RacerX1166

Well, my purdy diamond metallic blue 88 coupe went for its PPI today at EPE. Turns out it isn't so purdy afterall. Long story short, it needs a valve job, clutch, a few oil and fuel lines, and some seals and gaskets to the tune of $8-9k.

Thanks for the board and Pete especially for educating me enough to get a PPI to catch all the stuff that I missed when looking the car over.

Unless, the owner of the car wants to drop his price $10k, I'm still looking for a blue G50.... BTW, I would make that purchase in a heartbeat since the car has 43k miles on it and original paint with VERY few blems, none of any significance.

500

Hi Racer, good decision to use Pete's advice and get a good PPI. Definitely would have hurt to find that stuff out the hard way. Sounds like one of those 3.2s with extra-early valve guide wear... Too bad.

Out of curiousity, how much was the seller asking (sorry if you already posted that elsewhere)?

Peter Zimmermann

What a shame, but your considered purchase is a perfect example for my warning to not get emotionally involved with a car until after a successful PPI! I'm glad that someone else will be getting those big bills, unless, of course, the owner calls you with a counter that's $6 or 7K less than his asking price.

I'm curious, did your PPI technician offer an opinion on the mileage. The reason for my question is for info only; I'm wondering if age is finally starting to catch up to these great cars. In the past your list of problems was usually dictated by mileage, often more than 70K miles. Or perhaps the increased wear was due to many short trips, when 30-mile drives would have taken a lesser toll.

RacerX1166

Pete, Jerry didn't really offer any opinions as to why the car needed the valve job. I'm guessing, from what I can determine from the owner, that he did do a lot of short trips with the car since he lives in a little resortish community near Cape Cod. The odd thing is that this guy seemed to have a blank check at Boston Sportscar. I saw the receipts he had and there were a lot of items done that I thought were a bit over the top, compared to what could have been done. BSC definitely dropped the ball on this car too.

As far as counter offers, with $8-9k worth of repairs needed and no offer as to why the ac doesn't work (could just need freon but could be a lot more), the counter needs to be closer to minus $10k for me to consider the car. Jerry at EPE and I both agree the car's worth fixing considering its overall condition; I'm just not going to pay for it over and above the price of the car.

The agreed upon price prior to the PPI was pretty up there, although I considered it to be around what the market is right now. If anyone wants to know what that price is/was, I'll respond to a pm but won't post it publicly.

Peter Zimmermann

Racer: Regarding the A/C, always protect yourself with a $2500 budget for non-working A/C. If it turns out less than that, fine, but A/C repairs usually end up more than $2000, a freon injection rarely "fixes" the system.

kstier

RacerX: just an FYI: there is a blue coupe on Long Island, in Jericho NY, for sale at a dealership there. I found it through classifieds on automobilemag.com. The dealer website said call for a price which after an email was $29,000... I then saw it on Ebay this week with no bids (starting at $20k). Online its in good shape. Just a consideration. I have no affiliation whatsoever, just thought you might be interested. There is a blue Targa in upstate NY as well, $20,999 or something close to that.

Kyle.

DL Lawrence

FYI,

Here's the aformentioned Venetian Blue Coupe:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/88-91...QQcmdZViewItem

Car looks very clean. I'd be curious to see what a PPI would reveal.

theiceman

I would be curious as to how he determined it needed a valve job ? did he do a leakdown test ? I have always determened this by how much oil the thing burned ( totally non scientific but effective) . I am just curious

Amber Gramps

sweet

rnln

same thought on valve job. -$10k is a lot to ask. Maybe you want opinion from one more mechanic. Wonder how the car perform?
Remember, this is a 20+ year old car. Is it posible to find a "perfect" one?

RacerX1166

Thanks Kyle. Funny that you mention the Venetian blue coupe. I just called about it a few minutes ago on a lark before jumping on RL. The guy who knows the most about it is to call me back later today. I seemed to remember that they wanted a ton of money for this car but must have had it confused with the white coupe that a dealer in the NE wants $37k for. For $29k, I wonder why it hasn't moved? Upon closer inspection of the pics, I think I see some damage on the left side of the front valence which could be part of it. That and the fact they are too cheap to replace the red lenses on the seatbelt warning lights could have something to do with it.

Iceman, leakdown showed 20-30% on two of the six cylinders. That's how we got to the valve job.

FWIW, I'm still trying to get the owner to stay with the deal per our agreement of price less repairs found in the PPI. Once fixed, it would be a fantastic car that shouldn't need a whole lot for a number of years. He's sleeping on the deal since it's such a huge shock of a number. I won't blame him for bailing but I'm really working him hard to sell.

While I'm waxing poetic, an etiquette question for the gallery. If the same thing had happened to you and the owner decided to keep the car but wanted the PPI report, would you give it to him? I have no doubt that both of us acted in good faith throughout the process but my emotional side says I made a 20 hour round trip (and spent a ton of time otherwise on the deal), didn't get the car, and, if I give him the PPI report, paid for the owner to find out what was wrong with his car.

Just curious what you would do?

rnln

oups... still I doubt that you can get close to -$10k. Yes, it's a shock . Well, I would give it to him if he's nice enough, since you won't save anything by not to give it.
Good luck on your search.

theiceman

Well That makes perfect sense, if you had told me he had not done a leakdown I would have been worried :-)

i think there is a trick to determining where the leakdown is but i don't remember. I think you listen for where it is losing air or something.

theiceman

if he wants to pay for the cost of the PPI or i would say even half of it , give it to him. otherwise you payed for that report. It is yours to kep.

RacerX1166

Just talked to the guy in Long Island about the Venetian Blue coupe. Sounds promising and they're down to 28.5 on the car. Something about the car doesn't excite me though.

I have to admit that, after going through the whole process with the other car, and all the driving (been doing a lot for work too lately), I'm a bit spent and just not in the mood to drive up to Long Island to look at it or be bothered. I need a rest before I jump on this again, which explains my inquiring to Tim Holt about a 993. I don't feel like spending a ton of time in the car right now.