Some questions about buying a foxbody

[Taal Stang]

Hello all,

I owned an 89 lx 5.0 convertible about 8 years ago...and the itch has hit again. I was only in high school then and I did a lot of work on the car, but being it was my first car I ever worked on and I was a dumb kid I didn't do things as properly as I should and the car became very undriveable as a daily driver.

So I want to do things a little differently this time. I want to start by really checking the car I buy carefully. I am looking at a few cars around my area that are around 80k miles, not heavily modified and are well kept up.

There is one in particular I like, it looks very nice and he has just rebuilt the engine. He said the reason for this was "one of the spider claps that hold the lifter had broke, and it was letting the lifter roll on the cam. I could of just replaced the lifters and cam because the car was still running good just making noise. I didn't want to take any chances with metal being in the motor so I went the rest of the way through it."

I asked him if he did a compression check and leak-down test after he went through the engine and he told me that there is no need to do these tests since it is a stock motor.

To me it seems like if you have the motor open that once its closed back up its good to do these tests, no matter if its restored to stock or not.

I am weary that he messed up his rebuild and thats why hes selling it. Can you guys give me your opinion on this?

Thanks much,
-Jason

 

[skunk21]

just by that statement right there I would start questioning this car. I would do the test myself or take it to garage and have it done to verify the condition of the motor and other areas of the car before I plunked any cash down,rebuilt or not. when I bought mine I pulled the pugs and looked at them, ran a comp. test, tested the cooling system and other things.The owner was really cool but also you don't want to buy a piece of junk + he advertised new parts and work done so I verified it. If he refuses...walk away. you know the old saying " buyer beware "

 

[90lxcoupe]

if your questioning something as big as the motor already i would say move on, there are tons of nice clean foxes for sale, you will find what your looking for.

 

[Taal Stang]

Well, I don't wanna give up just yet on this one, it is one of the nicest looking fox bodies I have seen for sale.

I talked to the owner and he is fine with taking it to a shop to have the motor checked out as well.

I think his price is a little high still, he is asking $6,000 for it. It's a 90 lx hatchback with 78,500 miles. He replaced bearings, gaskets, seals, and lifters on the motor. New power steering pump, new motor mounts as well. He has 3.73 gears in it, aluminum drive shaft. Otherwise it is stock. He replaced all the trim on the windows and the paint is fantastic looking. The only problems I have seen is the speedo isn't reading right still from the 3.73 gears and there are two small holes in the drivers seat. Interior is great looking otherwise.

What do you guys think of that price? If the motor checks out fine is that a good price or too much?

Thanks for the help,
-Jason

 

[skunk21]

1st way over priced. 2nd that isn't a rebuilt motor. He is full of statements, at best he only fixed what needed to be. pretty sad he was too lazy to install a speedo gear. this car is a stock fox with gears and a seller you can't trust already going by the statements you posted, I say 1/2 that price or a little more or walk away. Like 90lxcoupe stated there are plenty of other foxes out there.

 

[defcondaze]

1st way over priced. 2nd that isn't a rebuilt motor. He is full of statements, at best he only fixed what needed to be. pretty sad he was too lazy to install a speedo gear. this car is a stock fox with gears and a seller you can't trust already going by the statements you posted, I say 1/2 that price or a little more or walk away. Like 90lxcoupe stated there are plenty of other foxes out there.

+1
"rebuilt engine" is the typical line. when asked for receipts, they are usually "missing"