Considering buying an SC400, asking the experts before jumping.
11-15-13, 10:11 PM
#16
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Went and looked at an SC400 today. Friend of mine owns a used car lot. Anyhow he's asking $1800 for the car.
It has 206k on it, motor runs like a champ, transmission shifts smoothly, doesn't leak anything, doesn't smoke, nothing. It is extremely comfortable to drive, it's been gone over and has new control arm bushings, brakes, brake lines and anything else that seemed to be in need of replacing. It's black and the clear coat, primarily on the hood is peeling so it needs a paint job, and the headlights are fogged, which should be a simple polishing. Body has no rot, undercarrige is in good shape. It was very fun to drive.
The negatives on the car are the cluster doesn't work and the readout for the heat and what not is 50% black, I'm not sure if that screen is replaceable by itself? And of course the miles. I just feel like those are going to be a pain in the ***, lol.
What would your opinions be? Is it worth this price? What might I be getting myself into? How hard is it to come by aftermarket support? I have some photos I can upload if that would help. This car will mainly be driven by my girlfriend however I'm already aquainted with working on Japanese cars as I have an SR20 240, a 3000 VR4 and a Dodge Stealth.
thanks,
Matt
It has 206k on it, motor runs like a champ, transmission shifts smoothly, doesn't leak anything, doesn't smoke, nothing. It is extremely comfortable to drive, it's been gone over and has new control arm bushings, brakes, brake lines and anything else that seemed to be in need of replacing. It's black and the clear coat, primarily on the hood is peeling so it needs a paint job, and the headlights are fogged, which should be a simple polishing. Body has no rot, undercarrige is in good shape. It was very fun to drive.
The negatives on the car are the cluster doesn't work and the readout for the heat and what not is 50% black, I'm not sure if that screen is replaceable by itself? And of course the miles. I just feel like those are going to be a pain in the ***, lol.
What would your opinions be? Is it worth this price? What might I be getting myself into? How hard is it to come by aftermarket support? I have some photos I can upload if that would help. This car will mainly be driven by my girlfriend however I'm already aquainted with working on Japanese cars as I have an SR20 240, a 3000 VR4 and a Dodge Stealth.
thanks,
Matt
Aftermarket support ifor us is exhaust, a Bfi and either swapping in a gte motor, or sourcing a turbo kit for your 1uz. Otherwise you spend a whole lot of money with very little return on investment building n/a
11-15-13, 10:14 PM
#17
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for that price grab it. i want a cheap 400 one day. your gf will probably like it. most ladies love lexus. the one smiling at it in the pic does, and that's without a paintjob. 
it'll be a nice 4 cam v8 Japanese muscle car to add to your line up of sports cars, it wil last a very long time if maintained. new bushings are already plus.
cluster is fixable and common problem. you can send it in to some places like lextech and they will fix it better than oem with chice of color . lots more info on it here on CL as is most of everything else.
i agree the paint is going but becarefull of places like maaco. they dont mask well and have the signature overspray with cheap paint.
it'll be a nice 4 cam v8 Japanese muscle car to add to your line up of sports cars, it wil last a very long time if maintained. new bushings are already plus.
cluster is fixable and common problem. you can send it in to some places like lextech and they will fix it better than oem with chice of color . lots more info on it here on CL as is most of everything else.
i agree the paint is going but becarefull of places like maaco. they dont mask well and have the signature overspray with cheap paint.
Last edited by SCstone; 11-15-13 at 10:19 PM.
11-15-13, 11:39 PM
#18
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LOL the girl in the photo is the girlfriend, she's actually good looking although the photo seems otherwise haha.
The V8 would stay in there indefinitely. When she's done with it and moves on it would get a manual swap and become a drift car to pair along side my 240 haha. I've already looked that up with the adapter plate to run the 2jz trans, but thats long down the future. This V8 sounds wild with an exhaust system. Honestly I wasn't super super impressed with the horsepower but it's torquey and smooth. It's rare a stock car puts a smile on my face but this thing was cool to drive.
And also I'd like to add that for my first noob post on a forum, the community here seems to be tight nit and positive about their cars of which I enjoy about owning 3000GTs. The 240 community about 50% sucks but I love the car and I have a good few 240 friends.
Matt
The V8 would stay in there indefinitely. When she's done with it and moves on it would get a manual swap and become a drift car to pair along side my 240 haha. I've already looked that up with the adapter plate to run the 2jz trans, but thats long down the future. This V8 sounds wild with an exhaust system. Honestly I wasn't super super impressed with the horsepower but it's torquey and smooth. It's rare a stock car puts a smile on my face but this thing was cool to drive.
And also I'd like to add that for my first noob post on a forum, the community here seems to be tight nit and positive about their cars of which I enjoy about owning 3000GTs. The 240 community about 50% sucks but I love the car and I have a good few 240 friends.
Matt
11-16-13, 09:39 AM
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I'm not stressed about paint, for my gf it'd probably get a lip, paint, wheels, and some lighting. She loves purple so I was actually thinking of painting it a really really deep rich purple or a black with like a dark purple pearl...ya know if we go with a quality paint job lol.
I'm just glad to see most of you over the 200k mark and still loving your cars.
As long as the body is straight, paint isn't the worlds biggest problem lol
I'm just glad to see most of you over the 200k mark and still loving your cars.
As long as the body is straight, paint isn't the worlds biggest problem lol
11-16-13, 02:53 PM
#22
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anyways she obviously likes it and it caught your eye so do yourself a favor. if you have the money, get it.
11-16-13, 03:05 PM
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Well actually she had a 99 eclipse and she got into an accident. Insurance gave her way too much money for it so she'll probably be buying it herself. I just want a part in it so I can do fun things and have an excuse to open the throttle sometimes haha.
11-16-13, 03:27 PM
#24
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hearing that you will be sharing it, bpu. intake and exhaust and top maintenence. maybe paint when you have the extra money. wheels and drop if your into that kind of thing. the v8 1uz sounds so awesome without oem exhaust. she might complain a bit but deep down its hard not to like that v8 rumble but most ladies dont care about such things but she had an eclipse so hopefully wont mind a little performance. I would love to have one to mess with the domestic v8 guys.
11-16-13, 05:32 PM
#25
I'm extremely good at soldering, I actually work at a hobby shop and I have a side buisness making custom LED light kits for r/c cars as well as I've replaced capacitors on several 3000GT ecus.
The car is a 1993.
And again it's from a good friend of mine, he has a car lot and junkyard together and every year he lets me use a car for free to do a demolition derby. Really quite good friends.
Pictures in next post.
The car is a 1993.
And again it's from a good friend of mine, he has a car lot and junkyard together and every year he lets me use a car for free to do a demolition derby. Really quite good friends.
Pictures in next post.
$1800 is a very good price for that mileage if everything you've disclosed is everything that is wrong with it.
11-22-13, 06:41 PM
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Well it didn't take long for the problems to begin! Having an incredibly hard time starting the car when cold. Car cranks and cranks and eventually fires. Usually on a few cylinders and then cleans out and fires on all eight. Definitely spark and not fuel since you can see the soot out the tail pipes when it finally does start running. Once it's running it's perfect. And it hot starts fine.
I'm going to change the plugs tomorrow and check the wire health. Then I guess the next logical step is to locate and check the cold start valve. I assume the cold start valve allows extra fuel flow on cold starts? Since I'm fairly sure the issue is spark related and not fuel related I don't see why this would be the problem.
Matt
I'm going to change the plugs tomorrow and check the wire health. Then I guess the next logical step is to locate and check the cold start valve. I assume the cold start valve allows extra fuel flow on cold starts? Since I'm fairly sure the issue is spark related and not fuel related I don't see why this would be the problem.
Matt