opinions wanted; car sales gone bad

You bought it off Craigslist or some such local webvert "with issues."

You ..
... $800 into it in new parts and get it re inspected before selling it

So why did you get it inspected? To sell it? That's what you said.

We're not talking about a crate engine. We're talking about flipping a POS with a new inspection sticker on it to some sucker, right?