buying a cheap car - What to look at etc

Hey guys as some know I'm selling my accord soon and picking up one cheaper and planning on doing an h22a transplant. I was looking around the other day and found one going for $4000 which is dam cheap. Now its done about 216k and the paint work needs some fixing but I was wondering, since I'm upgrading the engine, stereo, suspension and wheels, and getting a respray to white, its comming from a dealer and has a road worthy certificate and rego to the end of the year. What else should I be looking at so the car is in perfect nic and any other dodgy things to fix. If I can pick it up at this price, basically I'll have around $6k + to work on it with selling my car, I'm pretty sure thats enough to get it runnin perfectly?
Note i dunno whether ill be buying this car but I will be purchasing a cheap accord so these questions relate to all of it. :)

RACQ check!

wats that? is that where u check up whether it was finance on it or an accident history etc?
I was thinking of doing an nrma inspection on any of the vehicles I inspect.

nrma = racq = racv = ract = aaa = all state roadside assistance companies that do vehicle mechanical inspections. they look over your car to tell you whats wrong etc.

The other thing that I would personally be looking at is to make sure that the car doesnt have significant rust. While panels can be treated and re-painted, it would be easier to simply buy a car that doesnt have the same issues.

oK, another thing tho, since i'm replacing the engine, shocks, lights, wheels, interior and exhaust, since the car is kinda old and has alot of k's to it, what else should I look to be upgrading (only if I have to), otherwise will the nrma inspection just show me exactly what I need to fix and then it'll be perfect? I'm sure last time I got an nrma inspection they missed a couple of things.

edit: zdster kinda answered sum of it there :) ta man

In NSW the check for debts owing is http://www.revs.nsw.gov.au/
But before you do a REVS check you need to have the car's rego, VIN/Chassis Number as well as the engine number. The REVS cheque is also an indicator of mis-matched engine and chassis. It's free if you do it online but cost 12bux if you want the certificate, provides a little piece of mind but then i've heard stories about people who've done the proper checks and all but still had the vehicle reposessed...

Things to check:
Panel allignment

You've said the paint isn't in the best condition so look for rust.
Look out for corrision, car's parked around salt water can have some sort of corrosion. Saw this on a civic i was looking at, had rough spots all over the engine (rocker cover, throttle body).

When test driving it, more often than not the salesperson will always turn on the radio and/or the aircon. Have them on for a little while just to test if it's all working then turn it all off. Then listen out for any noises that seem out of the ordinary.

Take a look under the car, if possible get the car jacked up and put on some stands or hoisted up and see if the underbody is consistant. ie is the whole underbody consistantly dirty? or are there bits and pieces which stand out and look much newer, because that could mean something happened and it was recently replaced (may be a good thing or a bad thing)

Stop the car, turn the steering wheel to full lock and give it some gas. Repeat again but in the opposite direction. If its smooth then its all good, if you hear a clicking noise then somethings up.

Or as the dealership if they'll allow and NRMA check. Some believe that it's well worth the money to have the NRMA do an inspection on the car and others believe it's a waste of time but at least it may provide you with some assurance on the condition of the car.


That's all i can think of from the top of my head.

GOODLUCK with the purchase!!!

Ta man thats the stuff im looking for! I'm kinda a noob when lookin at cars
thanks for the comments guys! :)

I recently just got myself an ek1, took me 3 months of searching to find a decent one!!! My dad's also a mechanic so that helped out in the search (although sometimes it made it worse). Do the research on that particular model using www.redbook.com.au or something like that or better yet a search on OH.

I remember 2 particular dealerships. One dealership which stocked a fair amount of civics actually asked me what the difference between a cxi and gli was... I just found it funny how a salesmans asks a customer to clarify what model has what features.

At the other dealership, i was looking at getting a Corolla (05 model). The Corolla's were detuned from Oct 2005 to meet new emission laws so the power decreased from 100kw down to 93kw. I asked the salesman what's the build date of the particular car since i wanted the one with the 100kw engine. He asked me why i wanted to know the build date and i explained to him about the power decrease. This was his reply:

Quote:

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oh...yes. I remember that now. They decreased the kilowatts to reduce fuel consumption but they've increased the horsepower.

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So just be sure you know as much as possible about that particular model because sales people don't know everything.

its done quite a bit 216k

As Fr3aKi3 mentioned (good post Fr3aKi3), I would also look at panel alignment and also interior condition (usually is a good indication of if the car has had a hard life).

Check the drivetrain if you are not swapping it too. That includes CV joints and boots, driveshafts, hubs.