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I would look at old supras and other Japanese cars if i where you most old unmodded ones go with 2k to 5k. a lot of older camareo's fall within your price range. others to check out would be the MR2,dodge stealth, turbo honda etc. if you what to drift you are problay going to what limited slip diff.

sir i vote for the bmw's specially the m3. having been on an all american muscle cars, i think trying a european will give you excitement in driving it. besides bmw are very reliable and with the m3 sporty at the same time. hope this help.

>>older bmw's, nissan 240sx and 300zx, older mazda rx7's, older toyota supra's<< I wouldn't touch any of those with a 10' pole! All are expensive to work on, with exception being the 240. If you've got lots of money to throw around and don't mind spending it, your choice. I'd recommend staying with American made vehicles. For the most part, more user friendly, and a whole lot cheaper to repair. For what it's worth.....

Okay, have removed the spark plugs, tried to start it, made a slow awful grinding sound, stopped turning altogether. Put the plugs back in, connected everything, and... nothing new, tries a single slow rotation, cant and dies. Is there anything else it might be?

What you have just proven is that the engine is seizing. If the starter is good, then the engine is bad. Your bench test was not conclusive that the starter was good though.

And also why wouldn't the starter be good? I had it tested at o'reillys auto parts, why wouldn't that be conclusive? Any help would be appreciated

The test wouldn't be conclusive because it was tested with no load on it and putting a load on it can make all the difference in the world. Just because it can spin when it isn't turning anything doesn't mean it can crank and engine.

Apparently I misunderstood your problem. I thought I read that your car wouldn't crank even with a good battery.

Everything you are saying points to a bad starter.

Agree HT - strong guess on my part is starter is just weak so far and jumps helped but most people don't have good enough jump boxes or cables nor really should unless sure go right to starter and skip the battery out back bull.
That would better prove the starter is NG. 1985! I'd have that starter apart myself (brushes no good likely) also not DIY friendly for most,


T

Thanks very much for all the feedback guys, I appreciate it! Ill try and scrap together for a new starter and ohm test everything again, and check my grounding points and my amp delivery... Even if its not the starter its still good to put a new one on. that particular starter was used on the e30 starting at '79... who knows how long it sat around before being put in my car? Plus the car has over 300,000 miles on it, its probably due one anyway , I appreciate all the help guys, thanks a bunch. If i can get a new starter and get the car up and running, Ill definitely use this forum for any other repairs or concerns, Ill update again tomorrow night after most of the day with the car... no school, no nothing but us

I didn't go looking but suspect this starter is quite pricey. If up to it check out some YouTube or similar to see how you take one apart and bet you can still buy just brushes and clean this one up.
That or ask around if someone in your area does starter, alternators etc on site. Perhaps 90% of them will just need brushes, bearing checked and contacts cleaned up, lube areas and make them look new again for sale as rebuilt - you can do that.
Off the wall: The older the electric motor the better they were for the amount of metal and real copper used to the point you could machine them down but just "emory" cloth done well should do.
Brushes are like compressed charcoal brickette looking material things and ride on contacts pushed by spring - get sticky, too shiny or plain worn out. IDK, makes more sense when right there see what it does.
You can test one with a car power battery source on the bench or shop floor and watch them work but there's no load on it but do before putting it in then can know how much power it can do not just turn.
Takes some time. You'd be ticked paying a tech's rate vs whole already done ones except for real new ($$) they really want your old one back - note that!


T

Sorry I didn't get on yesterday like I promised guys, there was other stuff going on... Thanks for the tip!! I think that if i can hook up the battery and find that the starters at fault, Ill just buy a new one... I say this because the new starter isn't terribly priced: around 70$, and that it would be easier than to rip the old 30+ year starter apart and clean it (which I've never done in my life, and with my luck screw it up), plus then I have no garentee that it will work in the aftermath... It would take longer to rip apart the old one and clean it then to put a fresh new one back in, even if it will save me a couple bucks... Plus its an easier feeling starting up with a new one than a 30+ year old one lol. So, ill post this weekend on my findings, hopefully the starter is the culprit and the moderators can close down a tread they could have worked out in less than a day haha. Thanks for the posts everybody! If there are any other ideas, feel free to leave a comment!! Ill consider anything at this point

RESOLVED!!!
So, I got the new started a few weeks back, put it in and... nothing... The car had the same issue as before... So, i pulled my battery out and noticed that the sides were bulging out a little. I went to go get it tested and they put a real load on it and noticed it had possibly a broken or bad cell in it... WOW, this whole time... I guess that booster did some real damage to the battery as it was on for the ride home... I cant believe it was such a stupid easy fix lol, considering it didn't even cost me anything because i had a warranty on it because it is a BRAND NEW BATTERY lol... so, I just posted this to follow up on what had happened.. just maybe to help anybody out there with any similar problems. When I got home and threw the new one on, the car started no problem. I did notice it was backfiring pretty bad so I shut it off, checked my spark plug wire pattern and found i had mixed two... fixed it now and it runs like a dream! Ive learned loads during this problem, and im kinda angry it was such an easy fix. Thank you kindly for everybody that posted and tried to help, I really appreciate it. I will use this blog next time I have any other troubles. Thank you and god bless you if you have this same problem... its a weird thing to deal with and can be a load of problems.

Glad to read you got it resolved. Thank you for the follow up Thread closed as solved. Can be reopened upon request by the OP.

First off testing from these type parts outlets prove nothing IMO. You've said it tries to crank just barely now say it idles fine? Now I'm confused enough.
IDK - I totally prefer testing a starter on the engine with that engine with known good power to it. Jumper cables and boxes are not reliable unless you absolutely know cable are up to it and connected where they have to deliver power (AMPS) to a starter.


What's really going on? Have you messed up installing the starter and was the POS cable to it in good shape there?
Pretty sure this runs heavy gauge real copper POS battery cable right to starter and used body for ground and another cable grounding body to engine block. All must be known good.
So if this engine now can run properly however you got it started this is slowly ruling out a tight engine from seizing but could easily test for voltage drops alone both at battery and again what it reads at starter while cranking if it drops below about 9V you have a huge draw, bad battery, cables, connections..........


T

Im confused then, if it idles perfectly, and runs okay... then how could the engine be bad if the car just has a terrible time trying to crank? is there anything else i can look at or anything else that would make sense to try?

hmm... okay, ill take a wack at it after school tomorrow, thanks man, Im curious at what this will test.