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You wouldn't be the first person to buy a non-running car on the cheap, then pop in an ECU and drive it home. LOL
I have bought a $200 mint csm this way. It sat for a year, the guy said it had trouble starting, the mechanic said it was a fuel pump, he said the symptoms were clicking and hard starting. I went down with spare ECU in hand and drove it away. When I started it he wanted me to give him more money..but he already signed over the title. I would have either charged him for the ecu, or called the cops if he got rowdy. If you do this, make sure you don't gloat as I think It could piss someone off a lot.
I also bought a csm and a scoupe from guy who had a junkyard in his back yard. for $300 total this way, the csm didn't want to start so I just moved the ecu from the scoupe and drove it back. then brought the ecu back to his house and got the scoupe. Unfortunatly the harmonic balancer bolt fell off ad lots of oil spilled out, but I drove back 15 miles with no oil in the engine(I didn't care as it was slated for a 4g63t swap that I had in my garage). I initialy went to just get the scoupe but saw the csm, and worked out a package deal. The guy was so amazed that I took parts from a Hyundai and got a mitsu working, that he wasn't that pissed that I got both cars for the price of a cell phone.