About to take the F2T plunge

Looking at two local MX6's tomorrow that both have broken odometers, which seems to be a common trend.

Any other common failure points I should look out for? They're both Texas cars, so rust shouldn't be an issue.

Still look for rust. I wouldn't say they're rust-prone, but they can rust in interesting ways. Look at shock towers and winshield frame.

Beyond that.... if it runs well and shifts well, there isn't anything that costs real money or is hard to do.

Never seen a broken odometer that came with a working speedometer.

Jealous, can't believe you found f2t power in texas, been looking on and off for about a year with no luck

Swank Force One wrote: Still look for rust. I wouldn't say they're rust-prone, but they can rust in interesting ways. Look at shock towers and winshield frame. Beyond that.... if it runs well and shifts well, there isn't anything that costs real money or is hard to do. Never seen a broken odometer that came with a working speedometer.

Good call. I had to do some sluething and drag a confession (replaced instrument cluster) out of one seller. The other told me that the speedo stopped working a while ago, but he estimates it is still under 200,000 miles.

@opti you can have whichever one I don't buy, but I think I know which way I'm leaning, and the other seller is kind of a dick.

Where?

Buy one of them and then come to my house in San Antonio and unbolt free parts from my parts car.

Mine has not been difficult to work on, so far. It sat for 7 years before becoming my DD with like 2-3 hours of work.

Here's a pic of mine with my other new DD (i have ~4 DDs i rotate between).

Vigo wrote: Buy one of them and then come to my house in San Antonio and unbolt free parts from my parts car. Mine has not been difficult to work on, so far. It sat for 7 years before becoming my DD with like 2-3 hours of work.

Careful, I'll take you up on that offer.

@Opti - in your neck of the woods, actually. Pretty sure I found him on the Dallas craigslist. Guy seems super shifty though

Link both the ads. I might know one or both cars.

Vigo, I hate you for how clean you Touring is.

Calteg, the broken speedo/odo is either the cable or the gear in the trans. Both extremely easy to fix.

Careful, I'll take you up on that offer.

I'll let you use my tools and offer you soda?

Seriously, as soon as i muster the energy to drop the drivetrain as spares, the rest of this thing is going bye bye. Im the last stop on the way to the crusher so... once i get tired of looking at it all the free parts are getting crunched.

Here's one of 'em. The other came via me putting out feelers into the community here in Austin.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/4776652053.html

No mileage listed, he refused to give me any interior shots or tell me what exactly "a little TLC" means. Then he got super defensive when I called him out on the replaced odo.

There's also this guy. No idea if it's a GT, but it's a 5 speed. Any way to tell solely from E36 M3ty interior photos? http://dallas.craigslist.org/mdf/cto/4778004833.html

Any interior\exterior pieces unobtanium?

First one looks decent for $1500, but probably not worth dealing with a dickhead for.

2nd one... I can't tell if it's a GT, but I also can't recall seeing a maroon interior on an LX, but i'm sure that's just coincidence.

James might be able to tell what it is from that single E36 M3ty shot, he knows the quirks better than me. My car was super hacked up when I got it, i'm not so good with oem things.

Nothing is totally unobtanium yet. Maybe an uncracked dash. Unbroken passenger headlights are starting to be hard to find (reflector comes off), but I know how to fix them now.

Oh, and GT hubs are hard to find. Don't let your wheel bearings trash one.

In reply to calteg:

I know of one sitting at a crappy used car lot in Killeen. I don't know if it's a GT or not. It's been there for the last couple months. I keep meaning to stop and look at it but I'm always in a hurry when I'm in that area. I won't be able to get up that way until the weekend but if your interested I'll swing by and check it out.

The one with the maroon interior advertises 35mpg. Call me a doubter, but I don't think a regular 4 banger would get that kind of mileage, much less a GT.

Nick_Comstock wrote: In reply to calteg: I know of one sitting at a crappy used car lot in Killeen. I don't know if it's a GT or not. It's been there for the last couple months. I keep meaning to stop and look at it but I'm always in a hurry when I'm in that area. I won't be able to get up that way until the weekend but if your interested I'll swing by and check it out.

I appreciate the offer. Let me see how these two pan out before I send you off on a fool's errand.

Brett_Murphy wrote: The one with the maroon interior advertises 35mpg. Call me a doubter, but I don't think a regular 4 banger would get that kind of mileage, much less a GT.

You're a doubter. If it's non-turbo, and the seller is likely advertising highway mpg, I don't see why that's unreasonable. The MX6 stats are within spitting distance of my Prizm, and that thing gets 32mpg in mixed use.

Brett_Murphy wrote: The one with the maroon interior advertises 35mpg. Call me a doubter, but I don't think a regular 4 banger would get that kind of mileage, much less a GT.

35mpg highway isn't unheard of for either model. (GT in the real world is within 1-2mpg combined of the LX. Highway is pretty much identical.)

I do better than that, but my car isn't stock, so it's not real relevant i suppose.