Need your opinion! Buying a 240sx read more....

[7thGear]

alright here is the deal

my neighbour finaly decided ( for those that even remotly remeber i posted same topic about 8 months ago) to sell his 1990 240sx hatchback. Hes just waiting till about the end of the month or until a cop stops him for driving with an outdated drive clean sticker.

here are some facts about the car and my situation.

1. first of all this is in toronto canada, so all prices and refrences will be made in canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

2. here is whats wrong with the car:

1. front windshield has a big spider-style crack, right now its not so bad but i dont know how these things behave in winters, i hear they crack unless some sort of action is taken.

2. the hood hinges are blown out, i dont think hes opened the hood in over a month, it still stays on but any further movement might completly rip em off

3. usual outer dints/scrapes present

4. the hatch itself is rusty to the core!! manufactures defect ( it had one of those little wings on it, and since the hatch doesnt have a handle, people would use the hatch to lift the trunk, and the places where it held on got rust, and it just went from there, add 13 years and you have one rusty hatch ( like half of the hatch is just no there!! eaten away), however the window is in mint condition

5. rust below the side-mirror on the driver side on the door itself, about 6 inches in diamater, a big blob of rust

6. slight rust at the bottom of the door panel where it meets the pillar, nothing serious but its still there. ( both sides)

7. more than slight rust near the hinges of the passenger door where the hood meets, um, cant really descripe it any more, like if you whre to open the door and look at the hinge, the rusty area is BEYOND the hinge

8. even greater ammount of rust on the driver side door in the same location

9. interiour is messy but fixable, door pannels are peeling slightly in some areas and the most noticable defect is a hole + cracks about 1/3 of an inch in diamter on the dash on the passenger side, i have no clue how to fix something like this, fill it with goop or something??

10. tires and wheels are fine, he had new brakes installed awhile ago

11. usual wear and tear underneath the car, with rust in all the common places

12. engine has 240 000 km on it, but says it still drives well. However it starts to act up when the oil is low. Probably needs an imidiate oil change, spark plug change, probably a coolant change and filter change just to breath some life into it. Other than that i dont know the condition of the engine, he says he doesnt either

13. never been in accidents

14. no known electrical problems

thats about all i can say for the car right now.

Here is what my plan is:

I cant afford to pay insurance for this car at this point, therefore the car will spend atleast the next 2 years in my garage until i finish university and get a job that actualy pays me something, or i win the lottery, in which case i will just buy a skyline so anyway. Now at this point in time i have no money to work on it either, but i got some friends here and there and i will also probably have a body guy come in to look at the car and give me his estimate for body work and a new paint job, but, since i want to put some body kits on it or do a silvia conversion + interior mods, i will leave the painting until the last part.

the thing is he will probably sell it to me for a realtivly ridiclous low price, i'm hoping for 600 dollars, 700 tops ( i'ma gonna start with 500 ) and put it on hold in my garage. because in canada cars like these still pull 1500 or even 2000 dollars ( remeber canadian dollars)

my plans for the car are listed in the following order based on immidate action:

1. fix the interior ( new or clean the carpets, clean or get new seats, fix the dash, new shift knob, new steering wheel and new pedals)

2. fix the rusty areas - IF i can get rid of the rust without going madhouse on the car ( just to stop the spread) then i will do it first, and hopefully myself

3. however, if it has to be a full deal and leave it to the proffesionals then i'm going to wait for a sivlia front end kit, a new hatch and i also wanted 180sx jap tailights for my "body styling" ... maybe a side skirt but probably not.

4. take the engine out, open it up, clean it up, replace anything that needs replacing, send the head to be ported, and put in slightly more aggressive cams and close it up and put it back in

5. get a hotshot header

6. six is a LONG TIME AWAY.....

now as i said most likely this car will not be moving until i get most of this done properly and nothing half assed

and so, what i need from you guys are your OPINIONS, SUGGESTIONS, and LOCATIONS of people in toronto that can help me with fixing this car for low monies ;D

i am mechanicly inclined so if there is anything you guys think i can do on my own ( like sand down the rust, if its possible) or clean out the enteriour and such, also i can change the oil/coolant all that stuff, as well as install hatch's and tailights, and if the sivlia conversion doesnt need welding i can do that too ( but it probably will so i probably wont touch it)

please limit one smart-*** comment per 10 responses, thank you

also tell me how much i should offer him in canadian dollars, or even if this car is worth working on,

all i want is a black sileighty, with 180-200 NA whp, and a mediacore sound system that will last me another 10 years if i fix it right now, and take care of it later.

THANKS IN ADVANCE

[matchstyc]

That sounds like a lot of rust and work. But if you have a place to store and work on it I'd say sure, go for it. But don't pay to much for it. $500 canadian is pretty cheap. It's just all up to wether you want to do that much restoration work.

[7thGear]

but like, ive seen more rusty cars than this one,

none of the fenders are rusty, and the hatch is just a freak accident

i just want to know if there is a point of no return when it comes to rust, cuz i know sometimes it just spread too much.

[Altiman94]

I wouldn't buy it, if there is that much rust, juts wait until you can afford a s13 in good condition so it's atleast driveable. If you can't afford to pay insurance, and it's just gonna sit in your garage, there is no reason to even consider it.

[Repo Man]

If you can't afford to pay insurance, and it's just gonna sit in your garage, there is no reason to even consider it.

Unless of course you just want something to do. The rust issue is a *****. Have you seen under the car? If the frame is rusted, I would seriously not waste my time. There are a lot of other cars out there that are not rusted.

[7thGear]

i wish i can take a picture, is there a site out there that rates rust on a rusty level? heh

and i'll check underneath the car when i get a chance.

and like i said, what is considered a point of no-return when it comes to rust, because i know some can just be grinded out.

[Repo Man]

Well, the frame rust is a big issue. When that is compromised, doing anything to the car is pointless.

Point of no return otherwise depends on how much time, effort and money you are willing to spend on it. Personally, I would find one with as little rust as possible and work from there.

As far as value, rusty cars aren't worth much. Unless they say "Tucker" or something along that line...

[Bubba1]

I agree with Repo. You might be handy with a wrench but the rust is bad news. I wouldn't offer him anything. A good project car is one that is strong in at least some areas, like a rust free body, or accident free frame. Sounds like this car has little going for it ecxept that it's an S-13. I'd say pass on it and look to pay a few hundred dollars for a cleaner S-13. That'll translate thousands of dollars in savings when you go to fix it, versus the couple of hundred dollars you might save now buying a worn out parts car and trying to rebuild it. Since you cannot afford insurance, you obviously don't have money to burn, so it's even more important to spend it wisely.

[Nismo31]

not worth it, just wait a lil bit..rust sucs, ur better off savin ur money on something better.

[SkillaSX]

Alright I'm kind of in the same predicament as you. I live in Burlington Ontario. My car is a 1990 240sx fastback with 238,000 kilometers on it. The hatch has a few rusty parts on it, around the holes where the spoiler use to be. There is a 4 inch hole of rust right over the bumper on the rear of the car. There are a few more rusty spots on the fenders, door jams, and sides. Under the car there is a hole in the chassis and it is pretty rusty under there. I bought the car for $1200. The engine runs perfect and it passed its emission test (just did it this friday). I talked to the body man (a guy that knows me pretty well) and he said that he'll do it for $2000 (body underneath and exterior + paint).

Check under the car to see if the frame is in good condition, if it is then I would offer him $400 and not go any higher than $600.

check out the SON forum (southern ontario 240sx forum) those guys always sell cars for some really good prices.

http://forums.son240sx.ca/index.php

[7thGear]

im gonna try to bring a body guy my dad knows to look at the car

i know rust is bad, but i also know that some rust you can just scrape off with a sander and use an undercoat on it, and since i'm planning on repainting the car completly anyway, this isnt exactly a door stopper in my plans for the car.

like i said i wish i can look up someplace that says how much rust is too much.

but i see your points, i guess i'll just have to wait and see what the body guy has to say, if he quotes something stupidly high or says that its not worth it, i guess its not