New needing some advice on buying a 240..

[IKGamex]

Hi. I'm a 16 year old from Monroeville PA (near Pittsburgh.) I've recently been reading these forums for quite some time, and have been hanging out with a few of my friends who are car enthusiasts, and have slowly increased my knowledge of cars from absolutely nothing to knowing a little bit. I've been in love with the 240sx ever since I first saw one, and definitely plan to purchase one in the near future.

Here is my problem. I want to mod and increase the performance of my 240, mainly for a learning experience and of course to have a nice looking, fast car. Unfortunately, I'm not sure where to start. Should I buy a car that has been already cosmetically modified, had the engine swapped, with many performance upgrades, etc? Or should I buy a completely stock or lightly modified 240 to start from scratch on myself.

My first choice would be to buy a pre-modified car (due to the amount of power I'd have without having to do any work), but I don't want to come across any problems that I won't know how to fix (which is most likely guaranteed to happen from what I've been reading).

So..does anyone have any advice for me on what I should do?

P.S. I searched through newbie threads, as well as used the search button, but I couldn't seem to find a question the same as mine.

[ashibah83]

but a clean, un-modified, un-molested car, your 16 so chances are you dont know how to drive very well, no offense, and all a car with gobs of power is going to do is increase the likelyhood of you injurying yourself or others, learn to work on a car by modifying it yourself, its much more satisfying that way, learn you way through whatever car you buy from maintenance to engine building, you wont regret it

[nifares240]

start with a clean unmodified. you will hamper yourself big time if you started with a modified car. this way, you will learn the basic of maintenance and repair. troubleshooting a a heavily modified car can become a pain if you don't know where to look for. the car will grow in modification as you acquire more knowledge. get a lot of advice from your car enthusiast friends and from us.

good luck finding a 240. be paitent and don't jump the gun.

[koukis4teen]

Yeah a 240 is getting to be an older car. I'm sure you will learn your fair share just from maintenance. If you bought something modified you would be in over your head fairly soon.

[southernsteel]

I agree with everything that has been said already, but that's true for any car. Even if you can't get a 240, find a car that's unmolested as a better learning curve.

[IKGamex]

Thanks for your advice guys, It's much appreciated.

If it's not too much to ask, would somebody mind taking a quick glance at this craigslist ad and tell me If it's a good price for whats posted?

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.o....html

[mmaxeyjr]

did your dad recently come take a look at my car for sale?

zerothread?id=363959

Honestly i think my car would be a great start for you. It'll get you where you need to go, and when you're ready it'll be perfect for you to upgrade even more.

It does have some upgrades, but nothing HUGE like turbo. It get going pretty good, so once you get used to that you'll be ready. It's a fun car to drive, and is in pretty good shape. Buy it.

edit: also i'd rather buy a car that's pretty close to stock that way you KNOW what has been done to it, or what you will do to it. Rather than trying to figure out other people's messes.

also i checked out that add. The car looks to be in good shape however 151k miles? Def. Not worth $4800

[koukis4teen]

That's a really nice 240 on craigslist. A LE is very rare. However, that dude is asking way way too much for it. The red hatch seems like a great start actually. Piggy lip is a ++ lol

[1990-240sxsr20det]

Welcome by the way. If I were you, I would start off with a stock 240. Aftermarket is huge and they're not too hard to work on depending on what you're wanting to do. Buying one that is already modified more than likely means that you're buying a car that has already been ran to hell and back. Stock is the way to go when you're doing this. Check out the chassis for rust, and any other prone body part/panel. Good luck.

[driftneil]

Welcome, here is a link to my add. I can work on the price too.zerothread?id=416107If not, good luck on your search.

[nevertheless]

That white hatch is probably worth 1800, and watch out for rust.

[iLLusive240^]

i bought mine modded definatly get a unmodded ive had to basically redo all the mods that came with the car lol..

[SRprelude]

I agree, buy a clean bodied unmodified car. twin cam SE if possible, or at least a clean single cam LE . I had both. Twin cam is worth it, until you eventually swap out motors. all depends on your budget and how far youre willing to drive.

[gregfarz78]

Good luck finding a clean rust free car in pitt, it might take you a while. How much money are you working with? You might be better off working your a** off this summer and save to get yourself a nicer s14 like a 96-97. I wouldn't buy a swapped car at your age, I didn't know all that much about fixing cars at 16 and a swapped car can be a nightmare if it wasn't done right.

[nifares240]

Thanks for your advice guys, It's much appreciated.

If it's not too much to ask, would somebody mind taking a quick glance at this craigslist ad and tell me If it's a good price for whats posted?

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.o....html

WOW! that's a lot of money for a 240. people are selling these cars in crazy prices.

[driftneil]

I have 3 rust free cars, and I'm round the p-burg area. Being lazy, and not washing your car is the problem.

[S13Joe]

If you want to learn about cars then buy a stock car and modify it yourself. Don't buy an already swapped car with this and that and blah blah blah because more than likely its going to be more of a headache than its worth. Also, I know at 16 you just want to go fast but seriously, its your first car. You shouldn't be worrying about how fast your car can go.