Hi guys... my bro is planning to check out a car in the Long Beach area this Saturday. He's flying down from the Bay Area. He's been doing a lot of research but he's new to the FD world. We used to own FB's but the FD is completely different. He has some doubts on something but has no idea where to start... wondering if there's any experienced FD owners that can see problems that most cannot. I am not sure what he can offer but I am sure it's negotiable...

 

what does he need to know? im in fremont lol

 

From my standpoint I could come out, if it's this Saturday (29'th).

But if it visually looks unmolested, no performance parts, or other "Mods" that's typically a good sign, and then have a compression test done, preferably at a rotary shop. But if you can't do it at a regular shop, and have them verify that you have roughly 9:1 or more to verify that the motor is healthy on each face / rotor there are 6 combustion chambers, since mileage, and age are descent indicators but nothing tells you how healthy the motor is than compression ratio. If it has "Mods" and an IC, get an idea of what the owner did with the car, racing / drifting / drag / shows.
Ask him/her when his last rebuild was, and where it was done. Then walk away, tell him/her you need to do some thinking, and get lunch, and call the place that did the rebuild and ask them the story with the motor, and how many rebuilds he / she has done with them. This will show how willing the shop is to help a new customer, as well as show how aggressive the car has been driven.

In the end it's a crap-shoot a fresh re-man could let go 2000 miles from the point of sale, if the vacuum lines are done, and the BAR sensor is off, or the waste-gate gets stuck. Unfortunately these cars have a lot of gremlins and they don't present themselves to the n-trained eye, and even if you are there are things you can't see that can really mess up your day.

Figure you're going to sink another $1000 to $2000 into the car in maintenance over the course of the first year, in either reliability mods, or to reverse bad decisions by a prior owner. Also remember these cars are by now about 20 Years old on average.

 

i live in long beach

 

Hey guys. Thanks for all the replies. My bro opted out this particular FD and found one locally. Will keep you guys posted.

 

I'm in Fremont too see you around