thorin

the car is located in vancouver, and is a local car. car has practically no rust on the frenders and quarter panels. the car was in a 2700 $can accident in 92, and another one for about 2000$ can. in 93.

its a 84 gsl-se with cloth interior. 171,000 kilometers.

it is emissions passed.

legend:
g=good m=marginal r=requires attention
*=mechanics comments ()=my comments

road test: r *suspension/tires
tires: r *wrong size
brakes
front: r*
rear: g
shocks
front: g
rear: g
exausht: r *hole in air hose
front end
ball joints: g
idler arm: r * worn out (about 4 degrees of play)
tie rod ends: g
pitman arm: g
control arm: g
center ling : g
wheel bearings: g
drive line: g
underbody and frame rust: r *rust from sitting (was told that there were "not a lot of cheese holes or anything" and "the exausht had a lot of external rust".. and like i said, externally, the usual rust places seemed fine.)


battery failed load test
alt and air pump belt worn
wrong sized tires (255/60r14s instead of 205's)
idler arm worn out
engine mising(misfirieing) at low or no load
very rusty underneath.. has car been sitting? (yes, about a year)
hole in cat air tube
oil leaking very quickly from left front of engien bay (too dirty to see where from, but the mechanic said that it didn't look like it was from the engine's oil seals.)
carpet wet(it cant be a bad leak, considering how much it rains around here.. the car would smell klike an old shoe.)
front brakes worn unevenly.

bushings are cracked or splitting


my test drive

car steering very loose. the idler arm no doubt. car brakes just fine. other than the steering, the car seems perfectly drievable and does not pull to the side when accellerating or braking.

interior is in okay condition, stero works, pretty much all the electrical stuff works except for the fule door and rear wiper/defroster. the storage bin lids are broken.

the car has a sunroof. it orginally had air conditioning, but it has been removed long ago.

he is asking 1800$can obo.

I asked the mechanic who looked at it and he said that that seemed to be an acceptable price.


thoughts?

357

Well, tires are simple to do. When I got mine, the steering was loose, and it was due to worn idler arm bushings. I've never heard of a situation in which the actual arm wore out. Given my knowledge of that part, the arm itself wearing out would be fairly impossible. The bushings are about $15 US to replace, and are fairly simple to get at (just make sure the car is cooled down, cause you'll be working in very close proximity to the exhaust manifold heat shield).

jayroc

I would say no. I'd try and get him down to around 1200-1300. CDN The idler arm most likely is only part of the loose steering culprit. I'd say the steering box is out of adjustment also, but those aren't a real big deal. (unless you ignore it) Also, you need some new exhaust components, tires, belts, battery, engine trouble, (check around the oil cooler for leaks, might need new lines) AND it's been wrecked twice. So right off you're looking at a few hundred at least, plus the cost of a usual tuneup and fluid replacements and possibly a questionable body. (AND you already got 150 into it) If you can get it below 1200, I'd say go for it. Sounds to me like he just put some crap together just to get it running and get some money off of it. I'd be careful. Personally, I think that is WAY high, but I don't want to tell you NOT to buy it. SEs are kinda rare, but down here that car is still only worth about 1000 US in fair condition. (Kelley Blue Book.)
Anyway, good luck.

thorin

1000$us=1500$can. i dont know if I can get him to go so low. I am so jonesing for a car, and it's very expensive to do the complete liens/claims/inspection on every car that interests me. checking a single car is more than a months' worth of car insurance. i have already looked at five other cars and this is definitly the best deal.

gah. I think I'm going to buy it. none of the other deals came close. of course, the chances of finding a rustl-ess car in my pricerange are very low. especially in my area

well, im going to sleep on it, and ill see if i can get him down. somewhat. i do get a discount on car parts where i work, and my mom knows the shop teacher at the high school she works at. I have a lot of resources, and good mechanical skill, i just dont have my own garage to work in.

(the)mouse

I'd offer him 1200-1300 if you really want the project.

Actually, it's very common for idler arms to be worn out after 15 yrs or more... If you grab the drag link with a pair of pliers and try to rotate it there should be no play. Most 1st gens I see will rotate between 5*-10* allowing for 1"-2.5" of play at the wheel while driving (this with tight bushings). With a well adjusted strng box and a GOOD idler arm there is ZERO play in the wheel at ANY speed. Many people just don't realise this setup feels just as tight as a good rack and pinion setup. BTW, I can get bushing from $8-$10 (US) a pair at most any of the local parts stores.

H_PersÆng

Well i dunno if this will help any but here goes what kinda car i bought for what price....

Broken down stuff:

-front brakes (completely stuck and shot)
-rear drums (they grip but not alot)
-Startermotor (had to do some rewiring)
-Exhaust manifold heat shield is dust!
-Exhaust manifold itself had a big hole blown into it
-several sealings were vulcanised and leaking ( inc. the carter sealing)
- several hoses were vulcanised
- stock rims ( oxidated)
- stock tires (fair condition and plenty of track)
- passengerside steering arm has somuch wear it brushes up against the platework of the enginebay
- Leaking oilcooler
- Likely there are ignition problems
- cupplingplate was dust (presureplates were oxidated)
- Engine was allround were greasy and dirty condition
- clogged carb
- likely it has alot of carbonresidu due to long time sitting
- interior console is broken in two
- rearwindow defrost is busted
- several electrical problems like the keyignition
- pully belts were all shot
- pully's had to be sanded
-driverside door is hanging to low

Ok so that for the mecanical side of the car...now for the body work....

-wheelarches are all but one completely rusted through
- rearright (infront of the wheelarch) the plating is completely rusted away upto about halfway the car....the other side is less rusted (about 10cm of plating wil have to welded)
- bottom is fair but the tectil is coming off all over (it seems like it had about 10 coates :s )
- Rearend (where the trunkwing was) is completely rusted
-front fender has a big dent
-The bottomplating on the driversside is dented (someone tryed to put a kricked there and janked it all the way through)
-exhaust has more holes than chees

that and the majority of the undercarage is in great need of a tecktilcoat!

Ok so all that and the fact that i have no idea just howmuch compression this engine will have...

Its a 1979 SA and i payed 100$ for it....right after the purchase a mazda dealer came to me and offered me 800$ for the engine....i declined and am now praying that it will run...

However this Sa has never been in an accident...so that a plus...

I see the car your planning to buy has been in two accident (rather nasty ones) and it has pretty high milage...BUT you were atleast abel to do a testdrive...

So yeah, i think the price might be a little high....although i was offered 800$ for mine in this state its in right now....so the guy your buying it from is asking 900$..

I think id say 700 Us take it or leave it...

-its been in two rather heavy accidents and that prolly why its leaking
-seals are obviously shot
-its younger than my car (could be considered a plus but could also be considered a minus)
- lots of little problems wich wil in the end probably cost you a good dime...

So seeying as my car is worth 800$ to a mazdadealer i wouldnt pay more for yours!

So id pay 1600 can for it max....and if hes deparite to get rid of it id pay no more than 1200..

HadaGSL-SE

iTrader: (6)

howd he fit 255/60r14s ????????

Terrh

iTrader: (7)

those are pretty frickin wide tires on a 14" rim designed for 205s.... how the heck did he manage to get them on?

thorin

he got scammed by the tire store. they prolly didn't have the normal tires and sold him ones that "would work just fine".

lol. he gpot screwed by the previous owner too... they told him it had never been in an accident. he said it looked brand new when he got it. turns out it was in those two big accidents and was just fixed up and given a shitty paint job.

ima call him up and offer 1200can. results in a few minutes...

thorin

i got him down to 1300can. i'm buying it.

luckily pretty much all the required parts including tires and brakes are extremely cheap for me because i work at canadian tire. w00t for staff discount...

the part that makes me the most confident about this purchase is that the mechanic who inspected it told me he though t the car was worth 1800. you guys don't, of course, but that means I could probably sell it if need be.

well.. wish me luck!

and i expect a parade as my forum status will now be upgraded from "troll" to "participant".

Winnipeg85GSL

The carpet is wet?????? NOT a good sign. Mine gets like this sometimes. Its from mega rust in the storage bin area. Soon you will be having electrical probalems from the connector located in the storage bin sitting in a pool of water. This is a possible reason to the current problems. I've had to re-route the wiring for my brake lights and running lights, and my brake lights have gone out again. You could save yourself many headaches by just finding a rust free car, which is possible in B.C. I would never buy a rusty RX-7 again.

thorin

well, i havn't given him any money yet. i will take a phillips with me tomorrow. thats the last thing I didn't check, now that i think aboiut it.

at least I hope it's the last thing.

Winnipeg85GSL

If it is rusty in there, all hope is sadly lost. Please don't make the same mistake I did. I wantedmy car so bad I really didn't care about the problems that seemed to be "minor" at the time. That was about 1 1/2 years ago. Big mistake on my part but I loved the car so much. I also paid $3700 for mine but they are alot more rare around here.

In this picture you can see that the car isn't horribly rusty but unrepairable.

thorin

yeah, well, luckily it almost never snows around here so the roads dont get salted mor than maybe one a year or so. oh to live in nevada where the ****** are legal, the highways have no speed limit an the cars never rust...

Winnipeg85GSL

If the underbody is worse than this be advised....

Winnipeg85GSL

But, good luck!

thorin

well.... we shall see in less than 36 hours...

H_PersÆng

Whats so unfixable about that??? Just grind it with a steelbrush and a powerdrill spray some zinkspray on it and then just put some resin on it or weld in a piece of plating......

And if your really going for the everlast solution than just put a few coats of tectil on it and spray rundown oil on it untill its nice and soaky......you have my personal guarantee that it wont rust again....just recoat it and put oil on it again before the winter sets in..

My rx7 is almost completely rusted everywhere, espacially on the arches.....im pretty sure i can fix it and keep rust away forever.

Winnipeg85GSL

Well in his location he should be able to buy a rust free car for cheaper than it would be to fix everything.

thorin

well, thanks for forcing me to check. the storage bin rust was horrible. the rust wet all the way from the bottom of the car to the b pillar.

thanks for making me check.. this car was in serous trouble.

Winnipeg85GSL

Glad to be of assistance. I take it you didn't buy the car.