You should remember that a large majority of buyers who potentially want to purchase a FD know absolutely nothing about the car.....hence why every week without fail there is a thread about a brand new owner who's bought the car and has problems.

Now try to justify to a complete newbie how your aftermarket 'AST' adds more value to the car then another FD that is completely stock.

If I had a fair understanding of a FD to begin with, then yes a car with proper reliable mods will be of value to me.

 

what about single turbo?

a single turbo fd will still hold its value and sometimes can even increase it by a slight amount if done right..

 

Spend $6k to gain $1k in value? Last I checked, that's a loss, not a gain.

Modded FDs that sell for over $20k USD usually have $20k in mods and work put into them.

Dave

 

strictly speaking the car is only original once, ANY part you replace lowers its value.

 

Mint Stock (low miles) - keeps most value. as a collector's car

 

+1 this applies to any car.

 

^^ not necessarily.... cars like 2002 Corolla or nissan altima's don't keep much value even if its mint and low miles

Cars alone already depreciates in its value once it leaves the dealership. not a great investment if you're planning to make $ off it. unless you're buying and selling used cars in quick turn-around time for profit.

even if you plan on building crazy tube-chassis race car or CF body, yes you can sell it more than a FD of the same year but you're already loosing $ from the amount you invested

 

i agree, especially when it comes to civic's, sentra's, and 240's with powerplant swaps.

they double and sometimes tripple in value

 

nothing will add value directly. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't still at least do the precat and AST just to ensure reliability of this car that you are trying to hold value for.

it's funny you mention FD owners who know nothing about their car. I met a guy about a year ago who had a 94 FD, all stock with 40k miles on it. I asked him if he had replaced the AST or the downpipe, or had a vacuum line job. He was like "why??? it has no miles!" he didn't get it. 40k miles can be a lot, even though he babies it.

 

Weird isn't it.

I'm replacing all the vacuum lines, check valves and the AST, and my FD has only done 9300 miles. That's still a lot of high temperature underhood cooking over the last seven years...rubber doesn't last forever.

 

There is no reason to replace the vacuum lines or check valves unless you are having a problem. The vacuum/check valve system is very complicated, and can easily be screw up by "fixing" it.

 

Invest eight k or more just to get an extra grand out of it? if you are going single, do not do it to get money out of it, you will lose almost every penny.

 

werd.

 

agreed 100%
don't touch if it ain't broke. you're just going to create a problem. the stock hoses have bends moulded into them for a reason. being a series 8 its the solenoids that go. pick up a 2nd hand solenoid box and keep it as a spare

personally i'd pay extra for rz if it was equipped with a PFC, alloy AST, alloy radiator, and 3inch twin tip SMB exhaust with the extra muffler in the cat section