Good Deal or Not for this Eclipse?

There's a guy selling a 1991 GSX with a Auto trans around where i live and i was wondering if it would be a good deal or not if i bought it. It has a few problems, it has a bad starter (could be a sales tactic or somethin since it supposedly broke about an hour before i was gong to look at it when he tried to start it. i would have to buy the car with out being able to start it) and it has somekind of balancer shaft belt problem. I dont know what a balancer shaft belt is exactly since im still learning about cars, but replacing the starter is something i could do pretty easily, and i assume i could get a shop to replace the belt for not too much.
The chassis has like 200k miles on it and the motor has about 100k on it and before the starter broke he said it ran good accept for some vibration because of the broken belt.

He wants $1,000, but now that the starter doesnt work i could probably get it for, like $400 or so.

I would definitely prefer a 5speed but for this price do you guys think it would be a good deal?

Thanks

Hmmm... It kinda sounds like the guy is trying to play you. If you want to check and see if it really is a belt like he is saying and not the balancing shaft itself, then flush the oil. My brother got one with a bad balancing shaft and the bearing was in the oil pan with a lot of little metal shavings. The starter thing sounds like a cover too. You might just want to wait for another opportunity because once you've changed the belts in a car like that you don't really want to do it again. I got the pleasure of doing a few while the engines were out though.

Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, but for $400 how can you go wrong. Tell him to get the starter replaced, and prove it runs before you buy it. DO NOT pay any more than $500 if he dosn't want to get it in running condition.

One other thing i remembered is that he told me that he recently replaced the motor with one from a different GSX eclipse of the same year.

But on the other hand i was just offered to buy a early '90s Ford Probe GT turbo for $300. With just a few hundred and some free mods i believe i know how to make either of these cars run mid 13's (my goal for a daily driver).
The Probe GT blocks supposedly spit at anything more than 300whp though so i dont know.