2G 96 gsx questions

[Spilph]

Hello! New to the forum but if everything goes right I hope to be around more. So I'very been recently looking into picking up some sort of project car or just something to work on to pass the time and have always liked the DSM cars. I wasn't planning on picking anything up since I just started looking around but ran into a 96 gsx for $1000. The body looks very clean, the seller says the timing belt skips a little but he has a new one it just needs put on and retimed and it just hit 100k miles. The price and everything makes it seem like there may be more not being said but maybe I'm just paranoid. Is there anything specific I should be looking for when I go to look at the car? Even if there are moderate mechanical problems would a rust free clean shell be worth $1000? Any help or advice would be appreciated!

 

[wolf alchemy]

Take off the intake on the turbo and try to move the fan. If you know what a turbo is and its parts then its the compressor wheel your moving. Your feeling for how much it moves side to side. In any direction.

 

[Type1DSMr]

If the timing skipped there's a chance that it bent valves as well. Now if the body is good as in no strut rust or any damage then yes it's worth 1k. You can part the awd parts and sell she'll for more than a grand but takes work.

 

[Spilph]

The only thing that really had me undecided is I wanted a manual and it's automatic, it just seemed too cheap to pass up. From the picture I've seen and what he said it has no rust and only minor scratches, I'll look a little closer when I take a look at it

 

[Type1DSMr]

If there's no rust and body is straight go for it. Just do 5 speed swapped when you replace or rebuild the engine. Try to talk him down a little more if you worried about it being a manual.

 

[Spilph]

I was looking into the 5 speed swap a little, any idea on a price range to do it? I was debating cost of swap and the car versus waiting and just finding a 5 speed down the road.