Looking to buy...what parts/items can you not find anymore? handling? brakes?

Been lurking now a bit and finally joined, I am coming from a car with a run of about 6000 (98 240sx) and that shares parts with a larger run. However certain parts are not available and it sucks for someone like me that wants there 'used' car staying new looking.

What are the parts / items I should absolutely make sure my future VX has? The headlight gaskets have me concerned a bit.

Also I know most are tuning for off-road, but I'd like to tune for on-road with ability to still get down to trailheads and lakes. I am coming from a 2 door sports car so I know I am already going to give up a bit. What's a decent low-noise more road setup? I am in S. Florida so ice/snow are not happening.

Also in the Isuzu lineup or aftermarket is there a brake setup to be a little more powerful? The 60-0 stock distances are really impressive already, but braking is one of those things I favor esp with idiots that just decide to stop for no reason.

Anyone have luck with a PenFed.org loan on one of these? I plan on getting a loan then selling my 240SX to pay it off.

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Originally Posted by alkemyst

Been lurking now a bit and finally joined, I am coming from a car with a run of about 6000 (98 240sx) and that shares parts with a larger run. However certain parts are not available and it sucks for someone like me that wants there 'used' car staying new looking.

What are the parts / items I should absolutely make sure my future VX has? The headlight gaskets have me concerned a bit.

Also I know most are tuning for off-road, but I'd like to tune for on-road with ability to still get down to trailheads and lakes. I am coming from a 2 door sports car so I know I am already going to give up a bit. What's a decent low-noise more road setup? I am in S. Florida so ice/snow are not happening.

Also in the Isuzu lineup or aftermarket is there a brake setup to be a little more powerful? The 60-0 stock distances are really impressive already, but braking is one of those things I favor esp with idiots that just decide to stop for no reason.

Anyone have luck with a PenFed.org loan on one of these? I plan on getting a loan then selling my 240SX to pay it off.

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I suggest slowing down a bit and get a plan together you seem to be all over the place with no set plans. Research the board on problems and parts, save money while looking because loans on cars this old are hard to come by sell the other car find your VX and keep in touch

Ok I can clarify then. I was trying to make one thread rather than a few. Many of the threads I have searched for this info have been all over the place though and with no final answer...hence my questions.

My set plans for once I have the truck is to bring it back to like new condition and then hopefully improve the handling and braking a notch. I haven't seen much on either of these topics. There is a lot on lift kits and rebuilding the stock shocks (which I would do) and some on rotors and pads, but I didn't see anything on larger brake options or any qualitative posts on before and after suspension mods. The handling is great stock, don't get me wrong; esp when you consider it's a 4000lb vehicle. I just want a little more. I am coming from a long line of vehicles that all approached or passed the 1g mark and stopped on a dime.

A loan is not an issue and I may not even need it anyway, however; in this economy who knows how long my car will take to sell and when it does will I come up short?

Penfed would be the best choice for the lower rate of 3.99%...their main requirement is a vehicle under 100k. It's cheap money if you qualify, I am not sure how they look at a mint VX though, many creditors have changed all their rules lately. I'd be just a bridge loan more or less anyway, I doubt it would even go 12 months prior to pay off. If I find a cheap truck with lower mileage then it's a non-issue. I want to back sure I can stretch my budget though a bit if the right one comes along and in the end it would be a lot less money than renting a car for a couple weeks or more or having to pull money out of anything else right now.

My plan is to restore the vehicle while continuing to drive my current car. I would want to do this all at once as I want to be the one doing the work and I'd am hoping to use up some of my vacation time to do it. I am trying to target a low mileage example, but even the best of the best are bound to need refurbishing. My plan is to go through the whole vehicle, gut it and put it back together right then enjoy it leaving the work only to maintenance.

I have built a lot of cars and trucks now...I am approaching 40, when I was younger dragging out projects wasn't such a big deal nor was having half the car being in pieces...nowadays I'd rather finish one and then move on.

I'd love to have $15k+ just sitting here to blow, if I can buy in at the lower end it's not an issue. The smartest move would be finance the VX and use cash on hand for the items. Plus there is a lot of other benefits/protections on what will probably be a long distance purchase by using a creditor to back that transaction. Things go south and I have a legal team willing to assist getting 'our' money back.

What I mainly wanted to know is are there parts that are simply not available?

For my current car the floor mats are no longer being made, there are a couple hood bumpers which also cannot be sourced...among other things, I recently had a pretty minor accident, but it was a major project to get all the pieces to put the car back together right.

This could stop the process right there. If the parts are available, I will move forward putting money together and start the hunt.

AFAIK, there are no larger brake kits available for the VX/Trooper platform.
The VX, being of rather limited production, & the Trooper, which shares many of the same vintage bits, has a very small aftermarket niche.
That being what it is, I can recommend stainless braid brake lines from www.independent4x.com
Rotors are a personal preference, but IMO, there has never been a brake pad found that surpasses stock Isuzu for stopping power, longevity of wear, & minimal brake dust.

Welcome to the forums...:thumbup:

Seems to me that you should table this topic until after you actually find the VX. I'm big on planning/budgeting upgrades well in advance too, but you just have so many unknowns that I would think it would be hard to plan. Find your VX so you know what needs immediate attention, get your loan worked out so you know how much cash you have at hand, then begin planning the actual purchases. Everybody's different, but I know I try to plan around both $$$ availability and necessity of replacement/upgrade. For example, if your VX has plenty of tread life left, you may decide to wait on wider tires and put upgraded brakes on instead. In the opposite situation you may decide to wait on shocks and brakes until you've upgraded tires and wheels. Again, so many unknowns to plan IMHO.

In the meantime I would dig around the forum (unless there are members who would be willing to post direct links in this thread) for some of the Japanese builds that people on the other side of the ocean have done. While most American mods seem to have centered around off-road capability, a lot of the Japanese examples I've seen on the web seem to be focused on improving on-road handling (lowering the body, mounting wider tires, etc.) which seems to be more your taste.

biggest concern is the OEM/stock replacements like weatherstrip and the like being available. If the parts have dried up then I will probably skip the whole deal.

If it's like my car, although only 6000 are out there there is enough 'common' parts to make due and the parts I cannot source I can fabricate.

How is the parts supply for things and is there any particular item that you need to make sure is intact?

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Originally Posted by alkemyst

biggest concern is the OEM/stock replacements like weatherstrip and the like being available. If the parts have dried up then I will probably skip the whole deal.
How is the parts supply for things and is there any particular item that you need to make sure is intact?

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If you have questions on availability of specific items, this is the man to call...:yes:

Need stock parts cheap with FREE freight?
1-800-727-8066 St. Charles Isuzu - ask for Merlin!

Generally speaking your biggest problem will be body parts, especially cladding. Metal body pieces can usually be repaired in a body shop, but damaged cladding usually has to be completely replaced (although I think some members have had success with hair dryers and the like). Even so, as you can see on eBay right now, junked VXs are becoming more and more available for parts harvesting, so it may not be a big deal. I'm a car nut too, and personally I kind of enjoy the challenge of tracking down more hard-to-find parts. But obviously you don't want that headache if you only have one vehicle.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by alkemyst

biggest concern is the OEM/stock replacements like weatherstrip and the like being available. If the parts have dried up then I will probably skip the whole deal.

If it's like my car, although only 6000 are out there there is enough 'common' parts to make due and the parts I cannot source I can fabricate.

How is the parts supply for things and is there any particular item that you need to make sure is intact?

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some are harder to find than others. weather stripping is not a concern. They did not have weather stripping made strictly for VX it is a common type and can be picked up everywhere. Even the rarest of cars wont have special weather stripping electric fittings etc. Not sure where you got that idea though

One of my family members took a loan out a while pack with penfed. Its really easy and usually the lowest rate you can get. I highly recommend it.

I think that many of us (if not all) lives with the fear that someday our rigs will be destroyed by a idiot behind their wheel down the road.

The Vx is a limited production and as a limited production the more the years runs by the less availaibily of parts/accesories will be more common.

If you love the idea of owning a VX go for it & just accept that it could be all over with the blink of a eye if you ever got involve in a unlikely situiation such as a crash;Just enjoy it as a much as possible & have fun with it.

The key here is care & maintainance,take care of it & your horse will return you the favor.

If you came along this way it means you really up to own one........Go get it :yeso:

cool...looking to do this soon. The thing that stinks and I just went through it in my 240sx is how the insurance wants to total it based on KBB values.

They ended up sending a special adjuster and pegged my car at 2 years of functional age or something like that. Paid out the $6k claim. The body parts and lights are very expensive (about the same as the VX according to the parts list).

That's always the scary part in building up a vehicle.

Just got to figure out if leaving the sports car arena is the right choice for me.