Low K Gtrs

[funkymonkey]

agreed... rust is usually like an iceberg, you only see a small part of it. If I had to choose I'd go for the reco'd engive over the low kms one. Then again, what do they consider a reco? Full tear down and rebuild?

[Beer Baron]

I have a car lined up with a knock in the bottom end and the mechanic selling it says I have a choice of a low km engine or a reconditioned unit from Japan . He will install engine and repair minor rust spots .Its got 17inch aftermarket rims ,adj coilover suspension. Does this sound like a better option than a Jap car?

i wouldn't buy a car that has rust needing repair, or a damaged engine, regardless of whether or not he's replacing it with another 'unknown' engine.

[gazza750]

b4 you buy get Top Racing X-speed or one of the many hi po import workshops to check it out.

personally i would get Top Racing to give it the once over (one of the mechanics is a member of this site and West Aus Member

[jantolis]

When i bought my GTR it had 68K kms on the dail. When i took it to the mechanic he told me that it was in heaps good condition.

The clutch went in 3 weeks due to me trying to launch from 6k but it was a standard clutch which might have been the one that came with it.

Since i've bought it, it's done some tough driving and the engine hasn't blown yet. So not every gtr that says it has low kms might be a lemon and wound back. It might be geniune kms, it might not but either way it's still running good.

[ookami]

I serious doubt there are very many "low kms" gtrs left and if there are you'll pay for it. If you ever see a car with an aftermarket speedo (ie Nismo, Mines) the kms are not real. Unless you can get service books i highly doubt any kms on any car coming from japan. Winding the kms back must be a favourite japanese past time, well look how many "low km speedos are on yahoo for instance. I've seen cars with "50,000km" on it and look like crap. Either they were badly badly miss treated by their previous owner or the kms are fake, i dare say its most likely the later. To me a car with 100,000 km on it is still in good condition, meaning no wear on the seats or dash or steering wheel or mechanically, other than clutch maybe. Cars I've known from new (ie parents cars, my cars etc) from new to 100,000km still don't have these basic things worn. So if an import has these things worn, it has more than 100,000km on it ... well thats the way i look at it. A low km car isn;t always a good thing either. I owned a VL calais some time ago with a genuine 60,000km on it that originally was from a deceased estate and spent that much on fixing small things cause the car was driven enough, the diff whined from the oil sitting there not moving for long lengths of periods, the engine had water and oil leaks as the gaskets had gone dry and hard from sitting there. Plus how well was this car serviced?? Its hard to tell, were the services done every 6 months like your meant to or at the km intervals? I didn't know and ended up paying the price spending a small fortune on a car that i didn't really want to spend money on.

EDIT: BTW if you keep an RB engine close to stock and treat it with respect and look after it there's no reason why you can't get 200,000km + out of the original bottem end.

Edited October 17, 2006 by ookami