I have an offer for a '98 240sx in trade for the Miata I'm trying to sell (hint hint, see classifieds).
It's an automatic, stock, and looks to be in decent shape. Any particular trouble spots? How hard is a 5 speed swap? Even if I hate it, it's probably easier to sell than a '90 Miata, right?
Rust, obviously.
I considered one of these a while back, and this was good reading.
Rust and mad tyte JDM dorifto modifications.
In reply to Brett_Murphy:
Thanks for the link. That's a lot of info.
Any rust spots in particular? It's really, really stock. Like surprisingly so.
Frame rails are the worst spot IIRC, any rust will be pretty apparent if you do a half decent inspection. If there's a rattle in the front of the engine bay, it's probably the timing chain guides. They're plastic pieces that can grenade but aren't horrible.
People do the 5 speed swap all the time; I don't have any experience but I imagine it isn't terrible. That's actually extremely clean for an SE of that generation!
I had that exact car as a '97 but '97 & '98 had the same front end. Mine too was an automatic. It served me for 100k faithful miles of commuting. I sold mine in 2006. It was super easy to off load. An Asian kid drove from 2 hours away to buy it for full money. I figure he wrecked it the first time it snowed.
It basically drove like a V6 Mustang. Not particularly fast and not particularly athletic.
If it has under 200k miles on it and runs very well then ask $6k for it. If it has some exposed sins, ask $4k. Negotiate down from there.
That front end has become very rare since the '95 & '96 owners bought up all the available parts to convert their front ends to that look.
In reply to JohnRW1621:
That's about what I was thinking too. Which is why I'm curious about him wanting to trade it for a Miata I've had listed for 2 weeks at $2200.....
I'm in the camp that there is probably something wrong or about to go wrong (like the timing chain guides up there) and he's trying to pass the problem on.
I still like these cars, they're just not terribly great at anything.
Funny, I was not familiar with the Miata you were selling so I went into the Open Classifieds looking for it.
I was surprised to find it in the $2017 section.
Have you seen or driven the Nissan?
Not yet. He's about an hour away, so we're still scheduling. According to him, it runs and drives well.
Any title issues? Like, he does not have one!
Good question. I assumed he did, since it's registered, but that's probably naive of me
In reply to JohnRW1621:
or doesnt know what he has. thinks its a cheap 90's asian car like a civic especially with the auto.
He doesn't really seem the type to not know what it is. But given the offers I'm getting for the Miata (bro it's only worth 1k. I'll do you a favor and give you 800 for it) it's looking appealing. Assuming I can talk the wife into it.
A good thing if you want to switch to manual usually you can get engine/transmission combos together if you also want a SR20 or RB20/25 swap.
Timing chain noise. Most times it's the top guide that can be removed and tossed. If it's one of the side guides, it's a pretty annoying repair.
Rust on the frame rails below the firewall. You'll need to get under the car to really investigate that part.
5 speed swap is easy, but I'd gamble you'll have a hard time finding all the pieces.
Yeah, so that has the "angry eyes" s14 conversion done. That means, at some point, somebody either really loved that car, or tore it up and converted it back. The angry eyes were never available in the USA. Which means someone spent good money on a proper conversion. Maybe. Check to see if that conversion was done right. Make sure all parts are there and not just fenders and headlights and side markers. An auto is not a big deal with this chasssis. You can easily buy everything you need to convert to manual off a parts website.
Spoolpigeon wrote: Timing chain noise. Most times it's the top guide that can be removed and tossed. If it's one of the side guides, it's a pretty annoying repair. Rust on the frame rails below the firewall. You'll need to get under the car to really investigate that part. 5 speed swap is easy, but I'd gamble you'll have a hard time finding all the pieces.
I believe a front clip/nose cut would come with everything, or would that be no? He can probably get a S14 front clip for less than $1500 and sell the body parts for someone elses kouki front end swap.
Trackmouse wrote: Yeah, so that has the "angry eyes" s14 conversion done. That means, at some point, somebody either really loved that car, or tore it up and converted it back. The angry eyes were never available in the USA. Which means someone spent good money on a proper conversion. Maybe. Check to see if that conversion was done right. Make sure all parts are there and not just fenders and headlights and side markers. An auto is not a big deal with this chasssis. You can easily buy everything you need to convert to manual off a parts website.
This is not a conversion of the front end. The picture above is the correct US version '97 & '98 240sx front end.
Sample brochure photo:
The '97 & '98 will also have horizontal lines on the tail lights.
A stock '95 & '96 front would look like this and tails would be smooth.
That car must really be rare then because i've never seen one of these with a kouki front end. Even converted lmao.
As for rare... The S14 body 240sx sold best in 1995. By '97 &' 98 they were selling very few so the last two year front end is rarer.
By the end, the cars were getting hit by an unfavorable Yen as well as just outclassed by the competition. I bought my '97 as a used 3 year lease turnback at a dealer. It stickered for $27k and was low option but the upper SE model. With just 36k miles I paid $12k for it. It had about 136k when I sold it six years later for $6k in less than 3 days. I should have asked more.
Google gives me these sales numbers per year.
Not stated but my guess is this is US sales.
S13 body
1989 - 68118
1990 - 60582
1991 - 34534
1992 - 27033
1993 - 21471
1994 - 1391
S14 body
1995 - 25114
1996 - 7334
1997 - 3655
1998 - 2178
I didn't realize production was so low.
I'm on board with the trade, as long as the car is in decent shape and has no major issues. My wife is...not pleased, since part of the deal for getting the yellow miata was selling off the orange one to put some cash back into the accounts, and it's been a year since that exchange. I still think I can get more for the 240 than the Miata.
I completely agree that the 240 will sell both higher and faster than the Miata.
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