Hello!

[TAftonomos]

New here, but I've been lurking for a bit. I'm sick of paying out the a$$ for gas on both my G35 and the trailblazer we just bought... So, I traded in my G35 (loved that car).

I'm currently looking at a 88DX, clean, but high miles. I'm interested in swapping in a VX motor, but I'm wondering about the transmission. Does anyone know how close the DX trans is to the VX? It's a 5 speed DX, I understand they also came in a 4 speed as well. Currently the car gets ~35-38mpg. Has been lowered a touch and has some 14 aftermarket rota wheels with brand new tires. Clean engine bay, clean body, 2 quarter sized spots of rust, one on each rear quarter window sill. Other than that it's stock, which for me is a good thing. Bad part, car has 310K miles on it. Motor was re-ringed/bearings at ~200K miles. Passes emmisions, no CEL's. $1200 seems to be a good deal.

Mechanically nothing about the swap, rebuilding, etc scares me. I've never had a car with over 100k miles on it, so I'm a bit apprehensive in purchasing this, but for so little money it doesn't seem like I can go wrong.

Should I pass on this, keep looking for a VX in the 2000-2500 range?

If I can find a deal as some of the members have on the board for a VX motor shipped ~$400, even with replacing some parts that may or may not need it, I think I can be in the $2000 range total into the car.

Whatcha think?