sell my car or part it out?
 

i found a very nice rx7 i want... i'm just kinda getting tired of mine. i would just sell it without a doubt, but heres the problem.. it has a salvage title from hail damage (barely even noticable) and basically the body just needs minor body work. i bought it about 2 years ago as a 91 brave blue NA. it had about 155k miles, FD wheels, great compression, etc. but with a salvage title from those hail pings (again, cant even see them except on sunroof and spoiler)

since i bought the car i have done many many mods. to start, i did an ENTIRE turboII conversion; fc3s.org jspec s5TII engine, s5TII trans, driveshaft, s4 TII diff, TII halfshafts. then i also got the s5TII ECU, pressure sensor, afm, SAFC, etc. it was a good setup and ran 8.4's in the 1/8th (low 13's in the 1/4) i then blew the engine a while after that, tiny ping on the corner of one of the front rotor apex seals. crap.. so i took the car down to kevin landers and had him rebuild it and streetport it (its a medium-large streetport), fix a few little nitpicky things about the car (speedo cable, etc.) that i didnt have time to fix myself.
i got the car back from kevin and it was awesome, cranks right up, 110+ psi on both rotors, everything great. dynod the car after break-in and it was 226whp/210tq with no boost controller and no fuel controller, stock ecu. took it to the track and it ran an 8.90@81mph again with no boost controller, no fuel controller, stock ecu, etc.

i bought several mods cause i wanted to be a little more competitive in our local all-around-streetcar-shootout (well, thats not the ONLY reason:)) including:
HALTECH E6K
manual boost controller
tokico illumina 5way shocks
eibach prokit springs
spec stage II clutch (kevlar disc)
falken azenis sports tires
i'm sure there are more things i'm forgetting.
i bought some cosmetic stuff like black front and rear carpet, black leather door panels, new alpine rear speakers, etc.
new bonez brake pads (all 4)
4 brake rotors
2 front brake calipers
the car is currently running some 15w50 mobil1 full synthetic motor oil (dont worry, OMP is blocked off, premixing like everyone should:))

the car ran a 8.18@85mph in the 1/8th (would have been about a 12.7@110 in the 1/4) and did pretty good at autrocross (considering it was my first time) this was at 13psi with the fuel tuned to about 10.5-10.9 AFR's per my tuning with a t/e wideband o2. nice and safe. :) the car is pretty nasty at 13psi tuned with the haltech. you can just punch it in second gear and spin the tires, and it'll chirp 4th like its goin outta style. and this is basically with only a haltech, streetport, and boost controller as the go-fast mods. also on stock TMIC. i got 3rd place out of 12 cars that were in the competition, only 2 that beat me were a very modded c5 vette and a T78 FD (both my good friends)

basically, the motor is new, the car is mechanically GREAT, the interior is great, but the body just needs some work. it has new tires, bronze FD wheels, new brakes, a totally solid drivetrain, etc. and after all that, i am pretty much just never going to be happy because i want the car to be up to the next level of "niceness" and i dont have the time to get it there. i found a great FC that i want to buy and its somewhat local, but i need the money from my car to purchase the other rx7... i'm trying to get about 4000 bucks out of it, and its definitely worth it to an rx7 enthusiast, but i feel that the stupid hail dings (hense, the salvage title) on the body has totally destroyed and money i could get out of this car... i also fear that parting it out would be wayyyy to complicated and take wayyyy to long and the other rx7 could be gone by the time i get all the money together if i were to part it out.
what do you all think i should do? i found a GREAT geal on another FC, its everything i want and i think its right for me, i'm just not sure what to do about mine in order to get the money to move on...

so basically your selling a turbo converted nonturbo car?

basically yeah. pretty much nothing about it is NA anymore. i even changed the gauge cluster. lol

jacob, i would sell my recently rebuilt (~4000 miles) 91 NA Brave Blue to buy your 91 NA>Turbo-converted Brave Blue in a second. problem is, i just got a job and don't see getting much over $3000 for my car. :(

yeah thats the problem. you can have a perfectly running car that runs 12's in the 1/4, but people just dont seem to want to pay the money when they hear its not perfect.

Why exactly did you have to get a salvage title just from hail damage? I thought salvage titles were for abandoned cars?

Anyways, if it were me I'd keep what you have because mechanically it is great, and over time fix what you can and eventually it'll look better.

heh, i want to pay the money, i just dont have it. if my job was stable (i'm seasonal and not full time; i dont see that as stable), i could possibly sell my car and max out my credit card to pay you. sucks. i like your car.

if there is damage done to the car that is worth more than the value of the car, then at the time of the damage (pending you have full coverage insurance) the insurance company can just write you a check for the value of the car, so they take it and auction it off. or in this case, the owner just took the check from the insurance company from the hail damage and bought the car back and kept the extra money and the salvage title.

I'd say your stuck. Only real option is to get a loan to pay for the new car, part out your current car, or swap over parts and sell the 91 as a stock car.

save up some money, and find a really clean body..swap your goodies onto that car.

*drool* I'd be all over it, if I had $4k floating around.

I'd get some pics, post it up in the classifieds. I'm sure there are some people who aren't as picky about looks. I'd *love* a slightly beat up sleeper, I just can't afford it right now.

-=Russ=-

yeah my car is definitely a sleeper. nobody knows what it is

i'd try to sell it first but if no luck then part it out if you part it out i'd be interested in some things but i'd need to find a way to get money to also what turbo are you using to get those numbers

stock s5 turbo @13psi tuned

You will never recover the money spent on your mods. If you go crazy with a car you should plan to keep it for at least a few years to make it worth your while.

Man Jacob I hate to read this cause you have gone through hell with that car and now that it is fixed, it sounds awesome. I would pick it up in a minute if I had the money. That car is *atleast* 1.7 to 2 seconds and 10mph faster than mine. I need a huffer. I hope you get 4K for it. Its definitely worth it. awesome toy for sure.

you have any pics of the car, especially the damage?