I bought this AE off of the South Forum on 8/2 for $2000. As to be expected it needed a lot of work but the motor and turbo was very tight.
I work a full time job so this is really closer to about a 14 day restore if even that.
Here is the list of things I did to it. As I said it is in the body shop now and the wheels are being powdercoated.
The list:
Replaced windshield
Replaced passenger glass
Replaced injector seals
Replaced rusty sunroof
Replaced starter solenoid
Reupholstered seats
Replaced shifter boot
Replaced shifter and shifter bushings (tight as a gnat's *** now )
Replaced clutch. pressure plate, throwout bearing, and pilot bearing
Replaced mufflers
Replaced thermostat
Replaced radiator cap
Converted AC to R134 (works great even in Texas )

Here are the pics from when I brought it home until today:

 

 

 

Man, even when they're not in the best condition, I'm still in love with the 10AEs...

 

 

 

I must say--nice
How much was it to recover the seats??
I also noticed the foam in the seats it fluffed back up agian...did they fix it or did it just fix itself when they put the new covers on??

 

That is from padding presewn into the covers. I have covers custom made. These are $400 a set outright (not installed) including matching boot. I do vert seats also. I have a set of third gen seats to make patterns from but even I procrastinate I guess

 

These are two versions of vert seats, stock and carbon fiber tweed

 

This is what the padding looks like to give you an idea why they form out so well

 

Wow that AE has seen better days. It looks good so far. Good luck on the restoration.

 

I'm going to be busy this winter making mine perfect again.. man, I can't wait.... The motor is perfect now, the interior is perfect now.. all that's left is the exterior... and that will be perfect soon..

Good work with the car, I shed a tear every time I see a beat up 10AE...

 

Good luck with your AE. I thought about doing the body work on mine for about 5 minutes and decided that is probably about the only resto procedure that I just refuse to do anymore. I have to use my fingers at work too much to have them aching from ALL that prep work.

 

Man do I want one of those AE's. I found a wrecked one at the junk yard and by wrecked I ment ripped in half. Once I get out of college I'm so getting one of these.

 

Kudos to you! The transformation is amazing!

 

Very nice. Wish I had a AE to restore. I could buy my friends but it has a broken rear hatch window and a very blown motor with crappy interior.

Did you take the exterioir paint down to the metal?

 

Good work man, keep the 10th AEs alive!!

 

If the price is right pick it up. As long as it is not a rust bucket and you ain't having to dip into bill money to get it. If you have room and tools to work with jump on it.
The key is staying under cost on what you could sell it for if the worst case scenerio was to arise and you had to let it go at any stage of the rebuild.

Yes this car is being stripped and worked correctly. Note in the pics the disassembly to allow proper prep work. When you see that it is a good indicator that the guys working it are not cutting corners. If you have done prep work you are not going to be fooled anyways but that is something to look for if you have not been around it.

 

The body shop has it's own bar!!! They had some "special" tequilla" in a plastic bottle. It is good stuff

 

 

thats my kinda garage

 

It's the small things in life I appreciate so much

 

paint wise, are you going to pull the bumpers and trim and etc or just mask??

 

The trim is coming off but I don't see a need to pull the bumpers. I think they can stay in place and still get a very nice prep/paint.

 

I'm glad to see someone putting good work into an AE and keeping it on the road! That's gonna be one SHARP car once it's all done for sure!

Keep up the good work, and keep posting those pictures!

Dale