Craigslist Scam help. (SoCal)

[PANDAemic]

So I'm trying to find a new daily and I need one ASAP and I've seen this guy post up quite a few ads (about 3-4 in a timespan of a week) and it's kind of got me sketched out. The link to his ad can be found here.

Has anybody checked out the car at all? I called him a few times with no answer and when he finally did answer he said there was no problems and started listing things that has been done to it. I kind of think this is a little too good to be true.

I'm planning on checking out the car later today (Friday 4/20) and I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

Thoughts?

[cali_love]

bring someone that know about cars... take your time and dont rush brah.. with that price you can get something more better and cleaner

[PANDAemic]

Originally Posted by cali_love

bring someone that know about cars... take your time and dont rush brah.. with that price you can get something more better and cleaner

Yea, I'm bringing one of my close friends, He helped me get out of a really bad deal. I was going to buy a S13 coupe with a blacktop SR20 but turns out the seller had rod knocking and a dead turbo, if it wasn't for him, I'd be stuck with a dead car...

[LOUD240]

that car looks pretty beat , just another poorly modded car , modded by a kid who knows nothing. id pass that car

[CoupedupRB]

That car is to good to be true?? Looks like a hunk of crap to me.

[Reexx13]

that looks like a pos..i wouldnt buy that if i were you..especially for that price? lol

[jamg]

the car is a piece of shiet, dont bother with it.

[DJ-of-E]

Originally Posted by PANDAemic

Yea, I'm bringing one of my close friends, He helped me get out of a really bad deal. I was going to buy a S13 coupe with a blacktop SR20 but turns out the seller had rod knocking and a dead turbo, if it wasn't for him, I'd be stuck with a dead car...

If you're looking at $3000 cars for a daily, don't bother looking for an SR20 installed car, ESPECIALLY if you live in California.

For $3000, you get a much cleaner car that this car (which looked like he "had" a front end collision from the photos).

[PANDAemic]

Originally Posted by DJ-of-E

If you're looking at $3000 cars for a daily, don't bother looking for an SR20 installed car, ESPECIALLY if you live in California.

For $3000, you get a much cleaner car that this car (which looked like he "had" a front end collision from the photos).

I dailied a CA18 perfectly fine. I've never heard of anybody ever getting there hoods checked unless they were being super stupid about it. Gas was also not a problem.

I currently only have around 2500 so I was planning on buying this for 2500, parting out the kouki tails, hood, and the other random mods to make some extra cash. I don't mind how beat up it is.

EDIT: Also I'm only considering this because I'm in need of a car ASAP due to family problems. I've been looking for a car for about 4 months now. I got a lot of good offers but most of them are in San Diego and I currently don't drive anything...

[DJ-of-E]

Originally Posted by PANDAemic

I dailied a CA18 perfectly fine. I've never heard of anybody ever getting there hoods checked unless they were being super stupid about it. Gas was also not a problem.

I currently only have around 2500 so I was planning on buying this for 2500, parting out the kouki tails, hood, and the other random mods to make some extra cash. I don't mind how beat up it is.

EDIT: Also I'm only considering this because I'm in need of a car ASAP due to family problems. I've been looking for a car for about 4 months now. I got a lot of good offers but most of them are in San Diego and I currently don't drive anything...

no, but the fact that this will be a daily driver, you wiuld want to buy something with least amount of defects or downtime possible. It's really expensive if you needs parts right away instead of being patient for looking for parts cheap.

What confuses me the most is when u mentioned u dailied ca18 and now you own or drive any other car. What happened to your other car? Financial? Accident?

[PANDAemic]

Well I crashed my CA, not because I was doing stupid shit but because I forgot to do one really important thing when I bought my car, get my brakes bled and redone. I parted most of it out and everything is long gone.

So I ended up buying the car because I got it for what I think is a good deal. I bought it for 2300 and the just took of the two 10" bazooka subs. I originally offered him 2500. In reallity I'm only paying 1900 for it because my friend wants to buy the kouki tails off me and I could use the extra cash, I can get the kouki's another time.

This owner isn't the original owner, he was some old black dude that goes to police auctions and buys impounded cars. He said the story for this car was the owner tried entering Irwindale raceway on a suspended liscence and got his car impounded. As you can assume this guy was a wanna-be drifter, drifting on a single cam... I'm pretty sure the owner goes on Zilvia and I just happen to buy his car. If he wants it back we can work out a deal I guess.

As for the people who said this car has been in an accident, spot on. Still a clean title but the left headlight is a little caved inwards, I'm going to just hammer it out with a mallet, or at least try to. Won't be perfect but whatever.

The car itself is in pretty good shape. On papers the car said it was 195k miles in 2001 but from what the engine looks like in person it seems to have been rebuilt. I don't plan on keeping the single cam so as long as it gets me to point a to point b. The one thing that scares me to death is actually driving the car and braking. the car has 5 lug hubs but when the car brakes I start swerving. Not all the time, but still, this is an issue. In the following weeks, I'm just going to have a few friends over and help me figure out whats causing what. I know theres a power steering leak for sure and theres also a few other minor things I need to get check out. If anybody in the Buena Park area wants to help out, hit me up, I'm always looking for more S-chassis enthusiasts in my area.

Future plans? Get an SR swap, paint, the usual stuff. I'm not made out of money but money and time is not an issue. I may be daily'ing this but I don't drive a lot, only to work and back (I work part time so not often).

I think I got a good deal in the long run. If you think otherwise the whatever, not your car, not your problem.

This kind of feels like a build thread now...
I'll get pics of everything up soon.

EDIT: Can anybody identify the front wheel? I know the rears are G35 wheels.

[DJ-of-E]

If your car drives perfectly straight and only swerves to a direction while braking, you just need to do the brakes. I suggest the following in order:

1) Remove the brakes to inspect if pads, hardware, boots, etc looks like good condition
2) Check the pads and rotors, you may need to replace both (just do it cheap with autozone for now since you won't be driving hard)
3) Flush the old brake fluid and put in new brake fluid

If your car swerves to a direction while driving, then you may have a suspension issue. Take it to a reputable alignment shop and they'll tell you exactly what's going on underneath your car.

[PANDAemic]

Yea, I asked a friend about it. He said it's either most likely I need to get new rotars because my current are warped or I might need a new brake setup.