What's up guys, so basically my Max has been in New England (between Massachusetts and Connecticut) it's whole life; and the winters have taken their tolls on her. She's up to about 210,000 miles and she's still my daily driver. Would love to put money into her to fix it, but she's too far gone at this point.

BUT long story short, I need a new vehicle. I want to stay true to the Maxima and go with another one. I was searching online and checked out a 2001 SE which is a 5 speed (compared to my auto I have now) with 120k and he only wants $700 for it. Only thing is that it was in a front end collision (clean title though) but it runs and drives and I would use my current car as a donor for it. And I'd swap over my black leathers of course too

Plus it has the 17" SE rims with mint tires on it which I know I could sell for an easy 3-400 if I had to lol.

When I called I asked if there was frame damage, he said no and I got there and the whole radiator was pushed back towards the engine and there was noticeable damage to the whole radiator support/ probably front of the frame. So naturally I walked away at that point, kinda a shady deal to begin with but I still wonder if it's actually worth it.

I work as a service adviser at a dealership and could probably get the car in for an hour at a time at the end of my shift. I'd love to have it as a project obviously but with the project needing to be my daily driver in the semi-near future if something happens to my current daily and it's out of commission for good I'd be out a good chunk of money.

It would need a new hood/ bumper/ headlights/ probably a radiator and some misc engine parts. But all of those parts I do have available on my daily driver and are in great shape.



My biggest concern was the radiator support/ the front frame pieces where the hood latch is/ the hood lining up with the bumper and closing correctly, and all that. Basically my idea was to frankenstein it and put some parts from my car onto that one and get it on the road again. The radiator works just fine on my car if it does need one too.

I know that drilling the radiator support out is an absolute pain in the *****, so i was also kinda curious what anyone could tell me about that too.

I'll post some pictures from the listing ( I didn't take any in depth pictures and the hood is closed in the pics he posted not showing the radiator/ under the hood.) But literally the radiator is pushed up not even an inch away from the front of the engine.

Lemme know what you guys think I should do, I know it's hard for you to judge by not seeing how extensive damage is through pictures but any second opinions would be great!

Thanks in advance
-Spence'

 

My solution would be to request the vehicle to be independently inspected by a body shop, at your expense of course. You don't wanna mess with it if it has frame damage, and if you are not qualified to diagnose that, then you want to find someone who is. As a betting man, my money would be on there being frame damage for that cost though. $700 is pretty cheap for a car that could be repaired from a junk yard, if indeed there is not frame damage.

 

highly doubt there is any frame damage from a small collision like that! i smashed my infiniti awhile back and if you'd seen my car, you would've thought there was frame damage by how hard i hit the car in front of me.
obviously this guy probably just had liability on his car and didnt have the $2400 or so to fix the hood,bumper and radiator.
its definitely a good deal if you have the extra $2500 to get the car fixed. if you do the math; it kinda sounds like the guy just deducted the amount to fix the car from how much he could get for it if it were un-damaged.
if u have the cash to fix the car, id say get it!.

 

I would say have a body shop make sure frame is not damaged.
If you can do the work yourself then it's a good deal.
If you decide to get the car put new radiator support, swap the rest of the parts from your car and start driving the new one. Then you can use your old car for parts or part it out and sell the parts.

Just make sure you do not get yourself into a situation you do not want to be in.

 

if that car was in my area when i was parting out my 01, it would be in my driveway fixed already, i had the front clip, that damage is VERY minor, if the top of the radiator support is bent backwards then those are easy to fix, you could possibly even use a ratchet strap or two to pull on several points on the support, tie it off to a hitch on a large pickup and ratchet it back forward until its lined up even, all that is, is sheet metal so its easy to pull.

VERY easy fix car there.

matthew

 

first of all, I don't understand why people keep saying frame damage as if its something to be scarep about, its metal and everything can be fixed to near perfect condition given enought time and money.

the car you're looking at is a great car for the money. if you don't want it, send me the link to the seller and his info and i'll pick that up in a heart beat. I'm sure there are pleanty of other members here who would do the same and they won't even have to drive the 1 and a half to pick it up.

since you have all the parts, the only thing to worry about is your skill level to bring this thing back on the road. But from what you've been saying, you don't have the skill set to do this so instead of frainkeinsteining this job, how about have the guys you work with at the shop who knows body work, give you a quote on how much they'll charge you to do it at home. I'm sure there are plenty of guys who wouldn't mind a bit of cash on a side job after work.

after you get a quote to do the work properly, not mickey mouse job, see if its worth it.

in my opinion, you found a great deal on a low mileage max, have the free parts from your car and just need to find some one who can do the labor. I bet you can get the radiator pulled, replaced, and swap over all parts over the weekend for a few hundred bucks by one of your co-workers at the dealership.

good luck and let us know what you decide to do.

 

Decided to get one of the guys I work with to come down and take a look at t so I can get a second opinion of the car in person. Ill try snappif some pictures of the damage when I get there.

I essentially have the skill set to do everything but the welding (since I don't have a welder) as I graduated from automotive school and was a tech for a year. If I don't end up buying it ill definitely send out the information for someone else here to buy it. It's located on the north shore-Boston area as a heads up.

Thanks for the feedback and ill keep you guys posted. And if I buy t you'll definitely see a new thread with the transformation!