My situation, and a new car

[pe_3kgt]

To set the stage, this is not PE_3kgt, this is his little brother, 17 years old in New Jersey, who got his license May 15th, and drives a 4 cyl, 96 Grand Am.

Living in New Jersey, you do NOT get your real license when you pass the test. A new law means that you have to wait a year with a "provisional license", that limits driving from 6 in the morning to midnight, driving with more than one person (not in your family), and also, if you're caught going a certain speed over the limit, then you lose your license until you're 21 (or less, depending on the severity).

Because of this, my parents have told me that I'm not allowed to get a new car until I get my new license, and will have less to worry about if I get pulled over.

My car is worth about 5 thousand dollars, private party as of now. I've practically decided to buy a good condition turbo Eclipse, and do some work to it, with most of the cash I have saved up by next May.

Since I can assume I'll have about 4 thousand dollars if I sell my car, and I have 3 thousand in the bank already, that's almost 7 thousand off the bat. I'm gonna be working all summer/winter/spring, during which I can probably save a few more thousand dollars.

Assuming I have (let's say) 10 thousand dollars ready to spend by the time I can buy my new car, I thought I would buy a second gen Eclipse, since I love the body style, and love it's speed, etc., but a friend of mine told me about 2nd gen's have a tendency to "Crank Walk", therefore ruining my car, meaning I wasted all my money.

I figured I'd get on these boards and ask all you guys, what should I do. If any of you had 10 thousand dollars for a new car, wanted it fast, which way would you go. Are crank walks common enough that I should just abandon my love of the body style and buy a first gen? Should I just get a 2nd gen and do something to the engine to end the threat of a walk? There has to be something to do, but what would any of you do with 10k, when all I want is a car that looks nice (no rice, just want it to be clean, fixed looking interior, etc.), and can f-in cruise with a turbo. Any help?

Thanks in advance

-Brian K

 

[jamie8dc]

There are at least 756f56098686d8976 posts on this topic. I'm too lazy to post a link, but check here: http://www.roadraceengineering.com/walkingcrankshaft.htm

and here: http://www.magnusmotorsports.com/crankwalktheory.htm

They're long, but informative.

Hop that helps

 

[BISHILVR]

if your worried about crankwalk in a 2g then simply buy a 2nd gen that has already had a 6bolt swap done to it, to reduce the chance of crankwalk happening...check www.dsmtrader.com for used cars in your area......

 

[pe_3kgt]

if your worried about crankwalk in a 2g then simply buy a 2nd gen that has already had a 6bolt swap done to it, to reduce the chance of crankwalk happening...check www.dsmtrader.com for used cars in your area......

Oh, thanks a lot. Some people I know were talking about me doing a swap so I don't have to worry about it, but I don't know what it is with the 2g body style, I just love it. From what I can tell, there's really no way to prevent a crank walk, so I'd have to pay for a new engine, which I'm sure would cost too much (I might as well buy a 1g), but if I could find a nice condition 2g with a 1g turbo engine, then that may be exactly what I'm looking for. . .thanks for the link