The Official "What's this DSM worth?" Thread

[sparco431]

so i just got back from checking out this 1997 gst. The car looked pretty good from the exterior, minus the holes in the trunk from taking off the old spoiler and putting on a rice one. The interior was a little below good condition. On the chassis of the car there is about 115000 miles, but he said he rebuilt the whole engine and put on a 14b turbo. It looked like the car had overheated because there was dried off coolant all over the place, but he told me the radiator hose just popped off. The oil dipstick was broken IN the little place, so i couldnt check the oil. The car would idle really rough, to a point where it would almost shut off but it wouldnt. He said it could be one of the hoses, but im not sure. he also told me that it was leaking from the turbo manifold, do you think the rough idle could be from that? also on the gauge it would jump rapidly from lean and rich and rarely stay in the middle. what could that be from? He told me he put on the 14b right one the manifold for the t25, is that true? or does the 14b have a different manifold. the guy is asking 4700 the kbb is 3200 good but i dont think the car is in good condition. so i offered him 3000 and he said hes got someone else thats coming to look and hell call me back. here is the ad

97 Eclipse Turbo

please let me know what you think

 

[crimsondragon]

Sounds like a POS.

 

[sparco431]

its so hard to find a good GST here in oc. guess i gotta go up to LA

 

[JFatch1890]

I agree is does sound like a pos And don't go by kbb cause even if were to price it in fair shape you could be driving it home and it blows up.Then it should of been listed under a dud then you paid three grand for a shell cause now you'll be buying a motor.To many funky a$$ problems for me.Id rather travel for something better.Something that at least runs right cause all he is doing is passing his headache onto someone else.

 

[Dsmj89]

Sounds like a pos as well. I'd hold off and keep looking around.

 

[sparco431]

yea i think ill hold off on that, im in no rush so ill keep looking. just out of curiosity are there any special rules on buying a car with a salvaged title? like do you have to smog them at a special place? or anything with the registration

 

[crimsondragon]

I believe once a car is salvaged, it remains salvaged. You can get a new title for it (I think it was "reconstructed?") once you have a tech deem the car is drivable once again but it will still remain that the car was once a salvaged car. Meaning you will get less than what other cars with regular titles when you go to sell it.

 

[sparco431]

i know that but thanks, i mean like in the sense of smog and insurance. is it any different than a car with a clean title? cause if i buy a gst with a salvaged title i dont really care cause i wanna keep it forever, i just wanna make sure the only thing is that i cant sell for as a much as a clean title one.

 

[dsmboy96]

You could buy a gst for real cheap in the low to mid 2k range and most likely decent running condition. Look around some more, i'm sure you'll evcentually find one for cheaper and better.

 

[knochgoon24]

I wouldn't buy a car that someone has tinkered on. He's too attached to the car. Asking $4700 for a car in "good" condition is crazy. Let the next buffoon buy that one.

 

[sparco431]

yea i wanna find one that a old lady or man has been driving with no modifications at all. but i know thats gunna be hard to find so i guess i wont be too picky

 

[iboost]

I'm looking to buy yet another DSM, but the problem is the guy seems, at leat to me, shady. He is selling the car and says its a 2.3 stroker with the crank, rods and pistons purchased from slow boy. he has recipts but i dont know if they are real or not (because of his shady-ness). So my question to everyone out there is does anyone have a recipt from slowboy for a crank, pistons and rods that I can compare to his? I tried asking for his but he wouldn't let me have them because of his personal info on them, which is understandable. I have just been screwd in the past before buying a car that turned out not to have parts that were said to be in it, actually in it. So if anyone could help me out that would much very helpfull, as I really like this eclipse, I just dont want to be screwd over again. Thanks!!


-iboost

 

[lowandsleekDSM]

I say if the guy is shady then i wouldnt even consider it. What kind of personal info would the reciept have on it? Im pretty sure the reciept would not have his bank account info on it or anything. The deal sounds ok to me, but yet i have not seen the car or not know full aspects of it but thats neither here no there due to the fact that the guy is a bit shady. I say keep looking around i would not take a chance on this guy if i were you.

 

[turbotemper]

ASk him if he could cover up the personal info and scan a copy for you if not than f him. Tell him gl proving those parts are actually in there and if he gets mad, ask him why hes mad. You just want to see the proof. Thats rediculous if he still argues about it. Move on there are plenty of DSM's out there.
Does anyone have a reciept from sloboy for him to compare to? Do they have reciept with the shop name on it or something similar? So you can see if he actually has an original receipt or a forged.
GL

 

[delta448]

Maybe you could call Slowboy and ask them to look up his name in their system?

Other than that, you can measure the crank throw by pulling a sparkplug, carefully putting a long thin wood dowel down the cylinder to the piston and marking the dowel's travel with a marker while slowly and carefully turning the engine over by hand. If it's a stroker the line you draw on the dowel with the marker will be 10 cm long, with a stock crank it will be 8.8 cm. Ask him if it's okay to do this, with his help, since there's no other way to verify what crank is in the engine and try to be as polite as possible about it.

If it has the stroker crank he's probably telling you the truth about everything else.

 

[TunaTalon]

No copies, no BS. If you take possession of the car you get the original receipts.

The previous owner may want to keep copies of the receipts but the originals go with the car. If the seller objects the best response is “Ok then, bye.” (That’s bye not buy.)

I have every receipt for every mod for my Talon. They go with the Talon.

Following is a reduced scale image of a SBR receipt for misc parts from 2006.

 

[delta448]

Maurice, your Talon's the DSM in question? I'd hate to see you end up in the quitters thread...

 

[TunaTalon]

No, no, my talon is not for sale! The OP asked for a copy of a real SBR receipt.

However I am an olde phart. There is a tiny chance that the Talon will last longer than me. More likely I'll pass through the Pearly Gates sliding backwards with the Talon on fire.

 

[96ETT]

Most internet mail order companies have receipts that are just printed on regular size paper with times new roman font and a few tables and numbers. Anyone could make one up and make it look identical to a legit one. If the guy is that damn shady that you dont trust his receipts then I would give him me money.

 

[trevnasty]

Most internet mail order companies have receipts that are just printed on regular size paper with times new roman font and a few tables and numbers. Anyone could make one up and make it look identical to a legit one. If the guy is that damn shady that you dont trust his receipts then I would give him me money.

i second that

 

[Minimalitia]

hey guys and gals. my buddy has a 98 talon tsi AWD 5 speed. its all stock. 170k-ish miles. timing belt and full tune up was done at 163,000 and he just replaced the fuel pump with a walbro 255. it has some light rust on the back lower rockers and a hole through the skin of the trunk. also he said the seal on the input shaft of the tranny is leaking oil, and has a misfire on cyl 1. he told me i could buy it for $1,100. i know the 98 tsi awd is one of the hardest of the talons to find. and i loveee the late model talon front bumpers!!
here is a link to a pic
http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/28/l_f0438642ef4243dc814be655f6666c4c.jpg
let me know what you think!! thanks

 

[mindset]

thats a lot of miles on that block! if you plan on modding the car, either look for a new block, or find a different dsm. otherwise if you think you can fix the misfire, probably just plugs and wires, go for it. my friend bought a 93 tsi fwd and it was leaking on the input shaft too... BE SURE to do some research on the site and learn about the car's motor if you plan on modding.

 

[Minimalitia]

i am no noob when it comes to the dsms. i have had at least 6 or 7 dsms in the last few yrs. i was thinking of maybe trying to grab a JDM 6 bolt with the cyclone intake for it down the road but first minor mods i wanted to to were logger, evo 16g, turbo back exhaust, injectors, and i was hopeing to do a FMIC. i know it has high miles but low mile dsm's are getting very hard to find around here. id much rather find another 90 tsi like i used to have.
i know with this car first major thing is a boost test then a compression test.
im not afraid of going after the mis fire or the seal. those are no big deal but i was a lil dissappointed when i heard ab it. didnt really want to drop the tranny.. well see. im gonna go check it out and ill snap some pics of a bunch of things to show everyone.

 

[rEclipserGST]

Considering you drive an N/T and I have to agree... those talons front bumpers are Sexy. But hey, since you have knowledge about DSM's... drive it and decide if you wanna buy it. Im still on my 1st... so do what you do. Im hoping to get a GSX sometime before i die.

 

[Minimalitia]

thanks rEclipserGST
yea at the moment i have a n/t. . actuall rite now i am down to 3 n/t. my first dsm was a 90 TSI. ive been through 4 97 rs's, 90 tsi, 93 tsi, 95 rs, and i think i had a 96 in there too.
thing is i cant drive it to see what i think for 2 reasons. 1 the input seal is leaking. im not sure how bad. and 2 its winter and the roads are crap. so i wont be able to get a "good" feel for the car. but it would let me know if there is a big leak some where in the intake system. with the air being so cold under full boost if it fuel cuts i have problems. especially if it is really stock. but on the other hand he told me its got a mis fire on #1. uggghhh. well see. i want a late model tsi. but id really hate to settle.