Have no idea what to do with my Legnum

[Mortz]

So I've been thinking over what I wanna do with my Legnum lately. The paints badly fading and I need the major service soon, so it's going to cost me a decent amount to get it running and looking how it should. Since I'm picky I hate looking at the car the way it is at the moment so painting it is pretty much a definite, that is, if I decide to even keep the Leggy.
I've been thinking about moving into something different, maybe an Evo, Chaser or even a s15...something that I can have some fun with, not that I don't love my Leggy, but Im just getting the urge to jump into something different, something manual preferably.
What do you guys think I would expect to get for my Leggie, considering it has 90thou k's on the clock, is a 1997 auto PFL and has various goodies like the zorst, new coilies and a bunch of other mods, large and small. I'd also probably include the Recaro's I shamefully still haven't installed. I'm also wondering if I should just sell with the current paint despite how bad it is. I think people may find it suss if i sell a car freshly painted, think it's just been in an accident or something.
Anyways I'm confused and just looking for opinions on what others might do in my situation.

 

[snickells]

It's just a car man, sell it and get something scary. Have fun with that one and do it all again! Just dont be too down when you dont get top dollar for it with the problems you've mentioned.

 

[Mortz]

Well the cars all payed off, so no loan to pay back fortunately. I'm thinking maybe as low as $8000, but that might be insanely low, I'm not really sure. I'll have to trawl carsales and around the net and see what VR4s like mine are selling for. I'd be losing a lot of money on the car, but I knew when i started spending money on modding I'd be in it for the fun and it wouldn't be cheap. Just wish I didn't end up with a Leggy with the paint goin, especially after I spent so many damn hours making it look nice and clean. Ah well, least I've never had any real engine troubles I guess.

 

[dimi_108]

Sell it mate. But don't expect much for it.

 

[godzilla]

Borrow 10k, do a manual conversion, respray in Trigger but with a twist (Pearl or flake topcoat etc) fit your recaros, FMIC, front pipes, flash tune then /insert smiley face here >______<\

 

[king_panther]

Sell it mate. But don't expect much for it.

Unfortunately I'm with Dimi here. It's an auto PFL, plus is right due for it's expensive major service. The paint problems further push the price down.
As it is, you're not going to be getting much sorry.

 

[fieldy107]

Either do what Trev mentioned and have many smiley faces. Or strip all the good parts, sell them to us for a few grand, sell the car stock for. If its buyer only wants to pay 8k then they don't deserve recaros, coilies and fujitsubos

 

[jet150]

Can a polish fix the paint? If not try get a cheap blow over and then sell it. You might get more for it if looks nice and shiny.

 

[Mortz]

Nah the paints gone, it's chalky and destroyed, and yeah guys I'm aware that if i sell I wont be asking too much...
If I can even manage to sell it.

Edit- still, Trev's plan is tempting.

 

[sn00ze]

i concur with trev, his plan involves much more satisfaction. it tickas all your boxes..all 2 of them really lol.
awesome new paint and a manual conversion with a few more basic mods is easily acheivable with 10k and some know how or help.
much more satisfaction than selling up, plus youve got a low km strong motor=winner winner chicken dinner

 

[Slinz]

If you do sell, sell the recaros and coilies first separately and then consider using that money to have the major service completed, or a closed door paint job. When I was looking for mine, I was put off of A LOT of potentially good cars because I knew once it arrived in Australia I'd have to chuck heaps of cash at it for the major service.

 

[Jonson]

When I hear of someone selling the car because it needs to be serviced it makes me think "What else have they skimped on", I'm not syaing you have been tight with anything else, it's just how my brain works. As for the faded paint, it makes me think either current or previous owner hasn't looked after it, either way with these 2 things being against the car it says a lot about it's upkeep.

 

[TME_Steve]

Another option provided you're not in a rush....

See if anyone wants to buy it with all the bits for a decent price, someone really picky would buy one needing paint if everything else was OK eg I would have happily bought one that just had bad paint but other stuff done (I resprayed a third of mine as it was and I still look at it thinking, hmmm should have painted the whole lot) and if nothing happens then sell it stock cheap, but then if the paint is bad waht's the rest of it like, eg interior?

I wouldn't paint and then sell though as I don't think you'll get the money and effort back. If you're worried about people thiking it's been in a crash don't advertise "new paint" and then when someone is looking at it show the "before pics" if they look worried about why is it painted, and probably save this thread somewhere....

If you're in a rush, make it stock, flog it and the bits seperately

 

[Mortz]

@ Jonson
Actually mate it sucks for me cause it's quite the opposite, I look after this car exceptionally well and I washed and waxed the car weekly before the paint started going. It's upkeep was excellent, I love this car. It's also never missed a service and there's still 10 thou k's before the major service is actually due. That's what I'm most pissed off about, I looked after the car like it was my baby, but it made no difference in the end because the clear coat was slightly damaged and just got worse and worse.

 

[Mortz]

The rest of the car is great btw shtik, clean interior with no marks, except for faded leather wheel. The engine is unmodded pretty much, running nothing more then a bit more boost, trans cooler and HKS panel filter and has never given me any problems.
Seriously f**kin pissed at Mitsi for this. Almost all their '97 models fade because of too thin paint coverage. My brother has a silver 97 Magna that's faded just like mine, and my mate has a dark green one with the exact same problem. I'd reccomend potential buyers to stay the hell away from dark metallic 97 Mitsubishi's unless you wanna put countless hours into paint care only for the car to fade anyways. Just take a look around and you'll see lots of 97 Mitsi models with the exact same issue.

 

[bradc]

Magna's were painted in Aus while all Legnums and Galants were done in Nagoya. I think it is more a problem with a large number of normally priced cars (less than $100k new) in the mid to late 90's

 

[pu-11-me]

Luke, you're young dude. Go and get something awesome and enjoy some near death experiences before you end up with a nagging Mrs telling you that you waste too much time and money on cars.....

My Mrs isn't like that, but I have heard that most on the market generally are

 

[Mortz]

Nah my girlfriend isn't like that either, likes my Leggy and takes it for a spin pretty often.
The thing is with selling is that I wont be able to import personally as I need a car for work and uni so I'll have to look for a car in Aus which I didn't want to do. But once I sell my car and take out a loan to buy another car which will undoubtedly need at least something done, then I'm pretty sure it would've been cheaper to take out like a $3000 loan for just the spray job and just do the 100km service as I normally would. I mean I would probably chase an EVO anyways, but there are lots of thngs about the VR4s that I love that the EVO doesn't have, for example sunroof and a decent interior and heaps of space for cruising with mates.

 

[CLuTZ]

Sell it stock, along with all your bits and jump into the cars that are driving down prices of Legnums- EVO 5,6 or 7's!

 

[Mortz]

Thanks for the advice and responses everyone. Well I've decided I'm gunna go ahead with the spray job in the near future, as well as some other restoration work. Basically, I want the car to look like it just rolled out of the factory and I want it to run perfect. On the cards is:
- spray job in factory trigger
- new/second hand facelift front bumper (old one is out of whack after many driveway/parking block knocks and from damage from Jap. Cars raised up a little now so no worries)
- new/ second hand front passenger headlight
- wave spring in auto box just to be safe
- Recaros installed (fiiiiiiinally...)
- new cat converter to replace old compliance one I still haven't changed
- Full 100k service + lifters replaced + AYC serviced again
- all plastics and rubbers on the car exterior revamped eg window frames
- engine bay and interior professionally detailed
- engine mounts and control arms if they need doing
Once all that's done I might consider some more mods like intercooler, dump pipes, piggyback etc etc. Looks like ill be having a chat with my bank manager sometime soon it should be cheaper then forking out for another import though and in the end I'll have my Legnum back to how it should be and have a car that's in A1 condition mechanically and visually.