Got The Job

[TerryY]

What I am seeing now is that most of the "Cheap" 850's are cheap for a reason.

A $10k ebay '91 850 will probably take a minimum of $5k and a lot of Patience to make nicely driveable again. If you don't put the money and patience into it upfront it has a good possibility of turning into your worst nightmare of a money pit.

Radiators, expansion tank, hoses, heater valves and aux pump, water pump and thermostat, fan clutch, idlers and belts are either at or beyond normal age failure points.
Hitting the temp red zone buys a dead engine.

Keeping them all working makes up to 300K on the engine before it wears out. Stop Leak will let it run long enough to get it off the truck at your end but not much farther.

The list of suspension parts that are no better than marginal at that age could be pretty long and $pendy too.

Electrical gremlins in a multi-computerized car are a real trip without support.
Remember the simple electrical system on the VW?
This is a '91 850 set of schematics: http://wuffer.net/MyFiles/ETM91.pdf

That said, if you buy an "Enthusiast car" with everything done on it and good for a lot of trouble free driving you are going to part with about $20K to $25K and grin from ear to ear while driving.

I love my 840 and wouldn't trade it for anything but I'm not sure that you would have the money or the patience to keep an 8er running.

[craig]

well my tbird got about the same gas milage (even tho it was HALF of the 8's engine. haha.) and i had no problem with paying for gas. and i wont drive the 8 much anyways... just a weekend car untill i move. and as for the turbo, i dunno.. thats just what i read on another forum.... and i saw a video of a dino run and it ran 444HP and 5something torque at 6PSI. i wont get the turbo kit.. i would get myself killed with that. lol. and i think as far as maintenance goes, my baja bug would cost more to maintain. it has a big-ass engine in it and you would have to be torn down every few months to have EVERYTHING adjusted. i dunno.. i guess im just weird like that. i enjoy doing that.. whatever i guess. oh and i will get you the link for the turbo kit tomarrow.

[craig]

question: does the 840 have basicly the same enegine as the 540? im not going to lie.... i just want something that sounds mean and something that i can go crusing in on weekend and get people to say "WOW". also, would it be easier to take care of? the 840's?

[TerryY]

Yes the 840 and 540 have the same motor.

It is more tolerant of bad maintenance but beyond the driveline everything is the same as the 850.

Did you scroll thru the electrical schematics? They are virtually the same for the 840. A bit complicated?

[2000e46]

Congrats, I started a new job this past Monday.