Need advice on a 93 FD
 

Hello all. Greenyone from Pennsylvania. I've owned a few 1st gen 12a cars over the year but I'm looking to step into an FD. Currently I'm looking at buying a bit of a basket case of a 1993 FD. The seller won't budge off of his asking price. Overall the car presents well, but it's an automatic with a worn out 103k engine. He is offering the car with a complete JDM drive train (manual trans) with 40k. What price range would you seasoned FD owners put this car and parts in? I want to make sure I'm not going to have money in this car that I may never get back out of it.

What kind of condition are the interior and exterior in? What trim? Touring, R1, base?

It appears to be well taken care of. No body damage. The red paint presents itself very well but could use some work with a buffer. Other than somebody carbon fiber wrapping some panels in the interior it appears to be in very good condition with tan leather. I don't know what trim level the car is, but I'm going to assume it's a touring since it has the leather, cruise control and rear wiper.

that is correct.

So the seller wants a firm $12,500 for the car with the worn motor and the JDM engine/trans is sitting on a shipping pallet. The JDM is complete with turbos, wiring, modules/ecu etc.. Is this worth the risk at $12.5k

I would say that it's on the high side for me, but if the body is straight and the paint is in good shape, it's not unreasonable. Have to researched manual swaps? It's a bit more involved than just swapping the trans.In my opinion, the fake carbon fiber wrapped interior means it all needs to be replaced, since fake CF almost always looks cheap. The JDM engine is just a gamble essentially, and I would assume you'll have to pay to rebuild it anyway. Do you plan on doing the work yourself?

I could be wrong, someone can correct me on my evaulation.

I have no done a lot of research on the swap yet. So I'm not entirely sure what is involved. The seller said he does not have the clutch pedal assembly, but the JDM came with the matching wiring and ecu. I would assume there are some additional components that would need to be sourced to get that all going with the manual....clutch master/slave reservoir etc.. And yes...I'd be doing the work myself. The car has been sitting in his garage since 2004 (bad apex seals) and the engine/trans was purchased in 06. He did drain all the fluids, but I would have to assume everything that ever had a drop of oil, fuel or coolant in it is going to need addressed.

Since they've been sitting for so long, the engines might be rusted beyond repair. I was assuming that it could be driven at least. I would walk for $12.5k. I would probably consider it for $10k-$11k, and would assume $8k-10k to get the car back to great condition, and hope for less. I'm not sure if you've owned an FD before, but a bunch of small but hard to find items add up quickly.

The price isn't bad, but to have it running well and the manual tranny swapped, be prepared to spend some more money. I'd bet that with the engine rebuild, parts for swapping the transmission (price is highly dependent on what type of clutch you pick), be prepared to have $18-$20k into the car (including $12.5k purchase price) once it's all said and done.

I'm gonna pass on this one. I talked the guy into pulling the car out of it's 14 year hibernation to get a closer look in the light of day. It needs rear quarters at a bare minimum. So the car looks to me like it's more or less a candidate for complete body restoration on top of the mechanical project. That 12.5 price tag seems a bit on the "this guy it nuts" side of things now.

Absolutely. I've seen the ad a few times, the extra core is probably a brick at this point and the car is in rough shape. Offer him $3500 for everything and you've got a decent deal for both sides of the transaction.
Red on Tan with an automatic is not a desired combo at all.

I got the impression that the seller is rustic/proud/older gentleman who does not know how to cut his losses. Unfortunately the car is probably doomed to further deteriorate in an extremely soggy garage for all eternity. I fear that attempting to make a reasonable offer for what it's truly worth would probably just lead to a one way ear beating that is just not worth any civil minded persons time.

Another one bites the dust.

I wouldn't touch it. Too expensive by $3-4,000 at least. The guy owns this one for keeps. Let's say you get the motor and trans swapped and by some extreme luck, the motor's actually good. You'll still have to deal with the interior and the pieces are incredibly expensive. Every piece that's wrapped is garbage and can't be salvaged. New pieces are mostly NLA and used ones cost an arm and a leg. You're better off looking foir something without all these issues at $15,-18,000 with high miles but clean engine bay and interior. Seats don't count. It's the plastics, dash, carpets...

It's basically a parts car. For the cost of everything and all the additional stuff you could just get a good condition car that runs and hasn't been through so much neglect.

this car will end up being a V8 swapped race car

I'd pass on that. At the most, I'd offer him $8k but understand that you're gna be in for the time of your life with that tranny swap. I just helped a friend with his clutch and it was a freaking nightmare...I wouldn't touch an auto-to-man swap. Keep looking, better deals are to be had.