I just recently came apon a 89 Maxima SE.. The car is between Rough and Decent shape.. There is rust in some tough places.. on the rocker panels.. there is a hole in the trunk. Other then that, all surface rust. the car has 251k miles.. But I was told the Motor had a complete rebuild at 200k. The engine sounds tiptop.. Really what I'm trying to do it find info on what i can do with this car.. I was just gonna run it to the group.. but I got hit with the restore bug.. now i'm thinking about restoring this thing.. But honestly.. is it going to be worth it?

Pics soon as I get home with the car. Going to get teh car now.

 

oh, its and its a 5spd.. heh, i refuse to drive Automatics..

 

IMO....just drive it until it blows up. the car is not going to be a collector's item. there's already some rusting. try to keep the rust under control and just keep driving it. restoring it would be a huge chunk of $ that might not be worth it in the end.

 

Research the price for similar maximas. Hell find the most expensive one. Then realisticly calculate the cost of restoring your maxima to a very good condition. Then compare. You find yourself in the red by a very large margin. Unless you are very mechanically inclined and have extensive body/paint experience. Even then it's a break even maybe.

 

Well, i dont think restore is the right word..... I just didnt want to use the word "Rice" but thats my plans.. I just wanted to run it for the winter.. but the wife really likes this car.. :\ so.. some of y'all know how that goes. I got the car.. drove it a good distance.. the only noise I heard that made me nervous. When the car was pulling hard, either hard acceleration, or hard De-acceleration (downshifting) I heard a knock.. it was only during.. never on idle or neutral. I'm curious what is causing this..

plus the car isnt as bad as I originally thought.. its only the rocker panel that is rusted... so its not even an issue, minor cut and weld.. I promise, ,I'll get pics..