Is this S13 a good buy?

[RWDJohn]

Hello everyone, I have thought about owning an S13 for roughly 4 years now but have been a fan of them ever since my childhood days. A little bit of info about me:
I am 18, turning 19 in one month and I own two cars. My summer car is my 1990 Mazda Miata and my "winter car" is a 1995 Acura Integra LS (Auto). Since I am off of school for 4 months I have considered buying an S13 Project while I have the time to work on the big mods and work on smaller mods when I am in school. Here is my issue, I need to drive this car in the winter because I would be selling my integra. I have checked the classifieds for 240s within Ontario almost every day and they all have something in common, RUST! The rust free examples need a new paint job and still have the stock KA. Rust is bound to happen on a 25 year old car and it wouldn't feel right buying a rust free 240SX and driving it in the winter. I know that RWD isn't the BEST for winter but my work and school are 10 minutes apart from me so on harsh days I can take the bus or take a different car in the driveway.

2 years ago I inquired about an S13 (1992 Red w/ VLSD, Cruise, etc.) that was owned by one of the mechanics that my parents frequent. I was told it was not for sale. The owner put all of his time into the motor and no time into the body. It was recently listed for sale and I went to check it out. It has a Blacktop SR20 from an S13 and a fairly new Stage 2 Exedy Clutch. It was converted to a manual and the body has about 200,000KM. The interior is super clean and nothing is missing. All gaskets were replaced before it was installed and had about 70k on it. Not sure of the Kms now but I would be doing a compression test before buying regardless. Extra bits that he will throw in are an HKS BOV, FMIC (Already installed), rust free fenders, circuit sport oil filter relocation kit (already installed). Apparently the car had sat for about a month and I was the first to view the car. Cold start, didn't notice any issues and it fired right up. After 5ish minutes the idle dropped a bit but went back up. 2 minutes later it happened again but this time stalled out. Should I be worried about this? After starting it again it ran without any issues. My other concern is there was no coolant reservoir tank. I find that to be a big NO but maybe I am worrying too much? He said that he hasn't had any overheating issues. I also didn't notice a boost gauge or any of the typical gauges you may see with an SR20 swap. He also had plans to build the SR20 so he said the bottom end is good for roughly 300-350. Didn't go too much into detail with that though.

Now onto the body:
I can include some pictures soon but I only got pictures of the underbody. The body looked very straight minus what looked to be a small bondo job near the driver side rear (far left of taillights. There was some rust starting on the rear quarter on the passenger side (have a picture) and a small rust spot on the driver side windshield corner (bottom). The rockers weren't completely rotter through but there was bubbling starting on the bottom of them. Frame Rail was rusted in it's usual spot (Front near down pipe) but still had it's shape and felt pretty solid. All of the S13s I have seen has this issue. There is a fist-sized whole in the floor near the backseats. Will probably need a new exhaust because it's completely coated with rust. The strut towers are clean and the trunk floor is clean as well. The worst of it is the hatch. No saving that lol. I found a hatch for a good price that is the same colour. Car will probably need a new paint job but it's not HORRIBLE.

So, Pros and Cons:

PROS
- VLSD
- Clean Interior
- Straight body
- Stance Coilovers w/ Camber Plates
- FMIC
- Extra spare parts
- Strong SR20 (So I think)
- Good Brakes

CONS
- Frame, Underbody rust
- Speedo not working but will include lower WS harness and that will supposedly fix that issue
- No Coolant Reservoir tank (which worries me)
- Auto brake pedal (Will need to be trimmed or replaced)
- Power Steering pump is going

That's all I can think of right now. Not sure if I am allowed to post exact price or anything but let's just say around $4000CAD (About $3000USD).

I know it needs work but I would prefer a body that isn't perfect with a strong SR20 that I can still daily rather than buying a clean shell or clean 240SX for a lot more and driving it in the winter. I don't expect the shell to last me more than 3 years after patch jobs but I may find a clean shell later on and swap everything over. The car will never be perfect and isn't suppose to be a show car. I want a fun, enjoyable car that I can learn body work and engine work on. And before anyone asks, my intentions are not to beat on it or turn it into some drift missile. Sorry for the super long post but if there are any questions that you would like me to answer just post them down below. I will even consider other suggestions like buying a stock 240 and doing the swap myself but this one seems to be the best "bang for my buck" even though it still needs work.

[economix]

If you plan to drive this in the winter, maybe look for another car. S13 frame rail/unibody design rusts badly under the driver side between the engine and firewall - triple check that area.

However, it's not a good car in the winter, not remotely. Low ride height, low weight, RWD, nothing good about it for those of us who live in snowy areas.

[Zenkipowered]

Rusted out rails is a huge issue here in utah, so what economix said