Need Buying Advice Fast
 

I went over to this old guys house who sells cars cheap out of his backyard and I noticed a Black 1992 Protege LX. The thing looks good as far as the body. It needs a whole new exhust from the front back and when it starts up there seems to be some "screeching" noise coming from the belt or timing belt, but it goes away in like 10 secs. It also needs a new radiator so I could not take it for a spin. The motor seeems really quite except for the faint noise of the valves because its in need of an oil change. The car also has 140,000 miles on it. The interior is in good shape and all the power windows work.

I can get a whole new exhuast system done cheap and right because my uncle owns a garage that specializes in exhaust work.

The only CON is that its an AUTOMATIC, I really want a 5speed.

The guy says I can have it for $350 with a new radiator (all metal). This sees to be a deal. He was gonna fix the whole car and charge more.

Now what I want to know is how hard is an automatic to manual conversion or if its not worth the hassle and to keep it automatic. The only thing that I could think that would be hard is to swap the shifter units.

What should I do about this??

I have a 323 that I would like to put a BP in but the body if F'd with 285,000 miles on it. And it squeaks and rattles all the time now.

Im just looking for some other peoples opinions on this situation.

Thank You,
Alan

Buy it, fix the exhaust and radiator, sell it for $800-$1000, and get an RX-7. :)

Fixxing it and selling it seems to make the most sense right now. Protege LXs seem to be going for 1500 - 2500 around here so maybe I can make a quick grand.

here are some links to protoges for sale:
An LX for 3500....
91 DX

That just gives you an idea of the prices of cars around here in MASS...

Alan

I am still leaning toward buying it and then reselling it and using the money to fix my 323, buy some motegi 15" rims for $200, and buy a BP for $250 and a new paint job :boink:

Im going to take it for a drive...I hope I dont find any problems :beer:

Thanks
Alan