Help with Craigslist Find

Hey everybody. Im in the market for a terminator and I recently came across this one on CL.
https://greenville.craigslist.org/cto/6164426343.html
I was looking to get wisdom from you experienced gentleman. Go look at it or run far far away?

Needs re-tuned always seems like something to stay away from. It doesn't make any sense. Not to mention the dangers of someone running a car without a proper tune. Have you checked for why he says that?

The price seems pretty good if it all checks out though.

Man it's hard to say. The price is lower, but he replaced a lot of things. The part that really sticks out is needing a retune. Why would it need one and/or why wouldn't the owner get it done prior to selling? It's a gamble a retune would clear up whatever driveability issues it has. Some guys are good at wrenching and may be able to fix whatever issues. But it seems, at least to me, that car may have had a hard life. The engine bay and interior don't look very good either.

I wouldn't touch that thing, even for 13K, too much stuff replaced and an uncertain history, i'm sure that thing was beaten the hell out of. Looks filthy as hell too.

Ask him to tune it and then you'll seriously look at it. If he refuses move on. Like the others have said and I agree, anytime I hear that bs line of needing a tune I move on.

Sent from my SM-G920P using the svtperformance.com mobile app

If you're seriously in the Terminator market? No.
If you're in to the cheapest way out to get one? Still, No.

Yeah I asked him about the tune already. He said he went broke while building the car. I appreciate the responses. Im going to steer clear of this one.

Schmidtyboy said:

Yeah I asked him about the tune already. He said he went broke while building the car. I appreciate the responses. Im going to steer clear of this one.

Click to expand...

Went broke = tired of trying to fix all the issues and want to dump it off on someone else.

That car needs to be sold on the cheap to a shop owner who has employees and the ability to square it away properly.

He went broke putting it together now that it's not running and he possibly put it together wrong (bent valve) now he can't afford to go back in there and do it again. That's very possible, he's got a 10k list there. Might start by taking it apart first thing check it out and reassemble. Some people don't want projects.

Yup that's someones unfinished project, that he can't get to work right so he's trying to dump it. Stage 3 cams with an eaton, who knows if they are degreed correctly, to many risks. When the price is the same as the parts list into the car, you usually have your answer, he's just trying to offset the parts list so he breaks even.

Also that engine bay is really dirty for all these "new" parts with an untuned car. Must be really windy and have a lot of dust in that area.

needs a retune = needs a motor

and who knows what else...probably clutch and trans minimum

$13K price plus $17K to get it decently road worthy

$30k investment on a terminator with 80K miles. Might be worth $20K if you had to sell down the road....

NO

When someone says, "it only needs a tune". Walk away. As other have said, that just does not make a bit of sense. In the end, they ALWAYS need more than just a tune.

I bought a Buick Grand National about 8 years ago. Had some engine noise. Seller told me he was an mechanic and that it just needed some new lifters. I bought the car planning to rebuild the motor anyway and paid a fair price for it. Guess what? Needed the entire engine rebuilt, the only parts I could salvage were the block and heads. Turns out the noise was a wiped cam (2 lobes wiped clean) that took the rest of the motor with it, including the turbo. Didn't even have the correct crank or rods in it. Fast forward about 3 years. I ran into the seller. He was a mechanic indeed, small engine repair at a local equipment rental place. He said, how's that car. I told him the story. His words "what did you do to it?" I said, "yeah, I must have wiped the entire motor in the 3 miles from your house to mine."

When people post ads like this I just laugh, if it was just a tune you would go get it tuned because the cars worth probably another 5k. Like you're not going to spend 500-1000 for a tune to make 5k in return. The answer they will give is my loss is your gain.