There is a '94 Formula for sale on my street with 120,000 miles on it.
The car has no heads because they were over-heated, warped, and cracked. The whole top end is apart, everything seems to be labeled. The seller wants $1,200 for the car. Is this worth it? Can I expect to see damage to the bottm end?

 

You really won't know untill you tear it apart, finding heads are pretty easy and if the rest of the car is in good condition then it may be a good deal.

 

How is the rest of the car?Paint,seats,carpet?
Dents?Might also check the glove box for the letters GU and the #5(Gu5)
Thats factory performance gears,and a oil cooler.
A rebuilt engine(check auto zone maybe)$2000. to $3000.
Paint,$2000.?I'm sure I forgot something.Hope this helps.

 

W/out a functioning engine I wouldn't pay more than $800.

 

MAKE SURE YOU CHECK THE OIL FIRST! A friend of mine for a headless Camaro w/ 4.5 gallons of water in the oil from being in the weather. Pull the dipstick and drain alittle out of the pan. You can never be to cautious.

 

I offered him $900 Cash Money and he said no.

 

1k and take caution, check stuff first
you never know what other damage has been done

 

There's a guy in one of the local clubs here that bought an LT1 car that was missing the intake manifold. Seller said he needed it for another car, but that this one ran great when the manifold was removed (of course ). Guy gets car home, pops a spare manifold on it, and starts it up to find a horrendous rod knock.

Moral of the story - people are lying *******s...parts could very well be removed to mask other problems. Does he still have the supposedly warped/cracked heads? If I can't hear it run, I buy as if it's assumed that the engine will need to be replaced. If I can't drive it, I buy as if it's assumed the trans/rear end will need to be replaced. If it's an auto trans, overheating the engine could very well have overheated the trans as well, trashing the trans. Or my other particular favorite - radiator breaks internally, mixing coolant with ATF spelling near instant death for a trans. When I worked in the auto shops..I saw countless cars come in for repair after the driver kept driving it, while overheating, until the engine seized.

 

Asylist is right, when people are trying to unload thier cars, they tell you what you want to hear. The guy I got my car from said it was never wrecked, had 8mm wires on it, had never been repainted, and that there was nothing wrong with the car. After fixing some problems that we saw, but came up much sooner than we thought, we found out that the nose had been repainted, he probably spun the car into a ditch and hurt the nose, and yes the car had 8mm wires, but only on the drivers side and stock wires on the pass. But on the original question, I'd be really cautious, and if you offered 900 cash and he said no, then I'd tell him keep it. Just my opinion though.

 

pretend it does not have a motor in it at all and plan to either swap in a complete junkyard or rebuild and price it like that, how is the rest of the car, interior, exterior and so on

 

Try him again around christmas time, it will still be forsale and he may be hurting for cash then.

And plan on getting a whole new engine, maybe trans.

 

WOW!
Well I did here the car run 4 months ago before it was takin apart. The guy never got on it because the TRANNY was 'Loose'. All that it needed was to tighten up the tranny mount. The way I was looking at it is if the car cost 1,200 take off 300 for the cheapest heads to put on the car. That makes the total 900, but if I got to worrie about problems with the tranny too, then its definatly not worth it, unless I plan to make it a REAL PROJECT and not just some daily driver.

 

If all that was needed was to tighten up the mount, why didn't he do it? Even if he's talking about the trans to engine bolts, you're talking 30 minutes max, including the time it takes to jack up the car. If he's just a lazy bastard, how many other things have been ignored on the car, just because it wasn't absolutely required to drive it (such as cooling system maintenance)?

Sounds like it's a good plan to pass on it

 

The rubber tranny mount is probably broke - not a big deal to replace. If the tranny is bad or engine is bad, your costs go way up. I paid $1500 for mine with a tranny that the seller knew would need replaced, but it runs great and is in very good shape. Plus, I knew someone who just crashed their Trans Am and I bought the tranny out of it for $200 with about 2k miles on it. Search around before you buy for deals on items you may need - it will help.

Make sure the motor tuns over nice by hand and see how big the ridge is at the top of the cylinders. If you need a motor, the LT1s out of the big GM cars are cheap. You can find them with less than 100k miles for under $500 and they aren't beat on like many FBodies. I have one in my garage just in case my block ever goes.

I say offer him what you feel is your limit and walk away if he won't take it. Everyone is different. I've bought cars that I probably paid to much for, but I liked them.

-Dan
http://www.thesherwoodgang.com/cars

 

Unless the whole car is trashed, you can part it out for more than that, so, yes.