: About to buy an S13 hatch, a few questions...
Def wrote:1. The viscous fan that runs off the water pump seemed to never uncouple. Like it just spun all the time, being pretty loud in the process. In my M3 this fan uncouples when it cools down and barely spins, then couples when it gets hot, spins quickly and increases airflow through the radiator.
2. The clutch pedal was EXTREMELY soft.
As for the fan, it's supposed to work the same way the clutch fan in your M3 does. Fluid gets warm, thickens, causes fan to spin...cools down, fan stops spinning. You can get electric fans and make them fit with a bit of fabrication work, or you can just get another OE fan from a junkyard or off the Buy/Sell/Trade forums here on NICO. Sounds like the one in that car is done for.
The clutch pedal might be soft due to improper bleeding when that new master and slave cylinder was installed. Theres a damper box in the clutch system that makes it really tough to bleed...a semi-popular mod is to bypass the damn thing completely with some stainless hose. The clutch feel of a stock 240SX is moderately soft, IMO. I'm sure it won't be nearly as still as your M3.
BTW, if you don't mind saying, how much is the seller asking for the car?
Also, how 'bout some pictures of that M3?
Nice car, man!I'll get some pics of them up together whenever I clean the 240 off.
I guess the 240SX clutch isn't all that soft for a Japanese vehicle now that I think of it. I drove an '89 Porsche Carrera a week or so ago and that clutch was about half as hard as my M3.
I'd say the M3 clutch is about 5 times stiffer than the 240SX(not kidding, it is stiff in the E36's). I test drove a 2003 M3 6 spd and the clutch was probably a hair lighter than the 240SX's, which I hated. It's also nice to be car buddies with BMW salesmen - new M3's are nice at 130mph.
I guess the 240SX clutch isn't all that soft for a Japanese vehicle now that I think of it. I drove an '89 Porsche Carrera a week or so ago and that clutch was about half as hard as my M3.
I'd say the M3 clutch is about 5 times stiffer than the 240SX(not kidding, it is stiff in the E36's). I test drove a 2003 M3 6 spd and the clutch was probably a hair lighter than the 240SX's, which I hated. It's also nice to be car buddies with BMW salesmen - new M3's are nice at 130mph.
Oh yea, we agreed on $2200 for the car. I think it's a pretty fair price for a '92 with a decent condition engine, and it's been hard as hell to find a base model with no sunroof(6'3" so I need headroom, especially with a helmet) - so that little detail was worth a little bit extra to me. It has nothing power on it either, which will be ideal when I make her into a track whore, and is less stuff to break and wear out(window regulators on the M3 are like $400 a side and wear out every 100k miles... bleh!).
The only real cosmetic issues(which don't really matter to me much) are faded bumpers, some paint scraped off the front left of the bumper and some scratches along the driver's side of the car that go pretty deep some places. The frame is rust free though, so that's sweet, and honestly, I could probably get the thing resprayed at Maaco for $200-300 and it'd look near brand new as it really doesn't have many dings on it and the underbody is really clean from what I could see.
I'm also guessing the engine is in good condition, since I can't really tell the difference between a 16 and 17 second quarter mile time anymore. My M3 probably puts out a good 230rwhp and tq, so the change to a stock KA24DE is pretty drastic. Feels about the same as my friend's Altima tho' I guess.
The only real cosmetic issues(which don't really matter to me much) are faded bumpers, some paint scraped off the front left of the bumper and some scratches along the driver's side of the car that go pretty deep some places. The frame is rust free though, so that's sweet, and honestly, I could probably get the thing resprayed at Maaco for $200-300 and it'd look near brand new as it really doesn't have many dings on it and the underbody is really clean from what I could see.
I'm also guessing the engine is in good condition, since I can't really tell the difference between a 16 and 17 second quarter mile time anymore. My M3 probably puts out a good 230rwhp and tq, so the change to a stock KA24DE is pretty drastic. Feels about the same as my friend's Altima tho' I guess.
The car didn't have a spoiler, so no rust. Trunk looked ok.
There was a little chain rattle coming from the top tensioner(he said there was one between the cam gears), but it wasn't all that loud. My M3 probably has about the same amount, and it sounded like any other KA I had ever heard. Alot quieter than most Honda engines.
That was a pretty good deal ya got! I definitely didn't get a smoking deal, but I feel it's pretty fair. Especially considering that it has the "options package"(i.e. nothing..) that I wanted which has turned out to be really hard to find.
I was set on going KA-T eventually, but with that many miles on the car, an "overpriced" SR is looking more attractive.
There was a little chain rattle coming from the top tensioner(he said there was one between the cam gears), but it wasn't all that loud. My M3 probably has about the same amount, and it sounded like any other KA I had ever heard. Alot quieter than most Honda engines.
That was a pretty good deal ya got! I definitely didn't get a smoking deal, but I feel it's pretty fair. Especially considering that it has the "options package"(i.e. nothing..
) that I wanted which has turned out to be really hard to find.I was set on going KA-T eventually, but with that many miles on the car, an "overpriced" SR is looking more attractive.