Carbon fibre

as above with regard to bodywork (bring a magnet with you to see if its full of pudding anywhere)

ask who built the engine!
give it a very good check over, bring a compression tester with you and comp test it
check for smoke off and on boost
check for h/g blows
feather throttle between 2-3k rpm and listen for bottom end knocks
check clutch short shift from 3rd to 4th then hard on loud pedal that's when its likely to slip especially on a slight incline
check clutch pedal, should be firm, check biting point which should be around an inch from floor
check for crunchy gears going back up the box
make sure the car pulls cleanly all the way through the rev range

everything is old on these cars now so no doubt youll find a few faults there somewhere but if anything major then it gives you a chance to negotiate or walk away as some things will cost a lot of money to put right if you've not spotted them

I'm actually gonna write this down! What should it be reading on the compression test roughly? And what are h g blows? Cheers bob

compressions should be no lower than around 140psi on all cylinders
155psi + would show a very healthy engine but all depends on compression ratio its running as may have raised or lowered comp ratio due to thicker head gasket or deeper dished pistons but as a rule of thumb your looking for +150s across all 4 cylinders with no more than a 8% variation with any of them, the closer the readings the better.
when doing comp test remove all the plugs not one at a time as there may be a h/g blow from cylinder to cylinder which will give a false reading
whilst the plugs are out check the tips for either being overly sooty/ oily/ white burnt tips on electrodes as this will tell you a lot about the fuelling and possible damage to an engine caused through either det or borewash through over fuelling or under fuelling

by h/g blows I mean head gasket
check for overly pressurised coolant system especially when at running temp, pipes should be reasonably firm but not bulging due to excess pressure in system.
mayo (oil water mix) in either engine oil or coolant system. likewise when engines cold there should be no pressure in pipes, if they are solid then that's not a good sign
excessive white smoke from exhaust

I'm gonna print this off and do it all 1 by 1, really appreciate the help! Thanks for that!

no probs
good luck, hope car works out to be all good for you

Have a good look at where the rear subframe mounts to the chassis

there quite a good write up on shrooms car from when he sold it on modifiers have you looked at that? also when youve taken it for a run when you get back let it idle for a bit and get out and check for smoke. have you done an mot history check on the car to see what it has failed on in the past. you need the v5 number of the front of the v5 the 12 digit one and the reg and go to this site and it will show you all previous mots back to 2005 i think as thats when it started.

http://motinfo.direct.gov.uk/internet/jsp/ECHID-Internet-History-Request.jsp

that's genius!!!! very interesting Concrete!!!

i always do it with cars i buy, really good to see what its previously failed on

Concrete-GTIR wrote:there quite a good write up on shrooms car from when he sold it on modifiers have you looked at that? also when youve taken it for a run when you get back let it idle for a bit and get out and check for smoke. have you done an mot history check on the car to see what it has failed on in the past. you need the v5 number of the front of the v5 the 12 digit one and the reg and go to this site and it will show you all previous mots back to 2005 i think as thats when it started.

http://motinfo.direct.gov.uk/internet/jsp/ECHID-Internet-History-Request.jsp

Yes I have, Iv been over it with a fine tooth comb as well, that's why I'm interested in the car as Iv seen te work that's gone into the car as it's been documented! I'll ask him for the vin number and see what he says!

Some very good advice but all this said its a old car now might not find one as good as your last, as long as majour parts are not rotten all the rest can be fixed (ps I am not saying buy a shitter) all I mean is to find something that ticks every box above you will be waiting a while

or bring one in from Japan

The only problem with bringing one in from Japan is I doubt he will get the spec he wants for the money he wants to spend, it would be nice to get a fresh import though

Wow! Just done the vehicle test thing and it's very interesting! It says on one of the tests from about 6 years ago it failed on slight vehicle damage to the front off and near side,wonder what that could have been?? Really gonna have a good poke around!

Front offside and nearside damage .... sounds like a front end knock to me .... but then again it could be anything and why would you put it through an mot if it was in a state ?

Could also be mot tester was a twat and failed it just so the garage could get some extra work

Yea I guess, if it drives straight and it looks straight under the bonnet etc I can't see it being to much of an issue! It's passed all it's mot'd from then so can't see it being to much of an issue?

Most cars have had a small bump at some point in their lives, especially when you consider some of these cars are 24 years old!
Even my mums old Clio, less than a year old, 1 owner car on 9k miles and when I took the engine out we noticed it had a small repair to the wing.

I'm not saying all cars have had an accident but 90% have probably had a small bump at some point lol
Along as it looks straight an drives right I wouldn't worry too much

good point about the damage which has just reminded me of something definite you need to check which I have forgotten to tell you and no one else has pointed out.

some of these cars have been known to do a bit of drifting in the snow over the years and some (including a big powered one that's currently up for sale at the moment) have been slammed into either kerbs, trees or god knows what.....................so you need to bring a tape measure with you and measure gap between arch edges and the wheel as some of the wheels are set back and not central in the arch which indicates the cars been whalloped on one side.
chances are they would have replaced lower arm etc so if its still like it then 99% certainty that the front outrigger is bent so car will handle like shite and eat tyres.
ive been caught out a couple times in the past buying cars and not checking this so easy mistake to make and can be a very very costly one if you want to use the car on track as it will never handle right.
jigging, seam welding and strewnghening the whole area is the only real way to rectify the problem and I think its a waste of money as that will always be a weak point
so make sure you check arch clearances to wheel (all 4)

as johnny said above though, you wont find a real minter like you did years ago as there old now but then again you don't want something that's gonna cost you an arm and leg which youll end up hating in the finish

glad the mot thing has helped you out finding a few things out, but as has already said most cars have had a bump in there time.If it has past mot's since its obviously been repaired but just check how well. you are never gonna find a minter for that sort of money and bobs point above is excellent and definfitly check that out

I'm starting to think buying a bus ticket is a better option, Ann the red one I only bought that about 2 years ago, but yes I'll take a tape measure, I'm buying a compression checker as well! And I'm gonna give a damn good test drive and see how it handles etc! Chuck it about a bit so to speak and see how it responds! And whilst it's up on the ramp I'll check where the wishbones mount to the body for any obvious signs of damage/repairs!

...and rust!

you wont always see any noticeable damage to the outriggers but check where they are welded together onto main body as sometimes the lip part can pull away, also the bottom of the turrets where they join to inner wing and main body

biggest teller is drive it fairly quick round a roundabout and see if the front washes out at a speed where it shouldnt

Bob, when you said about high powered cars out there that have hit a tree/kerb and theres a high powered one out there for sale atm, you weren't on about this one were you???

PartyPete wrote:Bob, when you said about high powered cars out there that have hit a tree/kerb and theres a high powered one out there for sale atm, you weren't on about this one were you???

Well isn't it too late now you got it?

nomad wrote:http://m.gumtree.com/p/nissan/nissan-pulsar-gtir-360bhp/1050297138