WTB: $1500 Mark VIII

sleeper

sleeper

Former LOD President
See title. I'm looking for another "beater" or second car. I want a Mark VIII. Budget is $1500.

My criteria:
- 150k or less
- functioning air suspension (no coils)
- no significant rust. Minor surface rust acceptable.
- decent usable interior, no major rips or tears. Prefer heated seats.
- good functioning trans. I will check. I'm not liable if it fails on the test drive.
- all electronics functioning.
- no major crash damage.
- lousy paint, dings, minor dents okay. minor crash damage not affecting a major body line, window, or light also okay.
- functional or repairable a/c (it has to be there even if it don't work)
- obviously, it has to be a runner / driver. Suspension wear and tear okay, I can fix that. Major leaks or engine problems not okay.

Depending on body condition, plans may include body repair and flat black paint. Then daily driver abuse. I need something to keep the miles off of my navigator, not to mention use less gas.

Needs to be within an hours drive or so of my little suburb north of Detroit.
 
Dave, I know pretty much all the cars around here. You need to up your budget.
Unless, you want a 97 with 140k miles that I see on copart for a few weeks now. It's going up on the 2/12 in Chicago; it has suspension issues at the very least. Nice car otherwise, probably can get it home for the $1500.
 
You said prefer heated seats? So you're looking at gen 2 only?

1500 gets you a decent gen 1. It may be worth while to up the budget to 3000 and not waste additional time and money and start off with a seriously better car.
 
1500 is the budget. I can't magically increase it.

I don't need a gen 2. I was figuring on a gen 1. Unless my memory is worse than I thought, my 94 had heated seats.

I know I can get something decent for 3000. I want something for 1500 that I can abuse and not feel bad about it. They're out there. I can deal with beat up. I can fix stuff.

I said functioning air ride... I should have said at least partially functioning. Just no coils.

Jeremi... Any pics of that 97? What are they asking? What's copart?
 
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Buying a 1st gen car is like throwing money away at this point. Buy that 97, drive it for a while, and you still should be able to sell for profit/make even when the summer comes.

Copart is a dealer only auction site I frequent. This car has been going thru for a while, but never reaches reserve. If you're serious, I can buy it for you, but it's a done deal once you say yes, not some ebay crap ;)

The car has listed mechanical issues. It looks low on the ride height, maybe has more problems. But if you're gonna work on something, make it worthwile.
 
That looks like it might be the ticket, Jeremi. Any way to tell what other mechanical problems it might have? Can you start or drive the car before buying? Any puddles underneath? Does the compressor run? No heated seats... What did it cost you to put those heat pads in that one mark you had? I suppose with the number of coil conversions running around, used air ride parts ought to be plentiful.

Body looks good. If it starts, runs, and moves under it's own power, with no major leaks or real bad noises, I'm interested. If it needs more than air bags or a compressor to make it a driver, price would need to be a bit under my budget, though. I am planning on 1700 to buy and make roadworthy.

The number I have for you is old. Give me a call, I'll pm you my number.
 
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maxmk8 said:
dave you're tripping. Gen 1s do not have heated seats.
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Maybe I am. It's been over 5 years since I've been in a gen 1.

I prefer heated seats but it's not a deal breaker. Looks like I might end up with that gen 2 above and it doesn't have heated seats anyway. If I don't find a better option within the next 2 weeks I'm going to have Jeremi pick that one up for me.

Oh well. Ford heated seats suck compared to GM anyway. I can barely tell if the ones in my navigator are turned on, but I have to turn the ones in my dads truck down after a few minutes.
 
"Oh well. Ford heated seats suck compared to GM anyway. I can barely tell if the ones in my navigator are turned on, but I have to turn the ones in my dads truck down after a few minutes."

Weird, my daughter has an Expedition and their's will burn your butt!!!
 
I just bought a '93 for $1050. It's a pile :)

Needs front bags. I should be getting a set of bags today for $100. needs rotors, probably pads, a battery (old one is under warranty though), and a wiper motor. The ABS is also non-functional, they pulled the fuse because "something kept running and drained the battery". The ABS relay is $25, i'm going to throw one of those at it. Theres a huge vacuum leak as well. You can hear it with the engine idling. It threw a CE light on the way home but seemed to run good, trans seemed to shift good. The code is reset by now (battery is TOAST) so i'll fix the vacuum leak and see if it comes back. Slight delay going into reverse but it might even be normal. Fluid didn't smell / look burnt, by the smell it's likely mercon V. The car shifted good going down the highway. It might have given me a very slight shudder when the TC locked up but with no front bags it could have been the road. could have been a miss, too, that's about when it threw the ce light. I got on it a few times and it seemed to behave nicely. If it craps out i'll just throw a much newer junkyard tranny in it.

There's one decent dent and a bunch of smaller ones. I'll pull the big one and bondo the little ones, and the car will be painted flat black. The clearcoat is already flaking off in huge areas. The rocker on the passenger side is pretty rusty. I plan to cut out all the rusted metal, paint the metal underneath to prevent further rust, fill the area with expanding foam, cut the foam down below where the metal would have been, and bondo over it. I should be able to get it pretty close, and with flat black on it it'll look like it's a rust free car.

Interior has issues, but nothing I can't fix with some glue. Seats are well worn and cracked, but functional, and the padding is still decent. Big upgrade over my last beater. climate control buttons are perfect. only thing i don't think i can fix is the cupholder lid, so i'll just finish breaking it off and call it a day.

Car has painted directionals on it. Tires are fubared but I know a guy who can get me decent used tires for free.

I should have it on the road, including plates and insurance and all the repairs listed above, under my $1500 limit. Then figure another $50 in paint. I haven't decided yet whether i'll spray it or roll it.

I forgot how much fun these are to drive. Even with the ass in the air and the front on the ground :). There is a single black stripe going most of the way up my driveway now :). I will be looking for a center section out of an automatic supercoupe. That should be a 3.27 with traction lock.

oh yeah... only 118k miles. title says actual mileage, hope it's right.
 
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I went to pick up the set of bags today, and the guy not only gave me 4 bags, but solenoids, height sensors, a compressor, the relay and the computer. I stopped at autozone and got the ABS relay (only $8), rotors and pads.

I got the left side swapped out. Everything went relatively smooth. The right side is being a bitch. The lower bolt on the strut just won't come off. I've hammered it, tried to press it out with a c clamp, tried a little heat, etc. but it's still only about an inch from where I started. I already had to cut off the nut on the end of it with a sawzall.

There is a lot of minor damage under the car from scraping the ground and from being jacked incorrectly. Nothing serious, and I can fix a lot of it with a few well placed hammer whacks. The bottom radiator support, where the bumper should bolt, is also pushed up from scraping the ground. That might be a little more tricky to fix. Same with the bar that reinforces the front of the k-member. On the plus side, ball joints look new, tie rod ends seem tight, and only one out of 8 strut rod bushings has any damage. Rear shock mounts are fubar though. Where's the best place to get those?

The idiot that worked on the air suspension last cut two of the lines and ran them to a schroeder valve on the strut tower, and then plugged the lines coming out of the compressor. I assume those are the two rear lines, but i'm not sure. It would explain why the rear won't vent at all. So now I have to go and find some compression fittings and unions and put it back together properly.

They cleaned up under the hood a bit to sell the thing, but it's still a mess. I went through with the air hose and blew most of the dust and crap out then coated everything with WD-40. Made a huge difference already. I did the same under the front end and in the wheel wells.

Only unexpected negative is that the tranny pan is damp and it looks like theres tranny fluid coming out of the access hole for the torque converter. I'll have to keep an eye on it to see if it's worth fixing or if I can just top it off every now and then.

Oh, and a friend of mine has an SC diff sitting around. 2.73's in it, but he thinks he has a set of 3.73's around. So I might be in business.
 
jamies98lsc said:
you'll be mad when i post pics tomorrow of the toreador red 97 base model i just got for $1,150!!!!
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It would have cost me a grand to get it home. I was looking at 1300 to get the one above home, and even there it hadn't met reserve.
 
budpytko said:
...anything wrong with it, Jamie? If not, how much would you resell it for?
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there is some dummy lights on, been coil sprung, one hid out and neon out, but ran and drove to my shop nice. there will be alot more wrong with it in a few days ha ha ha!

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