What do you guys think?

Last week I found an SC in a local driveway without tags on it...so already I'm interested. I stopped and talked with the guy and got the skinney on it. Its a 93 with just over 40k miles on it!! Okay I'm thinking now why aren't there tags on it? He's like "the head gaskets are blown." I'm thinking no big deal but then he goes on to tell me that he paid $2500 for it and drove it home with a blown head gasket, so I asked if it was blowing coolant and oil all over the engine bay and he was like "no there's just coolant in the oil." Then he mentioned something about replacing the tranny this summer. So the black leather interior looked good, and overall the body was straight but not glossy (like it'd been outside its whole life). So possibly this could be one that's only got a blown head gasket, but potentially since it was driven in that condition it could need total rebuild right? Then there's the tranny that might be bad also (cause why else would he mention putting a new one in if this one only has 40k on it?)....Which I'm sure it needs everything else that a neglected SC would (plugs hoses filters etc). So where would you guys put the value?

Thanks for the help.

He paid 2500. Head gasket job is min 1500 at a reputable shop. Low miles is nice. Many may say you need a whole rebuild many may say you dont.

If you plan on doing the work yourself it wont cost you more then $500 in replacement parts to do the headgasket job. Offer him 500 and for a thousand you may have a running SC. Of course you may need more then just the gaskets changed...

How long was the car sitting with blown headgaskets? If water is sitting in the combustion chambers you will definitely need a rebuild..Either way $500 is more then fair for a low mile SC with agood body and interior

93 Sc

I think its probably been sitting since last summer. Meant to start this thread in Non-Tech....sorry.

Well I would expect to do a rebuild..May be rust in cylinders..But still 500 is a fair price to pay for a clean car. He probably wont get more

Hmmm

Yeah he was like "I was thinking $1500" guess he's trying to pass along the savings to me

If he drove it home with a blown head gasket, it will have bearing issues. Antifreeze is death to bearings. I blew a head gasket on the dyno, installed new head gaskets and soon after that a rod bearing went out. Most of the bearings, rod and crank were bad. Sitting like that over a period of time compounds the issue. Ask him to sell it for 500 bucks and look for a short block to transplant into it

Ken

So you don't think that block is worth rebuilding? Or you think that a transplant is just cheaper and or easier?

AX-MAN said:

So you don't think that block is worth rebuilding? Or you think that a transplant is just cheaper and or easier?

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I'd say go back, offer him the 1000 cash you have in your hand, grab the Title, get the car home... an pull the motor, for an evaluation...

That would be a great start..

Block is worth rebuilding however sitting that long with a blown headgasket means it will most likely have to be rebuilt!

Best thing to do is tell the guy you found out the head gasket job was going to cost between $1500 and $2000 and that they told you the block might be damaged with coolant sitting in the bores for so long. Might bring the price down.


You have to decide what you wish to spend on it based on what you see. The body and interior etc. If he stands firm, you could walk away and tell him you will think about it.

When I bought my LX, the body was freshly painted with new sheet metal from a fender bender. Interior was clean and intact, brakes done etc. so I was interested in the car. The guy wouldn't deal down from what he was asking ($2500). My brother asks me what I want to do. I smiled, shook the guys hand and said tell me if you change your mind bro. We got two blocks away and he calls my cell saying he'll take $2200. (this was the haggler's death knell) I said I'll keep that in mind while I'm looking at the next three cars. About two more minutes goes by and he calls again. Now he thinks $2000 is fair. I once again tell him I'd think about it. When I hung up the phone I told my brother I was going to pay about $1600 for the car. I actually ended up paying $1650.

Find out if the transmission was rebuilt and by whom. If it was done right, it would be built to exceed stock specs.

AX-MAN said:

So you don't think that block is worth rebuilding? Or you think that a transplant is just cheaper and or easier?

Click to expand...

I found a low milage short block for 800 bucks that I just bolted my heads and the rest on. Made it easy and I was back running real quick. Im sure the block can be rebuilt just was easier for me to go with another block.

Ken