Good Potential Project Car or Keep looking?

[Mwaza]

I have about 2000 extra dollars to play around with. I could either save up for a Dodge Stealth R/T TT over the next few years, or consider buying a 1g DSM.

I recently found a DSM that I liked, a '90 TSI AWD. A guy about an hour away from me is selling it. I called him recently and he said he bought the car with the intention of racing it. It's pretty busted looking from what I can see online, paint is chipped, and the front bumper is cracked (on a side note what is the difference between a fender, bumper and a lip?). Still he claims it runs, and the inside looks fairly decent.

He has it online for sale at 1700 dollars, but I'm sure I could swing him down to about 1300-1400 cash. I'm concerned about a few things:
-The front bumper, I'm sure I could scrounge a junkyard for the part, but could I also just buy one from anywhere or get bodywork done at a shop?
-The paint is chipping, getting touch up paint shouldn't set me back too much right?
-I could probubly install a new timing belt myself right? I think a Chiltons Repair manual explains it.

I have a while to work on the car, and am considering having it be my running project throughout College (since I can't drive for the first two years at school, and I have a car at home with a decent amount of life left in it.) I'm very interested in learning about cars, and just looking at th Vfaq site made me feel smarter. Does anyone think this is a good buy?

And the link to the ad online is-
The Car for sale

 

[Thor06]

I'd do it if you can talk him down to $1300-$1400. My friend just got at 1991 TSI AWD for $1800. It had crappy brakes, leaky oil pan gasket, and fading paint but it had nice interior and only had 103K miles and ran really smooth. One thing I learned from that car... be sure you know what you are doing when you buy a car that needs work. We spent close to 15 hours under that stupid car taking the oil pan off when it should have been maybe like 3-4. I've noticed that not many early DSMs have good paint, so I wouldnt hold out for one with good paint. The bumper shouldnt be a big deal, I would just buy a new one. You could do the timing belt yourself if you have the rights tools, LOTS of time, some mechanical ability, and a place to park it where you can leave it for a few days. A

 

[dawg316]

thats a tough question DSM rock but a stealth is a really awesome car. and its twin turbo wow! i think you should trick out the talon sell it for higher make a prophit and put that to wards your stealth fund. its just my opinion

 

[GRNDSM]

Stealth is NOT a very good project car. It is very similar to DSM in terms of performance and mods, but is significantly more expensive! Just about everything about it will be 1.5-2 times more expensive and finding people who can help with them will be more difficult.

I am not saying that they suck, but I would go into it unless I absolutely LOVED them and HAD to be different. But then, be prepared to pay more, a lot more

 

[orezbus12]

i had the choice between 3kgt and DSM.......i went dsm cause of more aftermarket for the car and the parts that were availible for the 3kgt just seemed kinda expensive to me . either car would be sweet though

 

[ColdAudio]

i used to have a stealth non-turbo, my 1g dsm is much cooler by far and i love it alot more, but the stealth didn't break once in the 10 months i had it as opposed to my dsm breaking once a week

 

[Mwaza]

-I like the idea of rebuilding and then selling the Talon. That sounds like it could be a good idea and considering even my hometown is a college town, I can't see having a problem doing that.

-Does having to work on your car so much help build an attachment to it? My current car, I feel very little connection to. Granted, I never let any of my friends near the drivers seat... but it seems people love their DSMs despite the constant breaking down (likely from racing so much!) and money they spend on repairs.

-Also, I want to get a basic idea of repair cost. I'd be willing to throw down maybe another 700 dollars after I paid for the car for intial repairs. So basically the gist I'm getting is this: Oil pan, Brakes, Timing belt (although I doubt the car could have run so long without a replacement), Balance shaft (?), and touch up paint. I think I could do everything but the brakes (because they are so expensive to purchase may as well have someone else put them on) and the Timing belt (since it looks like it takes forever, and I don't have any experience with invasive engine work ). I don't see these things as costing to much over 500 dollars even with labor though.

-Another issue came to mind, while I'm being so verbose. How long would a Talon's transmission and clutch hold up. And how much would those cost to replace?

 

[TUI2I30]

I found that car during my search as well. I personally decided aginst it. It looks like the guy did exactly what he bought it for, and busted it up while doing so. I wouldn't give him $1000 for that car. just my 2¢

 

[LaN-]

as cool as 3k gt's and RT/TT's are from what i've seen they look like a PITA to work on. I've been told enable to get to the second turbo the engine has to come out and they are HEAVY as F*&(

Picture this stock RT/TT 300 - 320 hp = cool car
Stock TSI awd 200 hp + 5 grand = A hell of alot faster then that RT/TT

 

[redfury]

Both are good choices, but as far as bang for buck goes, you simply cant beat the 1G.

 

[sikhlikewhoa]

Hey, just to let you know you can usually find 1g DSMs (bone stock) for good prices on craigslist. At least in the Cali area anyway, not exactly sure about around you. Just thought I'd let you know considering it's a free-post site so people utilize that more than the other car-sale online agencies.

 

[Mwaza]

Thanks for the advice everyone, but I decided the car is more trouble then it's worth. I don't have alot of money (at the moment at least), and already drive one crappy car that I'm terrified of letting go of for fear of getting an even more crappy car.

I'm thinking I'll forget getting an AWD DSM, and just go for a GS-T/TSI/RS-Turbo or something. As a side note when driving today I saw my first Laser.

Even stranger, I was on RT10 (maybe some North Jersey people know it), and I saw not 1, not 2 but 5 1gs owned by males in very different demographics in the parking lot. It convinced me that DSM is the way to go.

Question:
-How long do you think an engine and turbo could hold up in a DSM? If I bought a DSM that say, had the clutch and transmission fixed, could it hold out to at least 130k miles if it was well taken care of?

 

[redfury]

Thanks for the advice everyone, but I decided the car is more trouble then it's worth. I don't have alot of money (at the moment at least), and already drive one crappy car that I'm terrified of letting go of for fear of getting an even more crappy car.

I'm thinking I'll forget getting an AWD DSM, and just go for a GS-T/TSI/RS-Turbo or something. As a side note when driving today I saw my first Laser.

Even stranger, I was on RT10 (maybe some North Jersey people know it), and I saw not 1, not 2 but 5 1gs owned by males in very different demographics in the parking lot. It convinced me that DSM is the way to go.

Question:
-How long do you think an engine and turbo could hold up in a DSM? If I bought a DSM that say, had the clutch and transmission fixed, could it hold out to at least 130k miles if it was well taken care of?

Yeah RT10 is famlier, used to drive there all the time. Consider this, my 2G GST is still on the stock 7-bolt and has had zero transmission problems, and my car has 115,768 miles.

 

[GRNDSM]

How long do you think an engine and turbo could hold up in a DSM? If I bought a DSM that say, had the clutch and transmission fixed, could it hold out to at least 130k miles if it was well taken care of?

130k miles is NOTHING for a well taken care of 4G63! Just make sure that it has a good timing belt.

 

[Theb95tsi]

-

-Also, I want to get a basic idea of repair cost. I'd be willing to throw down maybe another 700 dollars after I paid for the car for intial repairs. So basically the gist I'm getting is this: Oil pan, Brakes, Timing belt (although I doubt the car could have run so long without a replacement), Balance shaft (?), and touch up paint. I think I could do everything but the brakes (because they are so expensive to purchase may as well have someone else put them on) and the Timing belt (since it looks like it takes forever, and I don't have any experience with invasive engine work ). I don't see these things as costing to much over 500 dollars even with labor though.
QUOTE]

if im not mistaken just a timing belt job is about 500+ bucks ...

 

[Theb95tsi]

my bad guys sorry for the damn double post i must have clicked reply two times by accident