enderx475

A very, very tasty SC300 with 2JZ-GTE, 5MT, and single turbo swap is being sold, but remotely. Does anyone know of a good shop in the Chicago area I can get this car inspected? Any tips for buying a car remotely?

HiPSI

iTrader: (2)

Remotely?

If you mean sight unseen then I would hesitate and fly into chicago to see it in person before sending any funds.

enderx475

That's right, I live down in Austin TX.

Thanks for your input!

CatManD3W

iTrader: (18)

Post some pics up for us....and I would suggest what HiPSI said......get yourself a plane ticket

eknine9

iTrader: (8)

This.
I wouldn't do it sight unseen unless I already knew somebody I trusted to look at it. I wouldn't even take recommendations. Any swapped car can be an absolute gremlin if the swap was done wrong.

Ramblerman

Maybe OldManTan could take a look @ it for you, I believe he 's in the Chicago area.

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

Without a doubt it needs to be seen in person by you or someone you know personally and trust who is knowledgeable about SC's and MKIV's before committing financially. There are so many reasons for this. Hopefully it will be a swap car done the right way but this must be verified in person.

Studiogeek

iTrader: (6)

^ Only idea I'd trust ^

myLEXsc400 is also in Chicago and they both know the cars inside and out. See who is able to do it. If they can't, I'd make a thread asking who is close by. Offer some bread to go check the car out for you.

enderx475

Thank you all for your input again.

I posted up a thread on the Chicago forum: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/chi...mendation.html

No response really though. I will get in touch directly with myLEXsc400 and OldManTan. A flight is a great idea but it's very tough for me to find time to do that. Plus, I am far from an expert so I think my money would be better spent on getting one of these gents to take a look or just paying for a PPI.

He sent me a few vids of the car running: https://drive.google.com/folderview?...1E&usp=sharing

It's actually been up for sale here before (2014): https://www.clublexus.com/forums/lex...-bbs-rims.html

I think this is the same car (2011): http://www.i-club.com/forums/norcal-...2jzgte-259050/

And back when it was stock and being sold by the original owner in 2006: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/lex...way-miles.html

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

seems like no on can hold on to it. looks cleanish, wonder why the miles are not listed. I think by now if the swap was done badly someone would have disclosed it, but hard to say. looks like its mostly right.
I would double check that it is indeed an original RS car via the color codes, which it probably is.
Pls remove the craigslist links per the rules, you can leave the clublexus ones up, thanks

enderx475

Removed.

The miles are pretty far up there. The last link I posted is the sale from the original owner around 2006 where it had like 215k. The pics are still up! Seems to have had the swap done sometime between then and 2011 so the chassis mileage is probably around 250 and the drivetrain 30-40k miles maybe.

SickSC3

iTrader: (3)

I live in the Chicago land area and I know spracingonline.com are extreamly knowledgable about 2jz swaps. Other wise your best bet is to fly out and take a look at it. Did not know that RSP SC made it up here. GL

LoveSCs

iTrader: (2)

The one thing that I would say is to make sure that it will pass your local inspection. The fact that it is 97 (OBD 2) wouldn't fly here in my area with that swap and AEM standalone. Very nice car though, and attractive price

mikef

iTrader: (3)

[QUOTE=LoveSCs;9048403]The one thing that I would say is to make sure that it will pass your local inspection. The fact that it is 97 (OBD 2) wouldn't fly here in my area with that swap and AEM standalone. Very nice car though, and attractive price[/Q

he can just keep it registered in another state if anything but the truth I would pass on this car because of how many times it was for sale lol

eknine9

iTrader: (8)

It'll pass Texas inspection.
Rules for Motor swaps here are pretty lax.

Kind of hilarious how many times this car changes hands. I'm kind of wondering if something happened to the dash. In the i-drive thread you can see all of the wood panels and center console panel are CF wrapped. Except the passenger side dash wood panel is bare... I can't imagine it was originally installed like that, so I'm wondering what happened.

Did the passenger airbag deploy? Would that have necessitated replacing the wood dash panel?

I also checked out the craigslist ad for the car now.
Seems the guy downgraded from 97+ tails to 95-96 tails, and swapped the wingless trunk for one with a spoiler, wonder why he did that? Have you run a VIN report to see if the car was involved in an accident? He also seems to have mixed in some pictures from the idrive FS thread with his own FS thread so there are no new pictures showing a certain section of the front bumper. It's possible he may be hiding some front end damage or a cracked/discolored high beam, or maybe it's nothing. He also seems to have stripped the CF wrap and repainted it black, which is fine.

Still has the same CA plates on it that the guy who bought it in 2011 put on the car when he had it for sale in 2014, Only 30 days to register the vehicle in IL, so either he bought it very recently, or he's floating the title to you... which means in TX if the previous owner signed and dated the title you may be subject to late fees and back taxes as the Ca owner would be on the title as the last previous owner and it would date the transaction as whenever it was sold to the guy in Chicago. Also the dude who bought it in 2011 seems to have done all of the recent major work just from checking his posts on CL. At least he did the front main seal in 2011, and probably was the one who did the rest of the engine seals and coolant lines and fluids. I doubt the current owner has touched any of that stuff. Seems like all he's done is bought it and had it singled by sound performance and now it's for sale.

But what has me thinking accident are NEW front upper control arms. Those almost NEVER need to be replaced on this car, so that makes me even more suspicious that it may have been in an accident. Especially since there's no mention of going aftermarket.

I'm not saying its bad, there's just a lot of warning signs on this ad. Like why didn't he get it titled in IL yet? Is he trying to flip it? It was for sale for $5k less 1 year ago, did he buy it much cheaper thinking he could turn a profit? Why swap the trunk and tail-lights? Why use old pictures of the front, and have no new pictures of the driver side high beam and bumper around the high beam? Why replace the upper control arms? Why sell it so fast after buying it from CA? Seller needs to be able to offer very satisfying answers for all of those questions before I'd consider it. as much as I love that color, I imagine the paint isn't in great shape. CA owner mentioned oxidation on roof and trunk (maybe that's why new trunk), and scratches on front bumper along with rock chips, I'm sure the exterior hasn't gotten much better, aside from a possible improvement to trunk.

Also strange he''s got video's of it running, but not of it driving, or of the dash while the motors on. Are there CEL codes, Air bag codes, ABS codes, is the oil pressure light stuck on, etc etc?