92 svx-$5K -good deal or no?

[JENKIN]

Yakima dealer has 92 with 166K on the odometer.
1) it flares when shifting from 2nd to 3rd.
2) at a slow roll, it will roll about 5 feet forward when the shifter is in reverse before the trans catches.
the dealer says for the $4990 price,they will replace the transmission (replace/not rebuild).
The car does not look like it has that many miles. It was owned by a local person for 120K, and then by 2 other people in fairly quick succession. It has been traded in for WRX's x 2.
The last owner supposedly went through and replaced all the washers/seals/wheel bearings/etc. (don't believe it unless I see the service record, but it is clean enough to be true).
I have a couple other project cars (rx7's) so I would need this to be somewhat dependable.
Any advice/warnings/comments? This would be the 2nd SVX in the family, so I am aware that they are nasty to fix (but not as bad as the alfa romeo I used to have).
(I really want to have as many as Earl, but I need to clean my shop of the asst alfas,saabs,and 356's that I have collected over the years)

[CDG]

My guess is that if you get them to swap in a GOOD trany its still only so-so deal. If its really clean, may be worth it. Only a guess.
Mine has 180+ miles, and is still clean, and running very well.

[Alycone]

How long will they warrantee the new tranny? (See if they'll throw in a cooler too). If there were no other mech probs and they were willing to go down on the price a few hundred I don't think it's a bad deal.

[ensteele]

If they are going to put in a reman tranny, that would be an ok deal as long as the rest of the car is in good shape. Good luck. :)

[JENKIN]

I guess I will let the car sit on their lot for a few days, and if it is still there after the weekend, offer to buy it for $4500 if they rebuild the transmission to 95 specs(I'll try to work a AT cooler install in there,too). If someone else buys it, so it goes. Thanks for the advice/comments.

[sleepem]

Just wondered what happened with the car at the dealer. Did they sell it or did you get it??

[ensteele]

Yes, what happened? :)

[JENKIN]

The car was still there Friday am. It survived the "weekend" special ad. I checked with their shop, and they don't do trans rebuilds, they just find a trans (aaron's in Seattle) and do an R&R.
I figured that I would let it sit on their back lot (where they moved it) and make an offer before Jan 1.
I have not had a lot of luck dealing with the Yakima Subie dealer. I have looked at a number of cars there, but they usually manage to tick me off somewhere before the actual purchase. They always have a new "used car manager", so it is just matter of time before what I want to spend and what they will take cross paths.
If anyone else wants to take a look at it, be my guest. It is listed on the autotrader site at the very bottom with no pic. The car is silver under black, gray leather, no wing. Looks very good for 166K miles. I think the transmission is suspect. it was a 1 owner (local lawyer) car until 135K, and has been traded in 2 times in 2 years on WRX's (if you believe the salesman). Stewart Subaru in Yakima.
I was going to see if they would part with it at 2.5/3K just before the new year (best time to buy,end of month/end of year). I could send my daughter back to school in it, while I work on her 92. Install the monster stereo, replace the A/C compressor, check the rear rotors and bearings (she drove from b-ham to semiyamoo with the parking brake on.....) makes noise now, but there wasnt smoke or flame when she got to work......yeeeee gads. I am glad that I bought a RX7 turbo II,it makes the svx appear to be trouble free in comparison.

[ensteele]

If she doesn't get it to you to have the work done on it, I have a couple of things that need work on mine. :D Let us know what happens. :)

[JENKIN]

:( Oh the impending excitement of it all. The WWU SVX is going to the dealer tomorrow am to have the metal a metal noise diagnosed... (the noise started after a 25 mile run up I-5 with the parking brake on). Oh, what could it be? Should I start a poll?
1) warped rotors
2) loose parking brake parts
3) bad bearings
4) any and all of the above
5) something new and totally different!!!!!
I may have to buy the silver svx to send her back to school in after christmas break. (so I have time to work on this one) Gosh- I wish I had had me as a parent when I was going to WSU! I should fire up the 82 Saab 900 turbo, but it needs half shafts, and I really dont want to fight with coil springs and pickle forks...
I wonder if I could convince my son to forget college and go to auto mechanics training??? Wish me luck.

[CDG]

Its you're integrated parking brake shoes, in the center of the rear rotors, and maybe you might need new rotors.

[ensteele]

I was just thinking the same thing. :)

[JENKIN]

yeah, that's pretty much where I figured the problem started, but that mutch heat build up could possibly cause the rotor to warp and not do the wheel bearing any good, either... oh well. one more thing to fix in January.

[ensteele]

When the brakes are applied, do they surge, or just make noise? Ooops - I guess you have not driven the car yet. :confused:

[JENKIN]

I had my daughter take the car to the b-ham dealer. they called and said that the drivers side rear pad had worn down to a metal to metal contact on the disc. Estimate for 1 new rotor/new pads/ restore caliper slides- $650. I don't know if that was for them replacing one side, or both, but it seemed steep to me.
I drove up to b-ham, pulled the car out of the dealers lot and sure enough, the exterior pad had gone down to metal, but the interior pad had about 60% material left, and the passenger side had about 60% pad left on both int and ext. Could the pad have separated from the backing and just dissappeared? I just did brakes on the car 14 months ago (turned front rotors and replaced rears rotors) and all the other pads look fine. Anyway, I put her snow tires on the 92 that I bought, and dropped in a set of pads on the bad wheel so that I could get the car home. I think that the rotor may be able to be turned and still be OK, if not, one of the rotors that I took last year still has enough material to turn (if I can find it).
So, I did buy the silver svx from Stewarts, no warranty expressed or implied, and figure that if the tranny goes, I knew it was shaky and will just pull it and have aamco rebuild it....
So now I have 2 svx's (even if one of them is away).
Have you ever heard of a disc brake pad delaminating?

[JENKIN]

Oh, and I think that I am getting to old to swap 8 wheels/tires in the back of a safeway lot on wet pavement. Tools used: 6 ton bottle jack. 2 car stands. star wrench. (big ass craftsman regular screw driver/pry bar and a 12mm combo wrench to change brake pads).
I have been driving an astro van as a daily driver :( and I was really impressed by how low this car is, I actually was looking up at a mitsu eclipse! Also at how few points there are to get a 6 ton bottle jack under the car to lift it!

[NapaBavarian]

If that subie is still on the lot I'll give em $1000 with a bad traney :) If I like the color!:D

[Gargoyle]

Let us know what happens ;)

[JENKIN]

Bought the 92 from Stewarts for $3800. Sat down with the sales manager and he said he took the car in on trade for 3K, did $300 of shop work on it. I offered him $500 over that, and he took it (probably paid too much). The car has 4 new federal tires (still has paint on tread) and I am just going to hold my breath on the transmission. My daughter is driving it in B-ham and reports that it is running fine.

[CDG]

Just to let you know.
The reason the pad only wore on one side of the brake pads is that the sliders are seized, thats why you need new sliders.
The same think is going to happen if you don't fix that.

[JENKIN]

If the caliper moves freely on the sliders (I can move it back and forth) how can it be seized? I bought an aftermarket disc and am going to put it back together with liberal amounts of caliper lube. I have purchased drilled/slotted rotors and pads and will do a proper brake job in the spring... and rebuild the calipers. That should fix it, yes?

[CDG]

there are essentially 2 moving parts, the caliper must move freely and the piston(s) in the caliper must move.
Most times the Pistons seize.

If the caliper moves, and you rebuild the caliper with new pistons and seals then you will resolve 99% of the problems.

There is still the possibility that something could be bent, but not likely.