Salvage titles on the Preludes. Need some opinion if they are good deals:

Dear all:

Since I bought my 95 Preludes a few days ago, I have become a
real fan of the Lude. My Prelude is a 160 HP Si model.

It does not have VTEC. I have been just browsing the internet to
learn more about the value and prices of the other Preludes. Most are
pretty expensive.

However, I did find two that had better prices. I am wondering
if these are bargain and value prices for a Lude or it is no bargain
(ie stay away). So here is some info:

1. 2000 Stick Prelude 50k miles for $10k. I called the guy. He
says he got it from an auction. The only problem was body damage.
The guy owns a body shop and he fixed the bumper. The car is
otherwise fine and the engine is great and everything else is great.
Only 50k miles and only for $10k. I am going to test drive it next
week. If I like the test drive and if I look under the hood and can't
see any frame damage or other thing (Please also give me some pointers
as to what to look for), I am thinking of offering $7K cash to buy it.
What do you guys think? The guy sounds pretty legit. He was forth
coming with the fact that it was a salvage title. I have no
experience with salvage titles, but gut feeling is that sometimes
insurance companies total cars simply for body reasons. Mechanically
there may not be anything wrong and bargains may be had in this type
of cars. Am I right?

2. 2001 Stick Prelude with body kit and Wing and Ground effects
kit. This one may be more iffy. This is because it has water damage.
However, the mileage is only 36K. The asking price is $9800. This
sounds like a very low price for a Prelude of this age and mileage.
However, I have no experience with water damaged car. The ad says it
only has carpet water damage. However, my question is: How bad can
flood damage be? Could there be hidden problems more than just the
carpet? What if the car test drives well? Will there be problems
down the road? How likely is it that the water has all dried off and
the damage is all done or can there be still water in there rusting
things away even as we speak? I have not called this owner yet, so I
don't have a feel of what type of person this is. The price is
incredible, but I just don't want to get more than what I bargained
for (ie a problem car with flood damage). Please give me some
pointers. After I learn more about flood damage in general and after
I test drive and look the car over, I am prepared to offer somewhere
in the range of $6200 to $7000--depending on what I find out about
flood damage.

My hope is that I can find bargains in the salvage area of cars.
I am new to the game, but I am very willing to learn and listen to
advice of other folks who have knowledge in this area.

sincerley, Thakn you in advance.

(ps. the reason I like the fifth generation Preludes is that they
all come with VTEC which puts out about 200 horses. My Lude is a 95
Si which is good at 160, but I now have developed a thirst for HP. My
other cars have all been small, under ~125 HP Accords and Corolla.
However, I now have been officially bitten by the horse power bug and
lust for the 200hp)

cheers. (p.s. It doesn't appear that the above two salvage titles are
the SH models, which means, I won't get the active torque assisted
steering ATTS :-(.

 

Never seen anyone so excited about salvaged and water damaged junk!





"we live in a cynical world... a cynical world.
Shut up! You had me at hello.... you had me
at hello!"

 

So you keep saying.
Why the name change?

 

I believe they charge $80/hr to diagnose electrical problems.
If you look around this group you'll find people with 90-93
Accord TCU problems here and there, and that's not even
flood damaged.

I've experience two collision salvage Hondas. One is fine, the
other broke down 500 miles away. Transmission bolt came
loose. It appears the engine gets thrown around when the
previous owner hits something severing engine mounts, or
aluminum transmission housing. Most folks don't know how to
weld aluminums perfectly.

Copper can oxidize early (turn green/blue) if they're exposed to the flood.

And I saved no more than $1000 bucks on each salvage cars. It's not worth it.
Tibby

 

Yes. Thank you for your two cents. That was very constructive and
useful. I don't see how anyone else can top your posts.

You happy now? You got the attention after which you seek? Good.
Now sit back and wait for some real responses and try not to (I know
it will be hard for you) interrupt.

To everyone: The mother of DrPimpDaddy apologizes. He is a child and
he is still learning. He is still learning to not interrupt adults
when they are having a serious discussion on Salvage titles and what
not.

sincerely,
Please don't mind DrPimp. He is a child learning to grow up. He
doesn't get enough attention at home, so he seeks it elsewhere.

 

Careful when you buy cars that have been modified - normally by boy racers
that like to drive their cars hard and fast. lot of wear on engine and brake
etc - even if not done many miles. Run a check on all salvage you buy - you
coiuld get it home, try to insure it and find out its an insurance write
off. salavage is good as long as you know what to look for and when to say
no.
stick with manual not auto transmission, no point in driving an auto if you
ask me - no fun!

 

Some Rice modified cars are worth buying as long
as they don't modify the engine and emissions. A
friend bought one these salvage Civic and they run
forever. But if you see K&N filters, Nitrous, etc run.

Salvage is worth it if you're young, capable and love
solving electrical or support problems. I bought a salvage and
it breaks down unpredictably. I imagine a wheel coming
off at 80 mph, but it never happened. Non-salvage
cars are stamp with a guarantee of structural integrity
and will last forever, 270K on one Honda and still going.
Tibur

 

Given what the (non-salvage title) value of that vehicle is on the
usual pricing web sites, how much damage do you think the car took
to cause an insurance company to declare it a "total loss"? Think
about that amount of damage and then think about whether someone
can _properly_ repair it for sale (at a price reduced for having a
salvage title) and still make a profit. Then think about ways that
someone can cut corners doing the repair (not replacing air bags,
using low quality bumper parts that don't protect the car during
minor parking lot bumps, not fixing a bent unibody or frame properly
so that it always handles strangely and wears tires unevenly, etc.).

It is a somewhat different story when an old car worth $1000 gets
declared a "total loss" for a dented fender or something; in that
case, you may find that the damage is only cosmetic and not necessary
to repair, or can be properly repaired inexpensively (e.g. find a
matching color fender in the junk yard and bolt it on).

Flooding can result in a much greater likelihood of unpredictable
electrical and corrosion problems in the future.

 

Funny you should say that. I went to test drive a stick 96 (25th year
edition) of the Celica. [sidenote: it drove like a slow snail
compared to the Lude, but does feel like and handles turns very well].
The dealer guy told me that I was lucky that I know how to drive a
stick. Why, just the other day, a guy came in with his girl and
looked over this particular Celica. However, he steadfastly would not
test drive it. Later, he pulled the dealer aside and admitted that he
cant drive stick. He didn't want to be called out in front of his
girl ;-).

Guess what he did? He bought an automatic Celica and is going to Mod
that?!?!%#%@&!

Funniest story in a while that I have heard!

 

stick with the lude m8 dont sell is for a Celica! honda all the way. do
honda make a 'lude type R?

 

There was no way I'd sold my Lude to get this Celica (as the dealer
kept on trying to suggest that I could mod this Cel to make it into a
classic and a fast puppy with a turbo). That toyota was a snail

Ludes, I think are not type R's. There is an SH model of the fifth
generation that has ATTS (active torque transfer steering). It helps
turn the car in FAST corners. It makes the outside front wheel (where
all the weight will be bore) spin up to with 80% of the engine's
torque.

To use the ATTS, it requires that you accelerate or at least have some
pedal pressure through your turn. You need the engine to turn the
front wheel.

So, though there is no R version, the SH is almost like one because
you will not only outrun others, you will turn like a super-efficient
jet fighter! How cool is that?

cheers.

Long live the Preludes!

 

If your current Prelude is in good condition, why not just drop the engine and
swap it. There is a top of the line company at:

<a href="http://www.total-boost.com/?id=94053">www.Total-Boost.com</a>

They offer top of the line JDM motors at about half the price your looking to
spend, so you will have enough left over to hire a mechanic to swap it out.
Plus you'll have a backup engine to sell, or put back in when you want to sell
your current prelude.

Your 95 Prelude could easily take:

H22A(97-01 Vtec lude) - 202hp - $2099
H22A(97-01 lude type-s) - 223hp - $3700
H22A(92-96 Vtech lude) - 200hp - $1999

All their engines are imported from japan, fully tested with warrante and
garunteed 10,000-20,000 miles. I am currently saving to do a swap in my CRX
If you're going to add turbo, or supercharger, I would look into the first
and last one because they have a slighty lower compression ratio. Good Luck
buddy!