Need experienced 240sx owner's opinion!...

[Ullusion]

Hello, this is my first post and its nice to be here with you guys. Theres such a wealth of information on this site that really helps out! On the other hand, I have a question pertaining to fair value. Anyway as of lately, I've really been searching for a 95-96 240sx, they've really started to grow on me. Currently I've found someone selling a beautiful black '95 240 SE completely stock. The previous owner was a middle aged woman that adored the car and really babied it. I've seen the pictures and I can definitely believe hes telling the truth, the car's body looks extremely clean compared to the countless ones I've discovered across the web during my search. Here's the otherside, the car is an automatic (not really concerned since the swaps seem to be pretty manageable if I want to go that route)and has a blown head gasket due to excessive overheating. Basically its not worth rebuilding the engine. He happens to have a complete fully functional S15 AUTO front clip that hes saling with the car that could easily be swapped into the shell and be up & running. No damage to the harnesses, electrical components, heck he said even the a/c will function on the clip! I did a little research and I'm pretty aware on how much those front clips can go alone. He's asking $5500 for the vehicle and the front clip together. My question is, to you experienced and knowledgeable 240sx owners, is this a fair asking price/deal? Thanks in advanced and again, great to be here!

[GTR PrYdE]

Welcome!

I can't help you on the front clip deal, as I've never dealt with that, however, I have some advice for you on th car.

A car that's not running or has major issue such as this one, isn't worth much. I know swaps are easy and what not, but the fact is a car that needs 500$ worth of work might be worth 2k less because it's not running so you don't know the condition of anything else, suspension, transmission, rear end. So make sure you're getting a hell of a deal, and then factor in cost of the front clip, of you really want it. Hope this helps

[Ullusion]

Thanks for the reply, and being a technician myself I know you have a very valid point about the worth of a vehicle in conjunction with its running condition. He says he bought the car as it is for $3k and its pretty rare to find a pristine 95-96 240sx rolling chassis go for a very low price..I'd really love to strike a deal with him but factoring in travel cost, towing the vehicle AND clip back to my state, possibly having to rent a uhaul I'm gonna be out of pocket a good bit. Fortunately theres another guy that's saling an actual running '96 240sx se auto with high miles and decent body and hes only asking $2500. I'd definitely come out cheaper and with an actual running car out the box with him, but gosh that black one is soo beautiful ! Another idea I thought about was if i go with the car & clip, whatever I don't sale on the clip and whatever I can salvage from the stock blown KA24 I can sale for profit to get something back..IDK decision decisions, help me out guys!..

[AZhitman]

You'll still need a 5-speed, and all the stuff that goes with it. There's $1500 more to spend, plus time and effort for the swap.

KA is a bulletproof engine. If someone overheated it that bad, it makes me wonder what else they hosed up.

I'd want to know where the S15 clip came from as well, there are a lot of shady importers bringing in crap.

If it's an N/A S15 engine with an automatic, you're going to be disappointed in the performance - A well-maintained KA with a 5-speed would pull away from it.

Keep in mind that if you live in an emissions state, you can have problems there (no OBD port on a JDM harness).

It's not a dealbreaker, and it might turn into a sweet car, but the package deal is not worth his asking price.

[Ullusion]

Thanks alot hitman for the reply. I definitely see your point as well. As I dwelled on the deal all last night before I fell asleep I thought about alot of things. First off let me say that he said he bought the car from a middle aged woman who babied it. Unfortunately, like most women, she is not mechanically inclined and apparently all she did was hop in and drive the vehicle whilst it was continuing to overheat. Eventually the engine gave and blew a headgasket that's when she reluctantly sold it to him. What got me thinking about the price was the fact that the vehicle, from what he has told me, has about 212,000 miles on it. He never drove it so he has no idea what condition the transmission or rear end are in mechanically. Though the body/interior are excellent i could put myself in a deep hole if either of those two OR both are in bad condition after soo many miles. Consequently, putting me out of pocket even MORE for a nonrunning vehicle as is..Then theres the clip, again I have no idea how many miles or what overall condition it may be in. Like you said theres shady importers out there. The engine may not even last me very long and there I am stuck with a possibly useless clip on my property. Secondly, if I'm correct, the S15 engine's bolt pattern does not match up with the KA24s auto transmission bell housing pattern, so I would have to search out an S15 bell housing just to get it to mate up and work :- \...So basically the clip could be useless to me overall.

I could just strike a deal on the car for $3k and just save up and buy an SR20 w/ transmisson assembly and just swap it in all at once. Even so a good assembly is gonna run me a good $2k-$2500 not including addition parts like radiator, piping, intercooler, etc. which at the end of the day will total to about $6500...Being a college student working full-time yeah, I think I'm leaning toward the already running '96 240 for $2500 .

[krash]

You are right, the sr20 and ka24 have different bellhousings. Maybe like $2500 for the car plus an SR swap (they are plentiful these days) and you'll be good to go. In my area you can get a decent swap for about $1800. But honestly, if I were you I'd hop on the running '96 for $2500.

[Ullusion]

Thanks krash for the reply, its crazy how almost 100 ppl viewed the page but only a handful commented. C'mon guys I thought better of this place...Anyway yeah I figured they were different and I was thinking he should let the nonrunning 240 go for more like $2500 myself as well. Especially since the trip down and to haul it back is gonna easily run me $400 in gas..On the other hand, anyway it goes I'm gonna come out spending more with the nonrunning and swapping in a SR20 w/ manual transmission assembly than just buying the running 240 and going from there. I can do all the swapping myself so no need to pay for that part. Going with the running 240 I can use the saved money to plan on doing a swap and in the meantime I'll have a running car to drive. At this point I believe I'm gonna go with the running 240 for $2500. Thats if he doesn't sale it by this friday that is ..Anyhow, thanks for the comments and I'll definitely keep you guys updated on the outcome. If all is well I'll be an official member of the forums and a proud new S14 240 owner! If so I'll be sure to get some pics up, keep your fingers crossed for me..

[Ullusion]

By the way Krash, I noticed that you are from Memphis. The guy I maybe buying the 240 from has family in Tennessee and I will be driving out to take a look/purchase the vehicle from him. Not sure what part he lives in, but I'm sure I'll shoot by Memphis on my way there since I reside in MS..Wouldn't happen to be cruising this saturday would you ;- )?..

[krash]

Unfortunately my car is in Maryland I moved here for school and didn't get to bring my car this semester. BUT I will bring it back this summer Tennessee is a HUGE state. When I moved here I thought everything would be within 3 hours of eachother, until I realized that the drive from knoxville to memphis is 5.5 hours long... yikes. Where in MS are you?

[Ullusion]

Wow that's crazy, Tennessee is quite long opposed to outward distance, if that makes since XD. That sucks you couldn't bring your car, so what are you driving while in school and what college you going to, TSU? I stay in a town near Jackson, which is the capital. Takes about 3 hours to get to Memphis from here. I sure hope this guy doesn't stay in Knoxville XD!..