Found an FD for $5k, high milage and bad motor
 

I found a local 93' FD in Black with over 100k milage. The motor is leaking oil and is not boosting properly so the owner was looking for around $5k. The interior has shown its wear and tear mainly on the seats but those can be reapolstered or replaced. The body has its dings and the paint has some scratches almost looks like it got keyed.

Ive been on this forum for over a year now (but just registered not to long ago) reading up on everything you guys do and what problems you guys run across. Ive also learned the heart ache the beast can bring and what TLC is needs, both of which I am more then willing to put in the time.

Mainly its time to get rid of my 96' Celica, my synchros in 2nd and 3rd gear are going bad which is not a problem for me to fix but I absolutly hate driving to college everyday knowing that I have like the cheapest car/ slowest on campus. I do enjoy every minute with it, cause you cant beat the smooth lines of the celica/supra body but seeing this ignorant kids my age drive in with thier brand new AMG or M3 or Lexus or you name it just annoys the shit out me. And its worse hearing shit from people when thier like "so what kinda car do you have again". Mainly I have a nice reply of "Well daddy didn't pay for my car" but its getting old and Im ready to move on to more power.

SO sorry to bore but back to the FD, with the motor basicly dead I am thinking of just buying a new motor. I know that Pineapple Racing sells motors along with Gotham and some other places, I have all their links saved. However with over 100k on the body what other items should I be looking at replacing, Im assuming that if the motor is that bad that obviously the guy didnt take care of the car.

Do you think I should even look at this car as an option? For arond $5k for the car it leaves me with around another $5-6k to spend on a motor, the body and other parts that need replacing.

Please help me out guys, and thanks for all your help.

-Scott

For a college student who drives the car everyday the FD is not a good primary car. If you can buy the FD and afford to keep the Celica, then do it. The FD will break and will consume your time fixing while you could be sleeping in and partying. Keep the $5K to spend on the motor and fix shit when it breaks. The car is really fast in stock condition. Mods (except reliability mods) will only empty your pockets and shorten the life of the motor.

well commuting wont be an issue soon enough as I am moving on campus, but my car will be comming with me as I am a sophmore. My commute right now is only about 20 miles so its not a killer on gas.


As far as mods I really only wanted to do the most basic reliabilty mods for now until I could get a better paying job in the summer, lacrosse is very time consuming. I know it is quiet fast stock so I planned on keeping it that way minus the possible FMIC and exhaust, but that would probably wait till summer as I would want to buy rims and with left over money buy suspension to lower it.

If it's on the original motor at 100k, you're probably wise to expect a new one soon. But, if he says it's simply not boosting properly, the problem is likely to be much smaller, if you can find the source. A popped-off vacuum hose, cracked vac tank, leaky check valve, malfunctioning solenoid, clogged fuel filter, etc. The turbos will probably not have a lot of acceptable miles left in them. It sounds like you're interested in doing the work yourself - that's about the only way something like this can come together.

Fixing the seats, $500 for a set in better shape, and a few grand to fix up the bodywork. The engine probably needs some extra work and reliability mods installed, and I suspect this car will have things needing replaced and breaking everywhere. Just a downpipe install might send you crazy.

If you're in college and this will be a daily driver, I strongly discourage it. If you really want to buy it, buy it and leave it in a garage until you're out of school and cleared of debt. Either way, a second car is the only sensible thing.

Dave

This is the wrong car to use to "one-up" someone. Buying a junker will only make it worse.

If you want reliability, consider an LS1 swap.

Can be done for ~6-7 grand.

Im in the same boat - I am a college student, living on campus, and you cant beat the reliability of a SBC.

Yes I do plan to do all my own work, my father is an electrical engineer in the government (even though that doesnt mean jack) but he also took more than enough auto mechanic classes in his life time and has taught me everything he knows. We have a complete auto repair shop in tools sitting in our garage. He also is the one who taught me to do my own work which guarentees it will be done right, then let some dumbass do a C- job on it for you. Ive been working on our family cars since I was 13 and plan on keeping that way, Ive done more work on other peoples cars then I have had to do on mine since I made sure mine was done correctly.

After I completed my auto to manual swap after owning the celica for just a week taking 3 accual labor days to complete, I was paid to do 3 replacement clutch installs on my friends cars, the last 2 only took me a couple hours since I got it down to memory.

If I were you, I would wait untill you graduate from college. When you finish college and get a great job that you want, then you can get a nice FD to go with. Meanwhile, forget about those kids who drives M3, AMG because thats them and not you. You will be smiling from ear to ear once u finish college and get a FD that u deserve to have.

Study first and then go play. ;)

but then again....thats just me.

The push for me to buy an FD is not the one up on somebody thats basicly what sealed the deal for me to buy one sooner.

I want the FD for because A: its faster, B: its sexier, C: Rotaries intrigue me, D: Turbos are just more fun, and let me throw an E in there, E: They are Rare and the price is not jacked like on a Supra.

To echo what has been said, I'd wait until you graduate college to get an FD. You probably don't want to hear this, but the car is a high maintaince car. I waited 5 years to get mine until I could add it and keep my truck as a DD. I've had no major problems, but still managed to sink over a grand into the car since May. Buying a high mileage car with a bad service record that probably needs a new engine would not be my first choice for a daily driven car. Even after the new engine install and body work, you'll probably need to address the shocks/springs/bushings and then vacuum hoses and sort out the cooling system as well.

Good luck in your desision.

Where in VA are you?

On the otherhand, having the fastest car on campus has it perks...

As a learning experience, you can beat something like that.

Prince William/ Fairfax

:rlaugh: True but what I like is the fact that since everyones car will still be more expensive then mine I dont have to worry about anything ever being stollen. I doubt somebody would steal a boost controller for their Mercedes or BMW

Your car seems oddly familiar, do you work in DC, cause I have seen a black FD drive on 95.


Although seeing 2 Acura NSX fly by me doing over 100 was quiet a site the other day. Damn car just couldnt catch up to get another look.

What's the point? He could just go buy a frickin' camaro. The swap is not exactly a weekend project either. I have rebuilt my 13b in less than 36 hours.

Actually I do work in DC, but I've only driven the FD in 2 times, and 1 time was at 10 at night because of a server outage.

You may have seen me on the weekend too, my brother lives in Woodbridge. In fact I'm driving it up there today to hang out with him.

my brother had a Z28 camaro, not a big fan of em. I am more of an import car fan.

Thats why I am on an RX7 forum and not a camaro forum. I'd like to keep the rotary.

Well in either case you have a beautiful car.

Wow. I hope to be that experienced one day!

Right now I just want to keep the engine in the car though :)

Thanks :)