Newbie needs advice on FD3 purchase

[Bigtings]

Hi guys

I must congratulate you all on a very informative board and write in the hope that you can give me some guidance on a planned purchase. I have been offered a px for the following car on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4640438568&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

Trawling through the archives here, I note that the car is owned by one of your members and note from his previous posts that the car has the following problems;

1. Needs an engine rebuild
2. New CAT
3. The car is also based in Inverness, so i\'ll need to get my car up there and transport his down to London.

My car is valued at £2250 and he is offering me my car plus £900 to seal the deal. He claims he imported the car for £5000 in 2004. My thoughts are that the car would probably cost this much, including my car, or more to put the car back on the road.

Your thoughts and guidance would be much appreciated.

Cheers

[Mr J.T]

welcome to the forum dude.

any pre 96 jap car doesnt require a cat so u would only need a de-cat pipe vendors above are selling for £100.
as for the car. you\'ve got to take into consideration the costs of a rebuild but saying that it looks like your picking up quiet a good deal.
your looking at about £2000-£3500 depending on how you choose your rebuild to be done.so all in all your gettin the rex for £1350 and you\'ll have £900 already in cash toward the rebuild.
gud luck bud

[Bigtings]

Thank you for your quick reply. Sorry, the deal he wants is my car plus £900 for his car in other words £2250 + £900 = £3150

What is the car likely to be worth once all the work is done? If it is type R, are they worth a premium over the standard FD3

Cheers

[Mr J.T]

not really there isnt any difference with the type r etc etc except twin oil coolers etc etc. you\'ll only see a price hype in limited models such as the spirt R.

as for value its hard to say without looking at it, but if the cars in good condition all over and you get the engine done and then sell it with a warrenty you might get more then u spent overall. but its as the cookie crumbles you could gain or lose a little. but regardless you will enjoy driving it. it really is a buyers market.

[Grizzly]

I\'d say to be a little carfull.

The car would have to be Nice, Basicly look at the for sale section on here FD\'s prices are not good at all. I supose it depends on what you are going to do with the car? But if you buy the car for 3k and it needs a Rotor,Housing and gasket set (thats usaly starter when its lost a tip) your looking at (Rotor £300, Housing £300 and Gaskets + seals £600) this is if your using new and rebuilding it your self. You could use second hand bits to bring the parts cost down a bit but there a bit hard to source at the moment. If you are going to have the engine rebuilt for you expect to pay about 3k depending on Damage done.

I\'d say that car at the Current market value, Not being Tuned realy would be worth no more than 5k so if you decide to get it rebuild by some one like Rx morors then your going to be between 500-1k over buget? i think his figures are a little off 2k for a rebuild is doing it yourself and its defo not worth 8k.

[Bigtings]

Thanks for that Grizzly. This is what the guy wrote on this forum a year ago;

LOOKIKNG FOR THE BEST PRICES FOR A FULL ENGINE REBUILD FOR THE WHOLE LOT INCLUDING ENGINE OUT/IN REPLACING ALL PARTS WITH A MASTER REBUILD KIT AND NEW ROTOR HOUSING.
IT WILL NEED TO HAVE A ENGINE WARRENTY WHEN ITS COMPLETE .

ALSO WILL NEED A CAT REPLACEMENT PIPE AND THE CAR TO BE TUNED AND MAYBE AN NEW ECU DEPENDING ON PRICE.

On top of this, the car will need to be registered, MOT, Tax etc. The more I think about it the less appealing it is becoming. Given that the car has not been driven for nearly 2 years now, I imagine there will be other problems to contend with such as the brakes.  

The car is probably worth about £1500 tops.

[Mr J.T]

i think his figures are a little off 2k for a rebuild is doing it yourself and its defo not worth 8k.

i was talking about having a vendor do it for you for that sort of money

[Grizzly]

MMM i don\'t know of any Vender that will rebuild a Blown engine for 2k??

I think the cheapest that springs to mind is £2600

From recent experiance, I would not buy a Car thats got a blown engine unless there is 3k between the price and Value. I have just rebuilt my own (bought as a Blown car) and that stands me £1700 in engine bits.

[Mr J.T]

MMM i don\'t know of any Vender that will rebuild a Blown engine for 2k??

I think the cheapest that springs to mind is £2600 .

well  if you care to check above on the vendor here one said vendor offers a rebuild service for £1395!!!!

[normski]

MMM i don\'t know of any Vender that will rebuild a Blown engine for 2k??

I think the cheapest that springs to mind is £2600

From recent experiance, I would not buy a Car thats got a blown engine unless there is 3k between the price and Value. I have just rebuilt my own (bought as a Blown car) and that stands me £1700 in engine bits.

Sorry but I reckon a good qaulity rebuild from a good garage thats know what their on about, In reality is going to cost nearer 4K

[Mr J.T]

i was just stating the fact that a rebuild can be sourced from about 2k

[Grizzly]

LOL, I said a Blown engine.

Rx motors will do a good job for £2600 there web site says they use two new Housings on the Rebuild and Tim knows his stuff..

[Grizzly]

Sorry but I reckon a good qaulity rebuild from a good garage thats know what their on about, In reality is going to cost nearer 4K

You know as well as i do it all depends on what Parts you need.

[Bigtings]

Given that the car has been standing for nearly 2 years what other things could have gone wrong in that time? The sad thing is that the guy imported it, drove 300 miles home and then it packed up

[Grizzly]

I\'d imagen not alot. Brakes may be a bit rusty???

My car had stood for more like six-eight months a good wash and cupple of time round the block and its fine.