Reliability
 

Just wondering, but how reliable is the 240sx engine. My brother found a friend willing to sell his 95 240 with 103,000 miles on it, and before I buy it I'm wondering how long I should expect the engine to last, or maybe things I should be willing to replace, besides the clutch if it hasn't been done already.

The only things he has done to it is kyb springs, and he just replaced all 4 rotors and pads.

KA24DE's are very reliable motors - consider the number of early '90's 240's and Altimas on the roads. They regularly go farther than 200k miles. At 100k miles, your biggest concerns are going to be the clutch, like you said, and the timing chain. The chain doesn't necessarily have to be changed at 100k, but that's what Nissan recommends. Also, depending on how the car's been taken care of, you may have to do some general maintenance - fluids, filters, gaskets, and the like.

Just buy the Hayne's manual, and go down the list, but it's unlikely you'll have to do any costly repairs.

The chain is a non-maintainence item. Nissan reccomends replacing it only if it's broke.

i'd replace it anyway, as soon as it breaks bad things will happen..like broken valves

that was my thought exactly.

Nissan here usually just says to change the chain on the SR20's at the 200,000km mark so basically they are a no maintenance issue. Most Silvia's that I see have to worry about rust long before any motor problems start to creep up. Usually along the rocker panel just behind the doors and soemtimes the upper inside of the rear feners. Not sure why it just seems to happen to the bulk of the cars in Japan.