Buying 99 gsx tomorrow

[jpphilli37]

i am planning to buy a 99 gsx tomorrow and was wandering if anyone had some tips on what to look for. it has a lot of mods and i am new to the tuner scene

 

[dsmgrimreaper]

well give us some specifics and we can help, list the mods how many miles on it, and the running condition of it.

 

[silvah_gsx]

It would help to have the car inspected by somebody who knows modified cars and knows what problems to look for. Otherwise, he should have documentation of each modification along with mileage at installation, documentation of any and all repair work done on the car (especially recalls and the timing belt), and you should make sure nothing important looks ghetto-rigged.
That's the best we can do without specifics, but good luck with the GSX.

 

[larsenracing]

Thats a great choice of a car. I would make sure that it is properly tuned using some sort of tuning device via S-AFC or DSMLink or some other type and is properly set up. You may also want to check compression and drive it to make sure the clutch is good, make sure there isn't to many leaks under car and make sure headgasket it good. Check the shaft play in the turbo to make sure it is not going to go out right away. Silvah gsx is a little overboard on what he wants to see most people dont keep that kind of records I do but most poeple don't but it dosen't hurt to check, if he is a car freek like most of us on this fourm he probably does have the records but look it all over and let us know what you found out and throw some picts up on hear.

 

[jpphilli37]

well, all mods are documented and it seems to be in excellent condition. it is a manual with 90,000 miles. it has an upgraded turbo, intercooler system, ... the list is very long. i was just wandering if there are any known problems on this type of car that i should look out for . also, where would i find out what recalls there have been, if any thanks for any replies

 

[larsenracing]

You are going to want to drive the car take it out to the country and dirve it hard boost the crap out of it clear till redline in like 2 or 3rd gear and see if it has fuel cut if so you may want to question him if its properly tuned or ever has been because there should be no fuel cut.

 

[c5chris]

Check the usual - recall issues, timing belt maintenance, gauges on the cluster, etc.

Do not forget to look under the car and check the axles, keeping an eye to the CV joints - all 8 of them. These tend to go esp. if the car is lowered by alot.

 

[1993eclipseGS]

i am planning to buy a 99 gsx tomorrow

You'll love the car if you get it

i was wandering if anyone had some tips on what to look for. it has a lot of mods and i am new to the tuner scene

A second job.

 

[bane3d]

Recalls: http://www.automotive.com/1999/12/mitsubishi/eclipse/recalls/index.html

Things to look out for:

1. Crankwalk (but doesn't happen too often)
2. Boost leaks - http://www.vfaq.com/mods/ICtester.html
3. Compression test - http://www.dsmgrrrl.com/FAQs/compression.htm

And of course, read as much as possible. I recommend: http://www.vfaq.com/

The 1000Q site is now down so I'm hoping I can get a hold of the guy that had it, and try to get a copy of it and post it on a home made server as soon as I can get it up and running.

d

Good luck. I recommend doing a lot of reading. Don't do a single mod until you read up on the car and make sure it's in really good shape for a daily driver.

 

[Pandagonier]

Make sure you look at the turbo and see if it has any shaft play. When I bought my car I didnt notice the shaft play till i got it home and was fixing the oil feed line to it. Stuck my hand in there just to spin it, and noticed the walls were scarred. Drove it for about 2 days like that not boosting it badly and BAM, blown turbo. The guy had given me all reciepts to the car he had. Three months before I bought the car he had a new 16G in it. Thats one of the reasons I bought it was because of the new turbo with 3000 miles on it. So be carefull and have it inspected throughly.

 

[Chaddycakes21]

You are going to want to drive the car take it out to the country and dirve it hard boost the crap out of it clear till redline in like 2 or 3rd gear and see if it has fuel cut if so you may want to question him if its properly tuned or ever has been because there should be no fuel cut.

For this reason alone i saved around 1,000. I bought my 97 Gs-t and it had several mods on it, most of which were only 5 thousand miles old. The gut had just installed 3.5 maf-t on it and didnt know what the heck he was doing. So i took it for a drive and it sure enough i hit fuel cut. I came back and questioned him abou it, and this made the difference in him lowering his asking price.

 

[1993eclipseGS]

You are going to want to drive the car take it out to the country and dirve it hard boost the crap out of it clear till redline in like 2 or 3rd gear and see if it has fuel cut if so you may want to question him if its properly tuned or ever has been because there should be no fuel cut.

HAhahahah.... Yeah, Just take the car to redline. Hopefully it'll blow up and you'll get stuck paying for the car and getting stuck with a car that you beat/blown up. This is the reason I would NEVER let anyone test drive my car, They can come for a ride in the car, With me driving, And that is it. If they wanted to drive it, Well.. Cya later and go find another one to buy, Is my exact response. You just never know what can happen while they're driving it. Out of 10 cars I sold, I NEVER let any of them get taken for a testdrive unless I was driving.

 

[luvmygst]

HAhahahah.... Yeah, Just take the car to redline. Hopefully it'll blow up and you'll get stuck paying for the car and getting stuck with a car that you beat/blown up. This is the reason I would NEVER let anyone test drive my car, They can come for a ride in the car, With me driving, And that is it. If they wanted to drive it, Well.. Cya later and go find another one to buy, Is my exact response. You just never know what can happen while they're driving it. Out of 10 cars I sold, I NEVER let any of them get taken for a testdrive unless I was driving.

I wouldn't buy a car from you.

 

[1993eclipseGS]

Ya that makes some people mad when you tell them you can't drive the car, But you'll take them for a ride and see what they want too see(Not clubbing the car). I just can't see beating a car on a test drive.

 

[wolf20043]

Ya that makes some people mad when you tell them you can't drive the car, But you'll take them for a ride and see what they want too see(Not clubbing the car). I just can't see beating a car on a test drive.

Reminds Me of a family friend that used to go to the furniture store and put the chit through the stuff he would do to it at home to see if it will hold up. Once it breaks all he has to say is "Well why would I want a broken chair?" and leave. I would never let someone test drive either. Too much chit can happen.
Mike

 

[FusionTalon]

i wouldnt buy anything that i cant test drive, hell if your selling a car for a price over 3k it should be able to handle the test drive abuse, if ## so afraid of the other driver blowing it up, you know its not in that good of a shape. When i bought my race bike,Kawasaki KX250, my kawi dealer said we dont let anyone testdrive casue if u crash etc etc. I said ok, cya. Quickly the sales guy said, well let me see if i can work something out with someone. In the end, i ended up testdriving it, yes i did rev the hell out of it, but ofcorse i didnt hold it there and see how many seconds it would take to blow a kx250 motor either.. ..just my two Cents

 

[luvmygst]

I test drove mt drag car before I bought it. If you are selling your car stating that it is in goood shape it should stand up to a test drive. I would drive the car like I would any normal day, and that includes a redline pull or two. I wouldnt car if the owner rode with me but I will be the one driving. I am not saying that you go and abuse the car but I would have to check out the performance of a performance car. Just my .02

 

[PSI NRG]

I think if the buyer is serious about buying the car I would let them drive it and by serious i mean they know how to drive, know what the car is, and what it can do. I would just let them know that before they got in that if they mess something up they are paying for it. If the person was just coming out of no where to look at it i wouldnt because insurance purpose too. If they get in an accident they arent covered under my insurance and then I'm screwed...

 

[gsxtacy]

If I saw a stack of cash in a prospective buyers hand, I would highly consider a test drive, but there are to many free loading "wish I could afford a DSM" kinda people that are used to driving their Escort GT's to just LET them drive my baby.

Cash in hand, maybe , no cash just wants to mess around, not even a ride.

 

[baldbull]

Hey Jp,

You've come to the right place to do research before buying! This is a great website, and the AWD Turbo cars are the cream of the crop (I've had 5). I recently bought my latest project ( a 96 Talon TSI AWD) from a friend. The things that I've always looked for in any car are:

1. Oil color -- if they aren't changing oil they aren't taking care of the car no matter how many mods are done or how good it looks. Especially being that it's turbocharged.
2. Rust!!!!!! Do not buy the car if there is rust near the strut towers - sometimes these 2g's have it. If you do decide to buy it with the rust have an estimate on the repairs done before you buy.
3. Idle surge - the car should Idle smoothly, and never over 1000 rpms for an extended period.
4. Severe front-end alignment issues - carfax is a good resource if the accident was reported, but some front-end issues due to abuse or accidents can't be corrected with a simple front-end alignment.

This coupled with all of the other's advice should arm you with plenty of knowledge. Good luck.