Buying a 240, I need advice
 

I am in the market for a used 240. I am not really sure which model to get? S13 or S14? What should I look for when buying one? Is a particular year better than another? Which one has LSD? By the way, I plan to autocross this car...Thanks

Get whic one u feel will suit u best, Ima get a S13 because Its cheaper and im on a bit of a budget. U should make sure its manual, kus auto to manual conv. is a pain in the a55. You can put LSD on both of them, and some of them kome stock.

I personally like the S13 better ;) (thats my ride) ... I have also read somewhere that the S13 chasis is better balanced than the S14..

Whichever you buy, make sure you look for any rattling noises in the engine (unless you are gonna do the infamous SR/RB swap) .. A lot of KA engines need to get some timing chain work done at 80K or so miles ...

if you are planning on an engine swap you might have better value deals in the S13 if you find one with a blown motor .. S14's (particularly 97 & 98) have an agressive headlight and look good , but IMHO S14's look more like family sedans and lack the sporty look that S13's have .

In the S13 only the hatchbacks with HICAS had the VLSD , stateside ... All canadian 240's had VLSD .. If you see an orange dot on the differential cover , you have a LSD else you got an open diff ... You can swap your open diff with a VLSD .. Look in other threads for all the options available ...

And if you are planning to Auto-X you definitely need to go for a suspension upgrade .. If you are not short on cash you can go with the Tein full coilovers which probably will run you around 1100 USD or so for the parts .. if you are short on cash like I am :( ,then Eibach/KYB appears to be the most popular and best value for the buck ... The setup would probably run you about 550-600 USD for parts .. Anyways the point is stock suspension is a strict no no for auto-X .

Hope it helps .. Good luck in finding yourself a nice 240 !!! I am sure you will enjoy every minute you spend in the new car ..

I'm in the process of looking at a 1996 240sx also and the guy is asking about 7000 for it. It has a few mods that I can see from the add it has a thermal exhaust and 17" enkie rims it probably has an intake too. The car also has 53000 miles on it and I was wondering if there is anything I should keep my eyes open for when I look at it and if thats too much money for the car as I decribed it.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Its got low mileage for that year of car, id say go for it. You can usually find a 95 240 for around 6000 with high mileage. And the one ur lookin at is a lil fixed up and low mileage.