1991 Civic - not running, easy(ish) fix. Worth the buy?

[reichbc]

This woman is selling a 1991 Civic for $525. She says that it doesn't run because "the timing belt blew out, and when it did, it warped all the valves in the engine."

I'm going to look at the car tomorrow, but based on the community's experience, would this be a worthy buy?

I don't yet know how many miles are on it, but to be honest, I'm not too concerned. It's just going to be a beater till I get mine repaired.

Thanks, all.

 

[AlaskaB16]

IMO, $525 is WAY too much to pay for a non running 91 anything. Depending on what things go for in your area though, maybe it's worth it? ... Though now that I think about it, I guess it depends on over all condition for me to say if that price makes sense or not.

Anyway, on the problem at hand. I find it unlikely there is valve damage. People that haven't a clue about cars always think they know something. And if there is... It's not that expensive to replace any that are bad. I think exhaust valves are like $8/ea and intake valves are $6 ish. I checked because the ones for my 90 EE4 were SUPER caked up and I wanted to buy new ones. Except there weren't any local to me so I just wire brushed them clean and stuck them back in. Worked like a champ. I would say go just expecting to fix timing and welcome your new DD to the family

 

[reichbc]

I went and looked at the car. It's in VERY good condition, zero damage, no faded paint... etc.
144K miles.

I paid her 500 for it and made off with the car.

I'm at home looking in the engine right now - the timing belt is INTACT, and I don't see anything wrong with the valves, at least from what I've taken apart so far. I'm still disassembling the head to see if there's any actual damage.

Thanks, Alaska.