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Unrepairable car need advice

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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 02:47 PM
  #1  
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Unrepairable car need advice

I bought an fd from a guy moving out of town at a pretty cheap price. Everything worked fine when I got it, it had 92,000 miles on the body and 25,000 on a rebuilt engine. The interior was kinda shot, he spraypainted silver over the black interior and it was flaking, it was basically a mess.

I bought some new tan interior pieces and still have the black/silver ones in good condition, I was going to have them painted.

I started to have engine problems recently and I took it to mazda this weekend. It was leaking coolant and overheating, and there was a problem with the suspension.

The guy called me back today and said that there was internal engine failure, and problems with the orings and seals. Basically he said I'd need a new engine..which would cost around $2,000 and $1,800 for labor...thats just for the engine. Theres also more suspension problems which would cost more.

So what it came down to was he told me I would be putting more money into the car than it actually was worth...The car is kinda in a mess. It has all the interior taken out except for the seats which need to be redone (katzskins could easily fix it) and the engine is blown. I was told I could make a lot of money selling it for parts, but that takes a lot of time and effort on my part.

What would any of you do? How much money do you think I could get?
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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 02:53 PM
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Arrow

See if you can get the car here: http://kdrotary.com/
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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 02:59 PM
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I think thats where the original owner got the new engine from...I think I am going to go ahead and try to get some of my money back from this car
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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 03:00 PM
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Originally Posted by PandaDance
I think thats where the original owner got the new engine from...I think I am going to go ahead and try to get some of my money back from this car
That's probably not a bad idea. However, if that Mazda dealer doesn't regularly see 3rd Gens in their shop, I would get it to a shop that does.
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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 03:13 PM
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the mechanic who worked on it told me that he has a FD of his own, so he is familiar with them
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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 03:18 PM
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I still wouldn't trust a dealership. He's probably telling you he'll buy it from you CHEAP, right?

As Mahjik said, I would take it to shop that is familiar with FD's and rotaries, those who work on it everyday. KD shouldn't be too far from you right?
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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 03:28 PM
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maybe 45 minutes to an hour...the car isnt going to get there without overheating...I couldn't drive it 5 miles to the dealership without it overheating
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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 03:32 PM
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Tow it to KD. The tow expense will be minimal compared to the rest of the bill. If you like the car, fix it and keep it. If not, get rid of it. No one here can tell you what to do without seeing it.
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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 03:45 PM
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Or you can take it here (South NJ)

www.jprimports.com

This guy is much better than KDR.

Matt
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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 04:13 PM
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I guess my real question is how much do you think it is worth, and what would be the best method of selling it? (ebay, autotrader, newspaper, etc)
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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 04:26 PM
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How much did you pay for the car?

how is the paint? Does the body lineup well with nice even gaps? is the title clean?

I really nice roller sells for about 6-7k tops with a full interior in good condition.
without interior and a blown engine you are talking about 3,500-5k realistically. You could sell the engine for around 700 but you are not really going to gain much by parting that car out if it is completely stock. The work involved with dissassembly and shipping will negate the modest earnings in my opinion. A good car to part out is one with a lot of high end parts and a nice black interior.

If you are happy with the condition of the shell I would suggest holding onto the car, buying a low mileage engine from a V8 swapper on the forum and look at putting in a newer interior piece by piece if you have to. You can replace all the panels and make it look the way you want. The suspension peices are plentiful on this forum and they are not too difficult to assemble yourself. Sell the engine core and getrid of the interior pieces that you don't want.

The real key piece of info though is the price that you payed for the car. Off of that you will be able to judge more accurately whether you will lose your *** in a sale or not.
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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 05:05 PM
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if your looking to sell your fd i might be very interested. do you have any pics? You can hit me up on my AKO @ daniel.almestica@us.army.mil or msn at danielalmestica@hotmail.com

Last edited by Kouki7even; Oct 4, 2005 at 05:11 PM.
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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 05:15 PM
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thats the only picture I have of it right now...if your interested you can PM me..

but bakc on topic
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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 05:32 PM
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check your pm's
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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 06:12 PM
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check pm
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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 06:19 PM
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check pm
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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 06:50 PM
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lol. vultures I tell ya. j/k
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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 08:06 PM
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Originally Posted by wanklin
How much did you pay for the car?



If you are happy with the condition of the shell I would suggest holding onto the car, buying a low mileage engine from a V8 swapper on the forum and look at putting in a newer interior piece by piece if you have to. You can replace all the panels and make it look the way you want. The suspension peices are plentiful on this forum and they are not too difficult to assemble yourself. Sell the engine core and getrid of the interior pieces that you don't want.
That's some good advice.

If you just want to get rid of the car, then you can sell the motor/tranny to someone who needs it, and sell the shell to a v8 swapper. The v8 swap guys love complete FD rollers, and will pay Good money for one.
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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 08:14 PM
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but note pinknuggets main words in that sentance, "Good Money" make sure you get a fair amount for a nice condition body, thats my stupid 2 sents and trying to up my post count 3!!!!!! but thats all for now
^
= LOL




Prôdigy
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Old Oct 4, 2005 | 08:14 PM
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Originally Posted by pinknuggit
That's some good advice.

If you just want to get rid of the car, then you can sell the motor/tranny to someone who needs it, and sell the shell to a v8 swapper. The v8 swap guys love complete FD rollers, and will pay Good money for one.
damn skippy
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Old Oct 5, 2005 | 08:54 AM
  #21  
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Originally Posted by PandaDance
the mechanic who worked on it told me that he has a FD of his own, so he is familiar with them
SOunds like he's in the market for a new car in his stable. He's know what there worth and is hoping you don't and might want to get rid of it really cheap. I bought a car with bad coolant o-rings and still have less than what there selling for in it. Has he offered you a price on it ? ? ?
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Old Oct 5, 2005 | 10:29 AM
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Nope. I was thinking that too, but he never made an offer or asked me if I was going to sell it.
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