carfax

RobLupella · **Posted:** Fri Jun 01, 2007 12:35 pm

Graham Jagger wrote:

MikeWhitney wrote:

Sent.

1990 TOYOTA CELICA GT
JT2ST87N8L0015715
LIFTBACK 3 DR
2.2L L4 FI / FRONT WHEEL DRIVE

So you leave the house in the morning, and in the garage is a ZO6 and a clapped out hooptie 1990 Celica. And you'll say, "hmm, should I take the 400HP Corvette or the 110 HP on-a-good-day Toyota that is the envy of, well, no one?". I know what my answer would be...

(truth be told though once in a while I drive the $1000 Subaru instead of the M3 or the 540i just because I like to slum on occasion)

History looks good, been a NC car all its life. Well good except this one:

09/15/1991 North Carolina
Police Report
Glenwood, NC Accident Reported
Involving a rear impact
or collision

Probably couldn't accelerate fast enough from a stop light and was rear-ended by an accelerating school bus or something.

Thanks Mike!

No worry on the morning decision. I'd take the Z06 everyday. Right now I need to work on it and need transportation. This has forced me to get a beater sooner than later. That was the plan anyway.

As far as the car goes. I drove it last night. I think I could take a school bus from a stop light. As long as my reaction time was quicker and the school bus was loaded with kids. The extra weight in it would give me just enough edge. :lol:

Talk about the anti-vette. The drive wheels are at the wrong end of the car, it has no torque, well ok maybe 1 torque, a bit of hp hiding somewhere around 4Krpm, and half the cylinders a real car should have.

But wait! It gets even better. The car is Plum Purple! With no clear coat, so it is flat and dull purple. Looks like my old 70 Challenger did. It even makes Hawaiian Orchid look good... :wink:

It has nice 15" mid-90s Corolla GT rims in good shape which just makes it look even sillier. All it needs is a $50 aluminum wing off Fleebay installed and it would be the rice bomb of the club :oops:

The current owner bought it that way and never got around to painting it. And he's in his late 30s... I think drugs are involved here...

So the poor little car has a nice shape to it. Needs the front bumper cover fixed in 1 corner. It's begging for a decent paint job in ANY color but that. Hell, I thought about getting a bottle of Vodka, half dozen cans of Rustoleum, and doing it in my yard and still have it look better than it is.

Mechanically he has been through the engine, trans, brakes, etc... and replaced a lot of stuff. The only thing he told me that is bad is it burns a quart of oil about every 2 tanks of gas, so roughly 800 miles or so.

Scott, Arron, help me out here Toyota guys. Is there anything in particular I should be looking at on this car? It seems to run fine but I don't know any specifics to look for beyond any general stuff you check for.

Krylon is better than rustoleum ;-)

You also need to add a set of spinners and a subwoofer

Todd Breakey · **Posted:** Fri Jun 01, 2007 1:45 pm

Graham Jagger wrote:

Scott, Arron, help me out here Toyota guys. Is there anything in particular I should be looking at on this car? It seems to run fine but I don't know any specifics to look for beyond any general stuff you check for.

Graham,

Rebecca and I had an 88 Celica for several years. It was a bullet proof car. I wasn't as mechanically inclined back then and used to beat on cars pretty hard without doing much maintenance. I couldn't kill that car. Some 16 year old punk managed to kill it within a couple of months of buying it off of us though.

There are times that I wish I had kept that car and made it into a track car. It would have been fun there.

Graham Jagger · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 12:53 am **Posts:** 1718

Thanks Todd.

He bought it with 130K on it. It leaked oil. So he went through the engine. Pulled the front off it and oil pan. Replaced the timing belt, oil pump, all o-rings and seals and gaskets he could find. Then replaced the radiator and all heater hoses etc. It doesn't leak or overheat. The A/C was serviced and it works fine. Starts right up, throws out a puff of smoke and then you don't see anymore and you can't smell any oil burning. He also replaced the clutch and brakes at that time. So he's dumped a bunch of money in it and has reciepts to prove it. Motor has 200K on it. Other than burning oil and 1 pop-up headlight that doesn't retract it seems to run fine. Tracks true when you drive it.

My gut feeling is that the car should be dependable for just commuting purposes. And it makes a spare so I can work on my car or Ann's without having to worry about being done by Sunday evening. I doubt I would take it on any long trips.

A little suspension work, better brake pads, tires and it might even be a fun AX car.

RobLupella · **Posted:** Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:45 pm

Graham Jagger wrote:

Thanks Todd.

He bought it with 130K on it. It leaked oil. So he went through the engine. Pulled the front off it and oil pan. Replaced the timing belt, oil pump, all o-rings and seals and gaskets he could find. Then replaced the radiator and all heater hoses etc. It doesn't leak or overheat. The A/C was serviced and it works fine. Starts right up, throws out a puff of smoke and then you don't see anymore and you can't smell any oil burning. He also replaced the clutch and brakes at that time. So he's dumped a bunch of money in it and has reciepts to prove it. Motor has 200K on it. Other than burning oil and 1 pop-up headlight that doesn't retract it seems to run fine. Tracks true when you drive it.

My gut feeling is that the car should be dependable for just commuting purposes. And it makes a spare so I can work on my car or Ann's without having to worry about being done by Sunday evening. I doubt I would take it on any long trips.

A little suspension work, better brake pads, tires and it might even be a fun AX car.

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/f17

Wes Eargle · **Joined:** Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:47 am **Posts:** 3683

Graham Jagger wrote:

snip

Even Ryan doesn't rationalize that much.

Quote:

A little suspension work, better brake pads, tires and it might even be a fun AX car.

If you couldn't drive a Corvette fast ...

:wink:

Chuck Branscomb · **Posted:** Sat Jun 02, 2007 9:32 am

Mike,

Hoping your window hasn't closed yet...

WBADR6346YGN91394

Thanks,
Chuck

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Chuck Branscomb wrote:

Mike,

Hoping your window hasn't closed yet...

WBADR6346YGN91394

Thanks,
Chuck

Sent.

2000 BMW 540ITA
WBADR6346YGN91394
STATION WAGON
4.4L V8 FI DOHC / REAR WHEEL DRIVE

Not bad. Was in WA/ID for most of its life. 2nd owner bought an extended warranty for it. Got good service history? I'm starting to understand how important that is for higher mileage BMWs. If none of the weak points have been addressed it can get really pricey near 100k if you don't do all the work yourself.

I also wonder about this:

07/30/2003 29,374 Auto Auction Sold at auction
in Pacific Northwest Region
Listed as
a fleet vehicle

Typically a 30k mile car returned off lease will get CPOed if there's nothing wrong with it. In past experience, if it goes to auction instead of CPO you may never know why the dealer "passed" on the opportunity

Fortunately it's relatively close and you could inspect it.

Chuck Branscomb · **Posted:** Sat Jun 02, 2007 7:07 pm

Thanks Mike! I'm guessing this one has some crash history not on Carfax given the 12k asking price...that would fit with the auction you mentioned too.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Chuck Branscomb wrote:

Thanks Mike! I'm guessing this one has some crash history not on Carfax given the 12k asking price...that would fit with the auction you mentioned too.

BTW, Brian Marks was over at my house today and sweet fricking jebus is his 540iT nice. I drove it and i swear it feels 1000 lb smaller than my car. He's got me thinking all $ort$ of bad idea$ about the suspension and other things on my car. I want it to feel like his.

Chuck Branscomb · **Posted:** Sun Jun 03, 2007 9:17 am

MikeWhitney wrote:

Chuck Branscomb wrote:

Thanks Mike! I'm guessing this one has some crash history not on Carfax given the 12k asking price...that would fit with the auction you mentioned too.

BTW, Brian Marks was over at my house today and sweet fricking jebus is his 540iT nice. I drove it and i swear it feels 1000 lb smaller than my car. He's got me thinking all $ort$ of bad idea$ about the suspension and other things on my car. I want it to feel like his.

I think I'm going to be taking the Dinan springs, Dinan Konis, and Ground Control camber plates off my M5 this summer and replace them with a Ground Control coilover setup (have to get another set of GC camber plates that fit the coilover spring type). I know all of this will fit your car, but I'm not sure of the weight difference between the 540 and M5 (it is maybe 150 lbs?). For some reason, when BMW quotes the weight on M-cars they quote it "with driver" according to the owner's manual, but on all their other cars they just show the actual weight; hence, looking at "published" weights can be misleading. The M5 weighed 3921 lbs with 1/2 tank of gas on K&E's scales. Anyway, just a thought. I've got a couple of guys on the M5board asking for this stuff when I take it off, but they're not local. You're welcome to drive the M5 and see how it feels -- guess you already had a bit of a sense riding along last fall? By the way, this is a DANGEROUS step (speaking as a former 540i owner :lol:

).

You would notice a pretty big difference just adding a larger rear sway bar from a stock M5 suspension. These often show up for sale on the m5board. However, the 540 only has a 25mm front bar (versus 27mm on M5). Dinan and Eibach both make a 28mm front bar for your car. Anyway, the cheapest/easiest first mod would be that rear bar. Make sure to get the TC Design rear bar brackets as the stock rear bar brackets will fatigue fail at some point (guaranteed :wink:

).

Chuck

Graham Jagger · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 12:53 am **Posts:** 1718

I picked up the Celica a couple of days ago. Interior cleaned up nice. Seems to run out ok so far. Even the ricer boys snubbed me with the faded grape color. Must be because I forgot the high rise aluminum wing. It won't be purple for long...

Are there any good Toyota forums, like technical ones? I looked at Toyota Nation and wasn't all that impressed. Google is all well and good but I'd like to hear from the Toyota crowd which forum is best.

RobLupella · **Posted:** Wed Jun 06, 2007 10:00 pm

Graham Jagger wrote:

I picked up the Celica a couple of days ago. Interior cleaned up nice. Seems to run out ok so far. Even the ricer boys snubbed me with the faded grape color. Must be because I forgot the high rise aluminum wing. It won't be purple for long...

Are there any good Toyota forums, like technical ones? I looked at Toyota Nation and wasn't all that impressed. Google is all well and good but I'd like to hear from the Toyota crowd which forum is best.

And it is really Grape colored. :oops:

Lets all get drunk, meet at Graham's. Everyone is required to bring a rattle can of Krylon. :wink:

Kevin Allen · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2003 6:42 pm **Posts:** 3479

Paint it brown.

Graham Jagger · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 12:53 am **Posts:** 1718

Kevin Allen wrote:

Paint it brown.

Is that a wise crack or would it cover purple easily?

The car must have started out in life black from looking at the door jams. So I'm thinking black or burgundy.

Kevin Allen · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2003 6:42 pm **Posts:** 3479

There is nothing that will increase the coolness factor of your car like painting it brown. :wink:

I HAVE to stop and take a picture of a car I see parked in a driveway on the way to work every day. It would be the ultimate rally beater, hands down. Brown Plymouth Sundance sedan with ghetto fabulous rear spoiler.

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