I saw a 96 GSR for sale. It has the basic i/h/e with spring/shock setup. Also some pulley and cam upgrade as well as a bodykit. It has a 98 1.8l gsr engine from Japan. The car is green. It's being sold for 9k. What do I need to know before buying this car? How do I know the engine is legit?

 

You need to do more research on the car

otherwise buy the car and be happy and don't cry when it breaks down on you.

Click here

 

well, pull the vin off the engine and run a carfax on it. that will tell you if its legit. although if its JDM it will have no record. that seems like a good price, but seeing that he has already blown a motor he probably doesnt baby it too much.

 

there are no such things as VIN tags on jdm motors.

 

That and carfax is a bunch of bullshit, there are ways to get around it. Even though, I know of a friend that bought an older Porsche, then checked Carfax, and found out the odometer had been turned back 40k+ miles. Ouch.

 

well then he doesnt have to worry to much about it being stolen, for the owner should have a receipt of some sort

 

yes, receipts is all you can really hope for.

thats why i dislike the general idea of swaps in the first place.

 

get a compression test done to make sure the previous owner didn't F--- it up good

 

why was the motor replaced?

 

maybe its just me but.. I'd look for another car... I wouldn't really want to buy somebody elses project or a car w/ a diff motor and a bunch of other mods.. if its modded you pretty much know how they drove it.. or that at least they drove it harder cuz who would buy mods and then not drive hard and baby it all the time....

I'd rather buy it from someone whose older, babied it, took it in for all the maintenances and have the reciepts to prove it (or did the maintenace themselves and have the receipts), etc...

if you really want to buy this car then I'd take it into a mechanic or dealer for a thorough inspection...

 

i can never understand people saying "dont buy a modded car, get one thats been babied" yet most guys on here will buy a stock car, and then do the I/H/E and suspension, and they all have to sell those cars at some stage. also when someone asks about driving the car to the redline, everyone replies, that honda built/designed them to be driven that way!!! so why the contradiction all the time?
I realise that most like to do the mods themselves (me included) But that doesnt mean that someone who has spent thousands on mods horsed the **** out of his/her car, because if the mods are good quality top name modifications, rather than no name ebay crap, then the person will possibly have looked after their car more than others who drive a completely stock car!


[Modified by mugenracer, 7:29 PM 8/27/2002]

 

I wouldn't buy a car from myself

 

I would, but i'd sell it really cheap and save myself a fortune

 

a stock car has been built to a certain standard...any time non-stock parts are introduced there is more of a chance of something being out of spec. Further, it implies the car has been driven.

Now, besides the occasional grandmother who drives a GS-R, most of them are ridden hard and put away wet.

I would ask the owner flat out how it was driven. Who, what, where the mods were done. Any problems with it.... look for oil leaks, signs of the headgasket failing, etc. Do a compression test if you can.

The price you pay for having an incredible time driving one of these cars is higher cost of ownership through maintenance, mods, and whatever else comes up.

 

I've done quite a bit of mods on my car... whenever I decide to sell my car I'm going to convert it back to stock and sell it in stock for.. then sell my mods separately.. I have a bunch of stock parts sitting in performance part boxes in my garage waiting for the day I sell my car... looking at myself.. I live in CA so we don't have snowy winters where I have to garage it and sell a beater... I know that although my car is well maintained that I drive it way harder than someone like say... my sister.....

I guess we can compare the two (me and my sister).. 2 cars both well maintained.... if I were looking at two cars to buy.. one from a younger guy w/ a bunch of mods... I think I've modded just about everything (engine, suspension, brakes, wheels, exhaust system, audio, etc) I don't have any no name parts.... then you see another one from a girl which has the same upkeep/maintenance record as the other car... but this car doesn't have a substantial amount of mods, all parts are OEM or premium quality/brand replacements... isn't driven hard, and the condition of the cars (exterior, interior, etc) is otherwise the same which car would you buy?

I also think that when you want a modified car that 1/2 the fun is picking your parts to what you think is quality and produces the most gains, installing them yourself, and seeing the results/gains/losses over what you had before... if you just buy a modded car or someone elses project that kind of takes 1/2 the fun out in my opinion...

I bought my cars brand new so the only person that touched and modded them was me... its been a fun project and I love how I picked all the parts for my car to perform at this level... when my car is ready for re-sale.. its going to be de-modded and turned back to stock.. this will yield a larger target audience and get more money... if I left it modded that would weed out the people who don't want to buy a modded car, the older people who just want a nice stock car....

although the car may have been built to be driven hard/taken to redline.. if you did a complete tear down of my motor and measured all the tolerances and what not and a complete tear down of a motor that wasn't driven as hard but w/ a similar maintenance schedule.. mine would probably have a bit more wear....I think anyone who takes the time/money to mod their cars is going to be driving it hard.. I mean I for one wouldn't go out and spend thousands on upgrades and then still drive like a granny... I think this speaks for everyone else also... you buy a mod.. you want to see the results.. and after that your loving it so you keep on driving hard and modding your car...

other than the brand and quality of parts.. w/ a modified car you also have another variable... the quality of the installation... which if you ask the owner/the guy selling the car.. of course he's going to say that it was installed right....w/ a stock car its been build and the parts were put on to stock standards... w/ a modded car you really don't know the quality of the installation.....


[Modified by GSRaCeRbOI, 9:55 AM 8/28/2002]