I recently took a risk and picked up a 2002 Honda Accord for $500. The known issues at the time of purchase included brakes (needs new rotors, pads, and calipers in the front), a timing belt (hasn't broken, just due for it), some sort of suspension work (The owner thought it was a control arm), and a good cleaning. The car has 212,000 miles on it, and from what I can tell, the motor and transmission are solid. The body is in fair shape.

Here is my dilemma. After trailering the car home, I had an opportunity to further inspect the car. As I was looking for the origin of the "suspension issue," I quickly realized that the noise was not coming from the suspension, but rather the rusted out front subframe. I should have noticed this issue before buying the car, but could not see the extent of it until I removed the passenger wheel I'm a little mad at myself for not catching this (After reading up on the issue, it turns out this is a common issue on the 6th generation Accords that a lot of people miss until they pull the wheel). I'd like to believe the seller wasn't aware of this issue before he sold it, but I'm not convinced. Either way, I'm stuck with a vehicle that is currently unsafe to drive on the road.

After doing some reading, I've realized this is a fixable issue that I believe I can do myself, but am not sure if the headache is worth it. I can scrap the car for about $250.

What are your thoughts?
Fix it or cut my losses? In addition to the frame, there are the other items I mentioned (Brakes, timing belt, etc.). And at the end of the day, this is a 18 year old car with 212,000 miles. Is there a better way to salvage what looks to be a bad car buying choice on my part?

 

Repair it bro. It might be a headache; but that's project cars for ya!
It'll be a satisfying moment to remember when you're driving it in the future.

 

It's certainly a challenging first thing to do to the car. If that is the only thing, then I would repair it. If the car went 200,000 miles, it's probably going to go for a bit. Once you do the brakes and possibly the shocks and control arms, it's going to drive like a very comfortable car. Body from the pic looks good, no real dents or other damage to glass and such. If you can find it your self in a boneyard it's probably $150. If you need to have one shipped it's probably around $300 with shipping. Really not bad for a working vehicle that looks good.
You can order from here (this link is probably the wrong year, just a place to look for comparison):
https://allusedparts.com/honda/accor...1ca5&seq_num=3

And get yourself pysched up to do it after watching it here:

I have to say these are very comfortable once restored back to specs.

 

Thanks for the encouragement. At this point, I'm leaning toward fixing it up. Probably going to do the timing belt first before dumping too much money and time into the car. Once I am confident that the engine is solid, I'll move toward the brakes, suspension, and frame.

 

One of things to keep in mind is to see if the jobs stack together in a way to optimize your time, if possible. For example, when I do my shocks and springs, I also do the control arms since everything is already out of the way and it's just a few minutes to do them (I think it took me extra 10 min per side for the upper control arms, for example). But, of course, understandably, you want that engine solid.