Civic44

Ì've been doing some research on importing a couple of cars from the US to Canada from one of those insurance auction places. Some of the flood damaged cars look like real deals. We've been looking at RSX's. What usually needs to be done to a typical flood-damaged car (is there even such a thing as typical damage, or is it case by case?) to make it streetable? I can imagine damage to the interior, but I don't know much about electrical and wiring. Does the damage ruin components, wiring harnesses, the engine?

I assume that there are fewer caveats when building a race car, since we get rid of so many items from the car anyway. Has anybody here ever built a street or race car from a flood damaged car?

Markus

As long as engine/electronics are ok, a flood damaged car could be a good deal - you're going to rip out the interior anyway. I think Scott on here that just sold his S2000 H1 car started it from a flood salvage car so you could contact him.

Also if you are thinking of RSX's, there is a guy in PA selling two showroom stock prepped RSX's, I think they have been on the market for awhile so you might be able to get a deal. I want to say he was asking $14k each?

- Mark

Markus

My bad, advertised on Improved Touring for $12,900 each.

http://www.speedworkz.com/for-...ption/

Kaan

iTrader: (3)

the S2k was a fire damage car if i remember right.

davidnyc

There is another guy who has a flood damaged S2K on the East Coast and has no problems.

Nishant

Fire damage S2K = Scot

Flood Damage S2K is a guy from Allentown I know, his name is John Oldt. He is still working on his driving as he plans on joining ECHC in a yr or so

Both cars have no issues and work very well. Scot's is track proven but he sold it

Scot

ya, John's car had fresh water in it. He bought it back from the insurance company and drained everything...refilled everything... ran it for a while, then drained and refilled and it has been fine since then.

I think his plan is to get his license in the spring then race 2006.

Yes...my car was fire damaged and is in Ohio now.

Blair

We had a couple of flood damaged cars when I worked at the Acura dealer. Both were totaled, but one was darn near fine. We drained the water out of it, changed the fluids, and ran it. i think it's still being driven today! The other one had issues, ironically it had less water than the first one. It shorted electricals and just jever seemed right. I think it's a crap shoot really. I like theft recoveries better for race car builds.

Want2race

Long term wire rust could be an issue.. but I wouldnt be concerned!

Scot

Also, for a "race" car you can strip the car off all the wires, then purchase new or used harnesses for just what you need... ECU, instrument panel and brake lights.... screw the power windows, door locks, etc........

Nishant

John's flood S2K, all the wiring was redone/replaced. He knew most of it was prob shorted out and did not want to risk messing up the eletrical stuff he actually needed

ralphie14

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Scot &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Also, for a "race" car you can strip the car off all the wires, then purchase new or used harnesses for just what you need... ECU, instrument panel and brake lights.... screw the power windows, door locks, etc........</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah I would take a flood damaged car to use for a race car. It should be cheap and like someone else said you take out most of the stuff that you would normally have to replace to make it a normal street car

badboyr66

My brother is a total loss adjuster for an insurance company. We both are liscenced to go to CoPar auctions. Saw brand new s2k that was flood damaged go for 7k. They had it running fin in a few days. But then every car is different

jomama

you do hear a lot of nightmare stories though... if you are just going to race the car and replace the electricals... go for it... they are steals!

getfast

My E30 was a 14 year old car with original wiring when I came home from work to find this:



(Water over the hubs, 3" deep in the floorboards, couldn't roll it anywhere because it was deeper on all sides, etc.)

Once the water receded I changed all the fluids, pulled up the carpet, went to work on the wiring with a blowdryer and several cans of WD-40, then aired it out for several days and re-installed the carpet, at which point it fired right up and gave me another ~10k trouble-free miles before I totalled it. The only lingering effect was some mold on the rear seatbelts and bottom cushion (who cares, it was going to be a racecar.) Even the mold smell went away after several rounds of Febreze. Luckily the E30's ECU is up inside the glovebox so it was untouched. Moral? Yes, flood cars can be perfectly reliable, depending upon how severely they were flooded

Jon

ITC Racer

When I worked for a marina through college, we regularly had boat sink that we would raise and get running. Change the oil and other fluids immediately a couple times and the engines hot and they would generally run well for a while. The electronics are where problems may arise longer term but with a car, if you are removing the interior and other parts, you are down to a main harness, starter, alternator and some other small parts.

mstewar

I assume most of those "katrina" cars are going up at auctions..?

davidnyc

I think one significant difference with Katrina cars is that they were flooded with salt water and not fresh water. I would just pay extra special attention to whatever you buy, even if for a race car.

mstewar

most of the water that got into new orleans would've been freshwater.. although it would've still been pretty nasty.. elsewhere, I'd agree with the saltwater thought..

Nishant

theres a good article about Katrina flood cars in this month Car and Driver. I just finished reading it yesterday. I learned a few things. I'll look for the article and then post it

Supraznki

most of the time if I replace the electrical for a flood car
it should be ok right? saying there is nothing wrong with the motor

RagingAngel

I've had my own racecar down to practically bare bones - and what might be worth noting is all the wire tucking threads found elsewhere on honda-tech.

The extent that those guys do the wiring hiding/tucking/eliminating - a lot of the non-essentials in accessories would be beneficial to racecars in general but even more so with flood damaged cars.

so yes, the general consensus is that if you can get the wiring sorted out... you're home free....

carb cars must have it pretty good...or at least are one step ahead....

slammed_93_hatch

if your looking for a race car.


Id suggest sending email's to kensai, Bill Fenton, Serra. They probably are all looking to get rid of their RSXs. I know serra has sold at least 2, and for a decent price from what i heard.