Thinking of picking up a local dsm

[chino9656]

Hey guys. I've been poking around the site for a couple weeks. I have a 1st gen Ford Probe GT right now that I love and am rebuilding the engine on. however, I know it will never give me the power I want. But a DSM will! I really like the looks of the 1st gens, and I have stumbled upon a 90 (i think) Eclipse GS-T!!! The car is in my mechanic friend's shop. Some kid brought it in with a transmission problem (bent the shift fork) so the mechanic rebuilt the transmission (shift fork and syncros). The kid also bought a fidanza flywheel, and an aftermarket clutch...I don't remember the brand of it off the top of my head. The owner of the car cannot come up with the funds for the car, so it has been offered to me for $1,000. It needs a clutch master cylinder, which my mechanic will replace (parts and labor) for $100. The car is black, and the body is in very good condition, other than some extremely faded paint on the hood and roof. The engine looks decent, had a td05 turbocharger, which I think is stock. I let the car warm up for a few minutes until the thermostat opened up, and revved it up a bit, and grey smoke came up from what I'm guessing was the head gasket on the corner closest to the drivers headlight. It was a good amount of grey smoke, kind of like exhaust gases, but I'm not positive what it was. The only other problems I noticed with the car was a timing belt whine, and when I turned the throttle knobby thing, the engine almost dies before it revs up...I'm sure it needs a tune up and all that, but I was wondering if $1,100 (with the clutch master cyl) is a good price for the car. The interior is very nice, it has a tape deck and a CD player (Stock) that doesn't sound too bad. I believe the car had around 150,000 miles on it. I would really appreciate any input you could give me with it. I plan on going over there Wednesday when we are putting the head on my block for my probe, and doing a compression test on the engine, and see if I can take it out for a spin...my mechanic says it won't go out of 1st gear because there is no pressure in the master cylinder to engage the clutch, but I think I will atleast be able to see if it boosts and everything.
I'm hoping you all here will be welcoming, and I hope I can be a part of your community
Thank you in advance,
Zach

 

[Dream On]

$1100 sounds like a lot of money for a car with a blown headgasket. Do a compression check, and also check to see if there is coolant and oil mixing together. It could just be an exhaust leak. And why are you letting the mechanic change the master cylinder for you when you could do it yourself for $60? Its not hard, considering you said you're rebuilding your motor. Good luck with it.

 

[alex]

When looking into buying a car, check the following things:

1. Do a compression test (there should never be more than a 16 PSI differenece between each postion).
2. Make sure there is oil pressure.
3. Do a boost leak test.
4. Make sure timing belt is in good shape.
5. Just do an overall check on all engine, check for receipts if possbible. (make sure tires are good, little stuff like that)

*Ask if it was ever modded or played around with*

-Alex

 

[chino9656]

$1100 sounds like a lot of money for a car with a blown headgasket.

It does to me, too, but not if the transmission was just rebuilt, and it has a brand new clutch and a lightweight flywheel....the parts for the tranny he said were $350, plus around $300 for the flywheel and probably $150+ for the clutch...so right there it's almost worth to buy and part if the engine was in such bad condition. but I will check it. I read up on the boost leak check, I think I'll head to home depot today and make one of those things. Where do you buy valve stems?
I'm pretty sure it has never been modded, it still has that gross air box thing, no extra gauges. There was oil pressure (on the stock gauge) when I turned the car on.

BTW, the rims are UGLY! they look like pontiac rims from a Fiero or something.
Thanks for the help, I'll bring more info tomorrow.

 

[gstowner]

They will have the air valves or valve stems at home depot to (or should anyway) if not any local farm supply store will definetly have them. They're reall cheap too

 

[Dream On]

BTW, the rims are UGLY! they look like pontiac rims from a Fiero or something.Thanks for the help, I'll bring more info tomorrow.

I will never understand why people do things like this.

 

[dalatinromeo]

$1100 sounds like a lot of money for a car with a blown headgasket.

Yup!! Hope everything goes good, let us know if you get the car.

 

[Smitherines]

He aint crazy, I am, I just bought a 92 Talon TSi AWD mint condition in and out for 1200, not running Plus 430 for flatbed costs from 300 miles away, talk about stupid, Ill need a new head and valves for it .