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Manual transmission salvageable?
Topic Started: Jan 19 2014, 10:48 AM (727 Views)
skacrusader07
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This 01 Suzuki Swift I'm looking at on Craigslist has the following description:
"The manual transmission is on the verge of going out. Repairs to transmission including a trans-axle are too expensive to undertake."
Emailed him about it and got this reply:
"The transmission (possibly the synchronizations gears) is broken. The car would need expensive repairs and I’m not interested in calling around to find a manual transmission that would fit and then a mechanic to install it. If you’re buying it as a project car, or to put the engine in a Geo or Suzuki that you own and could do the work yourself; then you’re in business. It is not drivable at the moment since the transmission is on the verge of going out. Nice engine though with 103,000 miles."

Sounds like the engine is in great condition, but how much am I looking at to fix/replace the transmission, if I'm not able to do the work myself?
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David95237


I get $400 for a rebuilt transmission.
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skacrusader07
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So would I just have to have the transmission rebuilt, or would I need to buy a rebuilt transmission and have it installed?
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punkozuna
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skacrusader07
Jan 19 2014, 02:18 PM
So would I just have to have the transmission rebuilt, or would I need to buy a rebuilt transmission and have it installed?
You could go either way. David95237's price probably doesn't include removal and replacement. The downside to buying a car that you can't drive is that you can't check on things like suspension and brakes. You might decide that the cost to remove, rebuild and replace the transmission is worth it only to have to add several hundred more dollars to fix suspension, brakes etc. A $1000 car can become a $3000 car very quickly and you still have an old car that will need attention on other systems.

My opinion on non-drivable cars is that you should treat them as parts cars and pay accordingly. They only make sense if you are very experienced dealing with POS cars, can do the work yourself and are financially able and willing to take a little risk. If you get the car cheap enough you can usually part them out and recoup most of the money if it turns out badly - if you want to go to the hassle and if you live in place that will allow you to tear the car apart.

You haven't mentioned your budget or your goal for the car i.e. project car, reliable daily driver etc. It's tough to get a true daily driver for low money. A lot of guys on the forum have stories about $500 (or less) daily drivers but almost all of them are the kind of guys that can (and do) fix their cars all the time. They say things like "I have a 200K mi daily driver that blew a transmission so I went to the junk yard and bought a $150 transmission and put it in over the weekend".



Here's a song that explains it all :D

http://grooveshark.com/#!/search?q=thousand+dollar+car+
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Woodie
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skacrusader07
Jan 19 2014, 02:18 PM
So would I just have to have the transmission rebuilt, or would I need to buy a rebuilt transmission and have it installed?
No one can tell you that until it's open on somebodies workbench. You're asking us to predict the future.

You're not telling us how much he wants, or what part of the country it's in. Transmission alone is no big deal, but as punkozuna pointed out, you can't check how everything else works. Rust is a much more important consideration than anything else.

'01 Swift is the pinnacle of Metrodom, the best ever made. It came with the best engine, which should be just fine at 103K miles, assuming it was maintained and not abused, but that's hard to tell from here.


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90 LSI
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GeeOh
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Go take a look at the car its usually pretty easy to tell a nice car from one that's been abused or neglected. Assume $1000 for towing plus transmission/clutch replacement then decide if its a good deal.
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skacrusader07
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Woodie
Jan 20 2014, 07:36 AM
No one can tell you that until it's open on somebodies workbench. You're asking us to predict the future.

You're not telling us how much he wants, or what part of the country it's in. Transmission alone is no big deal, but as punkozuna pointed out, you can't check how everything else works. Rust is a much more important consideration than anything else.

'01 Swift is the pinnacle of Metrodom, the best ever made. It came with the best engine, which should be just fine at 103K miles, assuming it was maintained and not abused, but that's hard to tell from here.


Oh, I see. He's asking $600 for the frame, and it's in DC, which means there could be issues with rust. I don't think I'm going to check it out, just because I need a daily driver pretty soon and it sounds like it could end up being an involved process.

Too bad though, it'll probably end up getting parted out
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