i found a 91 se-r near me and i am considering buying it, but it has some problems. i was wondering how much i should offer the seller and how much the maintenance would cost to fix these problems. 128,000 miles. needs new motor mounts, new cylinder head cover gasket, new brakes all around, may need a new clutch, unsure on that point, fuel gauge does not work, it has a dent in the rear right corner, rust above the rear right wheel, doors need to be adjusted, new drivers side door lock, headlights have water in them, hood needs adjusted, drivers side window trim, rear windshield trim, trunk leaking, probably cause of rear windshield trim.

or, i was considering buying a base model sentra and putting a 2 liter engine in.

ViNCE

$700 tops, but I'd prolly give him like $500. Do a DET swap change the brakes and you'll be fine. All the exterior stuff just adds to the sleeper look. In other words, your car could look like crap but you'll be fast.
my $.02

oh yeah, duct tape the trunk.

Fixing all that could easily break one grand.

Mileage isn't a big deal unless this car wasn't well cared for, and this car doesn't sound like a creampuff. Make a low offer and see how cheap you could take it home for.

If you want a SE-R, but don't want this car in particular, find another one. Getting a GA16DE car and swapping on all the SE-R-specific parts would be more of a pain that rehabilitating the rattiest SE-R.

I'd say $500 was one hell of a low-ball offer if the car runs and drives well. Motor mounts - buy an ES set for $40 or so, the valve cover gasket is $10-$20 and takes about an hour to do, if by brakes you mean pads, that should take a couple hours and cost under $100 even with good pads like metal-masters. The hinge pins tend to go bad in these cars, I think it cost me $40 a door parts & labor to get that fixed. Fuel gauge is very common too, the sending unit costs like $300 though, my solution has been to use the trip odo :). Clutch might be a pain.. did you check for 5th gear popout - if it's had it in the past and been fixed, I would imagine they did a clutch at the same time - if it has it currently, an offer under $1000 would probably be appropriate. You would be able to do the fix at the same time as the clutch, I think the bill I found in the glovebox for a 5th-gear fix and nissan clutch was for about $800. I think $3-400 of that was parts. I bought both of mine with recently-replaced 5th gears and clutches, courtesy of the 5th gear popout issue :). Headlights can usually be resealed, but new ones look better. The wet trunk is usually from the seal around the taillights - $5 worth of silicone goo solves that for good. I used the clear stuff, and you don't even notice it's there. As for the dent and the rust - who knows. keep in mind that 11 year old cars are not likely to have perfect bodies, no matter how good they are otherwise.

Josh

wait for another. I did a ground up restoration on my 91 se-r. I got it for $900 and would have rather spent $2000+ on one with none of the bullshit. It seems like little shit, but it adds up.

Originally posted by u4ikstilz
$700 tops, but I'd prolly give him like $500. Do a DET swap change the brakes and you'll be fine. All the exterior stuff just adds to the sleeper look. In other words, your car could look like crap but you'll be fast.
my $.02

oh yeah, duct tape the trunk.

That sounds like a good idea to me...:D I would like to see an old SER with the new QR25 in it.:cool: