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Help me decide to buy it or leave it... (510 4door, KA swap)


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I've been looking for a new car for a while now, and now that I finally found a buyer for my MR2, I decided to contact a guy selling a 510 with a KA24DE swap. I talked to him on the phone for a few minutes today and he ran me through the history of the car. Apparently he is the third owner, and the previous owner bought it from an old lady then stripped it down and repainted it, then swapped in the KA from his 240sx  that he had just put an SR20 into. It has QA1 coilovers in the rear and sleeves in the front. The chassis looks great, (recent paint so its hard to tell until I see it in person), but the interior needs to be done, and gauges need to be wired up.

 

I'm not new to going through interiors and refreshing them, but its wiring up the gauges that is bothering me. Voltage, and water temp are simple enough, and I think I can figure out the tach,  but I'm not sure where to start with the speedometer. Would it be as simple as connecting a few wires to a sensor on the trans, or is there more to it? 

 

While I'm typing this out anyway, I suppose I might as well ask if there are any vendors or companies that sell a headliner? I found that there is a guy on here that sells, or at least used to sell carpet kits right here in San Jose, I would be talking to him if I did end up getting this car. 

 

Other than those things, I'm not really sure what else its going to need, if anyone here notices anything that stands out of the ad below, I'd greatly appreciate any tips. 

 

Here's the ad:  http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/3834272799.html  Maybe one one of the past owners was a member here.

 

 

 

A link to my long term project, for those interested: http://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/533303-machinists-project-thread-86-fj60-lots-pics.html

 

 

 

PS: Whoever drives an orange 510 4 door with a rising sun painted on the back door, and goes to DeAnza College in Cupertino, Ca, nice ride. I park near it when I can. :)

 

 

 

 

 

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thing seems pretty clean and looks mean but if it were me, I'd get a crappier 510 for cheaper and make it more unique to me.

 

the only reason i love cars is because of the way you can build em.

if you buy one that's almost done such as the one posted, not much fun.

 

but that view is bias.

 

butttt, it doesnt seem like a bad deal to me.

looks clean in the bay too!

 

 

AND HOLY SHIT I LOVE THAT FJ.

i see one walkin to school everyday. i want one sooo bad

 

good luck man  :thumbup:

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Headliners are available on ebay all day. Speedo... lots of options. Some just get a GPS speedo and call it a day. The stock speedo is mechanical. With the KA you'd need to get a signal from the sensor on the trans or.. ECU and then get a new gauge. There are other ways to go about it but I wouldn't let that stop you from getting the car. It's all been done before. It looks really clean. If you are comfortable with the price.. take a closer look. If it's all good, pull the trigger.

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thing seems pretty clean and looks mean but if it were me, I'd get a crappier 510 for cheaper and make it more unique to me.

 

the only reason i love cars is because of the way you can build em.

if you buy one that's almost done such as the one posted, not much fun.

 

but that view is bias.

 

butttt, it doesnt seem like a bad deal to me.

looks clean in the bay too!

 

 

AND HOLY SHIT I LOVE THAT FJ.

i see one walkin to school everyday. i want one sooo bad

 

good luck man  :thumbup:

Thanks for the compliment on the truck!  :D  

 

I would love to get a crappier one and build it up myself, but at this point I don't have a garage to work in, and I need a car I can drive everyday, (or at least a few days a week and rotate the FJ60 in here and there). I think there would still be enough little detail things to keep me busy for a while on this one, which in turn would make it fun, and generate an attachment to it. That was the problem with my MR2, I never did anything to it, and never got attached before the engine started showing its 201k miles. 

 

 

Headliners are available on ebay all day. Speedo... lots of options. Some just get a GPS speedo and call it a day. The stock speedo is mechanical. With the KA you'd need to get a signal from the sensor on the trans or.. ECU and then get a new gauge. There are other ways to go about it but I wouldn't let that stop you from getting the car. It's all been done before. It looks really clean. If you are comfortable with the price.. take a closer look. If it's all good, pull the trigger.

Putting new gauges in is the plan, probably not super expensive ones at first though. A GPS one would be cool, but they are a bit spendy, and possibly might not get a signal some of the places I go. I think one that's connected to the car is more fitting, especially on older cars. 

 

Thats the other thing I forgot to ask about in the OP, how does the asking price fall in what these cars are worth? Too much, too little, or about right?

 

 

Thanks for the quick replies BTW, I'm getting the impression that this is a pretty active page. 

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It's a somewhat active page.

a lot of people come on and it's friendly and supportive.

i love this place. haha. help me build my baby  :w00t:

 

well there's a jay leno spike where the cars went high up in price.

but from what i see, shells are worth 1k. a decent one that drives and has some problems 3.5k. and you know those that are great are like 7k-10k depending on mods. 

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Well.. for one it's in California. So the price is going to be higher.

 

Without seeing it in person and driving it I can't say for sure, it's a nice car and the KADE is a nice. I'd try to get it for maybe $6000.. or use that for the starting point. Id say it's worth $7200 with the interior done. But I'm from the NW.. 

 

 

Yes, this place is very active. All day.. All night(some threads).

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the gap on the trunk worries me. My 510's dont line up perfect but a hell of a lot better than that.

That's one of the reasons I'm weary of it. When I asked the guy about it, he told me that it was hit in the rear, (not sure if he said it was when the old lady owned it or the second owner), he told me that the second owner that did the paint "got it as straight as he could". You'll notice that the rear bumper is also slightly miss aligned with the body. 

 

The only way to know the extent of the damage would be to see it in person. 

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It looks good. But what worries me is that he says..." I'm in no rush to sell" ...... But then says,

"I have to sell by wed"??? Idk...

Looks nice and clean and you can finish it up while you drive it....

 

 

 

I think I over paid a bit on my dime but ESP with the stock l16, but its straight and interior is pretty much perfect. I could've just did the chrome(bumpers/tail lights..ect) and drive it as is but I pretty much changed everything and put almost what I brought the car for into it... But that's what's it's about.. Building "YOUR" car.... So if I have a few g's more into it when it's done, so be it. It'll be mine and exactly what I want and like.

Plus these cars are going up and up in value so if the time comes to sell, you should be ok if you put done more cash into it.

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