Looking at buying an S14

Hype · Post by **Hype** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:01 am

Hello all

I am new to the Nissan scene.. Honda boy here

Been looking for a 200sx for a while, recently found a clean 1997 S14.
Ive read the what to look for when buying on the home page..

Just a few questions with regards to the car as im not all to familiar with the motors and cars.

This car has been modified, from what i have been told and can see its got a bigger turbo t3/t4 hybrid of some sort, bigger injectors (dont know size), think its got a smart racing dump valve, a front mount intercooler. And from what i can see there has been some additional wiring added in the engine bay suggesting some sort of aftermarket ecu.
There is a bit of oil leaking around the front of the sump
It also has a button clutch

Car smokes a little when starting up but when warm no smoke.

Car is clean, got 80440km on the odo.

Is the asking price R79k too much? and will those mods cause issues?
and will this car be livable as a daily driver (10km or so)

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated

veecee · Post by **veecee** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:28 am

morning hype, and welcome to the forum.

i see you're hanging around waiting for a response to you questions.

i reckon the responses will trickle in slow at first but as soon as someone hits onto a contentious topic then they will come thick and fast!!!

i think the s14 is a fantastic car - but i'm more into the technicalities than the looks, and thats why i think its younger sibling, the s13, is the better looking one. the s14 looks like a camry with 2 doors missing!!!

but they go well, they handle even better, and they stop well. they can look really good with body mods and fresh paint too.

as for daily drives, that really depends on the car and the person looking after it. if you have a masturbator working on your sx then you could be in trouble, but if you are able to do a lot of work on it yourself then you will be ok.

a short daily drive shouldnt be a problem at all.

i do most of the work on my car myself, and if i am not able to learn how to do something, or get the tools, then i reluctantly let someone else do it.

but thats my humble opinion.

i reckon thats a good price for a car with such low mileage, but be skeptical of everything to do with the car, because its been modded, and because they usually have over 100k km's

good luck - and if i had the cash i would probably buy it!

Gary57 · Post by **Gary57** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:55 am

Yeah welcome HYPE.

I would be concerned about the smoking in the morning and the oil on the sump.

I would find out what the extra wires in the engine bay are for and get the specs on the turbo and what boost it runs.

If you want a daily drive that button clutch is going to kill you.

Hype · Post by **Hype** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:10 pm

Thanks guys

Not hanging around waiting for a response, busy reading all the other threads

interesting stuff here. (cool forum just btw)

The s14 shape has grown on me over the past year or 2, its not one that jumps out at you the second you see it

If it smokes in the morning thats most likely due to worn rings?
I am going back during the week to have a 2nd look and will ask them what the wires are for. The gentleman selling the car unfortunately didnt know too much about the car in terms of power, boost or turbo.

Will have to go look for those.

Any ideas on how much it will cost to put a non button clutch in the car?

Gary57 · Post by **Gary57** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:12 pm

If it smokes in the morning thats most likely due to worn rings?

Yip and can be quite pricey to fix.

Stephen Swanepoel · Post by **Stephen Swanepoel** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:19 pm

Welcome Hype

I own an S14 and if someone tells you it looks like a camry again knock him out!( jokes )

I used my car as a daily for 3years and it too had 85K on the clock at purchase. This car sounds nice BUT please check on the claimed millage as mine also developed a oil leak but only after 200K.

These cars are awsome I cant say Ive ever regreted my purchase. So much so that its the only car I ever owned for more than a year.
and I still wouldn't sell it (cant spent over 100K on bits for it)

Yeah they are not cheep to maintain either.

Good Luck

Vlade · Post by **Vlade** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:24 pm

^^^^ His camry has a carbon bonnet!

Hype · Post by **Hype** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:28 pm

LOL @ Camry.. now that u mention it.. there is a resemblance

In regards to maintenance on it?.. how much a month would u guess? R1000 R2000? More? (ok i know if the motor goes thats another kettle of fish all together) but more trivial bits.

Draco · Post by **Draco** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:03 pm

Hi Hype, welcome...

To answer your questions, remember this is based on what you tell us and not what is nessesary there....

The oil leak, it could be as simple as a sump gasget or it could leak out of your crank pully seal, the latter one is a bit harder to fix only because of the time it takes, it could even come from somewhere else, my advice is get this fixed before you buy it because it might just turn out worse than you thaught it would be.

The smoking in the mornings, in my opinion it is the oil seals in the turbo, the "seals actually copperish" stop oil from coming into your compression and exhaust housing, normally when they start to go it lets oil thrue because it is cold and slightly warn, then it gets hot and seals properly.
It could be rings aswell but normally, you can see that in driving, that white smoke will always be there, first a little then it gets worse, you could test it by compression test, take the reading, then add a bit of...wait....maybe you know that already...?
It could even be your valve stem seals, again you will see it in driving, when car is warm and say you in 3rd, take it up to about say 4500 rpm or so then leave it in gear and leave the petrol, it will then smoke as you slow down...because the vacume is sucking oil thrue the VSS.

My guess is the turbo oil seals, I might be wrong.

As for the maintenance, normal services you can do by yourself, the oil and parts depending on where you buy and what you buy will work out R500 roughfly.
If things start to brake...whell that you can't budget on....the point is make sure evrything is sorted and the look after it, still it might brake down but not as bad as when you did not look after it.

Something you need to deal with is that you will have stuff to fix in the beginning, save some money, do it right and you will go strong for another good set of km's.

Whatch out...there is alot of bullshitters out there, hence, do what you can yourself or at least be involved to try and make sure it is done right.

PS...if you buy...goodluck with the camry

Hype · Post by **Hype** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:39 pm

Thanks for the heads up!

Will take a proper look at that when i go past the place again.

Camry's are good cars

veecee · Post by **veecee** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:38 pm

Hype wrote:Camry's are good cars

no camry's are reliable average cars, but they suck because they are FWD!!!

S14's on the other are fantastic cars. RWD and turbo power on a good solid chassis as a foundation makes for very rewarding ownership...

but on the other hand, it can be the worst purchase you've ever made. these cars end up costing a fair deal of money if something goes wrong, purely because nissan charge exhorbitant prices for parts!

to you - it may be worth it, but there are many people out there that i know that cant afford to own one.

to say it will cost 1000 or 2000 a month is a difficult one, and nobody is going to commit to a figure on that. but monthly maintenance costs really come down once things are sorted.

if things are sorted to begin with, then fantastic - but again, be weary of a modded car. try to find out who performed the modifications and what parts were used, because there are definite sharks and theives out there, even though they do a good job of hiding!!! you dont want to be on the receiving end of a kak deal when it comes to these cars!

Vlade · Post by **Vlade** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:01 am

Yeah agreed you don't want a modification gone wrong type thing... you never know maybe the owner realized thats something is going wrong and sold the car, or got word that something will go wrong very soon and sold...

Also modded cars tend to be abused most of the time...

The Oil on startup can be many things, with my last engine stuff up it smoked when started, and every time I come off throttle also a little when I was on the throttle... and that was piston rings

But turbo seals are your best bet, not expensive to fix R340-R3000 depending if you do a full recon on the turbo, which is normally the best thing to do.

Valve stem seals have a tendency to smoke, when you come off throttle.

The oil leak like Derick said, can be easy fix like sump gasket, or a pain in the arse like a crank seal (which is normally the case), front can be easily changed, back, you have to pull the engine.

Also, if its at a garage and you are serious have them put it through an AA test, go along that day and witness the test, you'll get a nice idea what condition the car is really in.