which car is better?

[Corbic]

Alright I'm going to go look at the Talon I have been rambeling on about at 4:30ct.

Anything I need to double check on? Saddly I don't feel like paying $90 for a bunch of halfwits at a dealer to look at the car. The only useful information I would get is a compresion check. Any way to make sure the car is tip-top and running good compression with out actualy taking it to a shop?

I was told putting a piece of cardboard over the exhaust will tell you something.. car should start to konk-out. How again to you check for crank walk? I know its play in the fly. What about the turbo? My biggest concern, how do I know its still working and its putting out good boost et al.

Thanks guys.

Car in question is a 1995 Talon, clean. 145k miles, daily commuter. New brakes, tires, water pump and starter. I'll ask about the timing belt again. Asking 3100, I think I can get it for 2700 or 2800.

Any tipps and advise will be greatly need and apreciated.

 

[GeneralChaos]

ill quote this part..

"There is no real way to tell if you car is experiencing crankwalk, symtoms are usully difficult to diagnose untill major damage occures. Some symptoms are that when you are turning a left corner the clutch will often ‘stick’down, this is often a sign of crankwalk. Other symptoms include rough or poor clutch engagement, inconsistant engagement height, ticking noises, difficult shifting, and variing pedal height or pressure. Another symptom is having the engine RPM decrease significantly when the clutch pedal is depressed. As you add more and more horsepower to your engine, the greater chance you have of getting crankwalk."

that being said....

definately check that timing belt. Ask about it, see if they have paper work on when it was done. take some 10,11,12mm sockets with you and take the timing cover off and look at the belt. it SHOULD have been replaced at least 15k miles ago. does it look new? any cracks in the belt? if so I think you got a liar and you should walk away.

Check for rust. blatent rust or rust blisters (paint bubbles) main areas id check that is the strut towers, under body, and inside the hatch.

Definately check the underbody, use a flashlight if you have to. I didnt check mine good enough and its pretty crushed from improper jacking and rusting a bit.

check the wheel wells for rust, it generally appears in the bottom "corner" where the bottom of the body is (near the side skirts). lot of stuff generally accumulates here, make sure they didnt just spray paint over anything.

Make sure its not burning or leaking any fluids. make sure the oil doesnt have metal chunks in it.

make sure the coolant and oil arent mixing.

make sure EVERYTHING works. I always screw up on this one....on my car I forgot to check the horn

make sure all the other belts look in good shape and check for anything out of the ordinary.

make sure there are no odd noises, besides possible lifter tick.

the exhaust blocking you mention ive never heard of so I cant comment.

and most importantly BE PREPARED TO WALK AWAY and DO NOT GET OVER EXCITED. when you get excited you just buy a peice of crap like I did. I got excited because it was cheap and I actually found a awd 5 speed 30 minutes away. I cant complain to much about the car since I just wanted it for drag racing but when I look back I wish I would have waited.

Hope that helps some.

 

[ruf_round_edges]

Things that I look for with DSM's:

-Shaft play in the turbo (both side to side and in/out)
-Smooth idle (look for idle surge)
-Compression check (bring a compression gauge if you have one)
-Look for mods (I prefer no mods done, but if there are mods, make sure they are done right)
-Make sure it doesn't burn oil or coolant (usually means that turbo, valve stem seals, head gasket are in decent shape)
-Vibrations at speed (both in steering wheel and overall)
-Grinding in the trans.
-Firm clutch pedal
-Inspect all belts and listen for sounds coming from the pulleys
-Have a car fax report run possibly
-Finally, drive it. Don't be afraid to get on it a little, both accelerating and braking. Don't rip the car to shreds, but just test it to see how it handles heavy acceleration and braking.

That's my $.02. This isn't a catch-all list, but it's a start of things to look for.

Will

 

[Corbic]

"Check for rust. blatent rust or rust blisters (paint bubbles) main areas id check that is the strut towers, under body, and inside the hatch."

Yeah, this is some surface rust (sand right out) in the trunk and some more pronouced rust infront of the front shock towers. Once again it looks like it will sand out and patch up ok. Otherwise for being a northern car its got a clean body and just the usual under carage surface rust (exhasut et el.).

 

[Corbic]

Also, there is a rattle in the back driver side of the car. I, nor the owner have any clue to what it is. She says its been there for over a year. Also the owner has owned the car for 9 years now. (Its an older lady). It still has current plates and is stilld driven (one of the problems trying to get it to the shop, she takes it work still and lives by her self I guess). Car was simply listed in the local sunday paper (not weekly) and isnt plasted with "For sale" stuff.

Any idea what the rear-ward rattle is? I can't think of anything past a loose exhaust braket or something.

Thanks for the pointers guys.

 

[GeneralChaos]

being owned by a lady like that can be a very good or very bad thing.

good is she wouldnt beat on it.

bad she might not maintain it properly.

 

[Corbic]

Just got back.

Hmmm. She won't budge from $3,000. Belts are not new but have been replaced. Battery has been replaced. Tires are new. Rust on the strut towers is worse then I orginaly thought. Car handels and pulls good. It screams at 6,000 RPMS and GOES!

Some smoke, but no odder, its FREEZING HERE. Needs a new valve gasket thing. Other wise nice car, just so many miles

 

[d3solate]

hi i want your opinion on which car is the better deal. i just recently was offerered two choices for purchaing a new(used) car. i had a choice of purchasing the rare 1999 3000gt vr-4 (6 speed) for under $10k stock with about 50k miles on it. the other option was a black 1998 eclipse GS-t with a rebuilt engine (5 speed) less then 10k miles and the car has the basic stage 1.5 upgrade sumwhere around between a mixture of stage 1 and stage 2 upgrade, about 300 horses of power equiped with guages, audio, rims, etc, all for under $9k.i found this to be a hard choice i mean although how rare the 3000 gt and more powerful it is, it is much harder to maintain simple jobs than the eclipse (tune up, timing belt, axel, brakes, oil change etc, etc.). good point for the 3000 gt is that it rare and powerfeul and at such a low price espcially it hasnt been touched (moddified). on the other hand the eclipse has low miles on it due to the rebuilt motor and almost as much horses as the 3000gt, bad side is it has been moddified... Can you guys please give me an opinion or the choice of car i should purchase. i look up to you guys for helping make the right choice....because i have no one else to turn to..err at least no one with the knowlegde of mitsubishi cars. .

 

[mysticfire6602]

no question, the 3000gt hands down

 

[Tongboy]

a 99 vr4 for sub 10k

you shouldn't be posting that question, you shuold be driving around your vr4


make sure its got a clean title and hasn't been in any accidents for that price

 

[98turbo]

I personally would go with the gst....

 

[Corbic]

Less then 10k for a 1999 VR-4 sounds to cheap. Be carefull.

 

[Dallas J]

The VR-4 cost about 40k new. 6 years later its worth 1/4 of that? Something sounds fishy with it.

But if its all legit (doubt it ) the VR-4 8 days of the week would be my choice.

-Dallas J

 

[temfate]

Having owned a VR4 myself I want to warn you, be CAREFUL. When something goes wrong it normally is VERY pricey to fix it. Like a $250 alternator at autozone expensive! DSM's are cheaper to repair, but don't have the same potential.

That said, the 99 VR4 is extremely rare and I'd buy it in a hardbeat if you'll tell me who's selling for that price!

 

[Well Traveled]

Too much money. You can get one with a lot less miles for that much.Tell her she doesn't need that much money for bingo every thursday night!

 

[Defiant]

Rust on the strut towers is worse then I orginaly thought.

Wait for one that's not a piece of shit.

And wait for AWD.

 

[4GSixty3]

DSM's are cheaper to repair, but don't have the same potential.

DSM's have ALOT more potential...