That looks ROUGH, although anything is possible. I'm curious, what's your goal (what do you want fixed) and what's your budget?

Are you happy just having it run? Track car? Show car?

I don't know what parts you have in inventory... but I'd guess this wouldn't be much less than $15K to get running, painted and cleaned up (I'm sure lots of stuff is trash after sitting outside all those years). I bet if you parted it out you could probably turn around and spend $20K on a nice runner.

Just keep in mind - anyone telling you EXACTLY what you want to hear is either going to disappoint you, or rip you off. Things NEVER go according to plan and anyone that's promising that is either lying or delusional... either way, it's gonna cost you more in the end.

For the record, I haven't dealt with any of the shops in this thread... I'm just basing this on experience both first hand and as told by others.

Good luck.

 

Double post? Plz delete.

 

Well said Banzai. That was my thinking... The amount of "history" in this project and the logistics required to get it to your needs is more than just a simple "drop it off at the shop for a single-swap and tune". You're getting advice by an extremely well know and reputed shop.. Look at this from a financial perspective, not a personal one.

Like I mentioned.. It's definitely not a loss, but ideally you should get it sorted out as much as you can yourself, or at least dig into it enough in person to get a first hand look at what this is going to take to fix it .. After that, go over your parts list and see what is actually still "yours" and what you can get possession of. Then, get a final "image" of what you want the car to be built like on paper, front to back. This means exterior, interior, suspension/brakes and engine and go from there. It'll add up extremely fast, as others are saying. A quick visual in the wheel wells and underneath the car goes a long way.

As it is, mounts and bushings will be probably toast, the block is probably full of tar and coolant that's borderline acid by now, the brakes are most likely 4 giant chunks of Iron oxide and i'm sure the dust shields on your pillow ***** are dust themselves. Not to sound pessimistic, but that's the reality of a car that's sat out for years and collected ground moisture as well. And this is just a small piece of the puzzle to get your car to roll and ride safely now .. if you plan to drive it for as long as you can as you mentioned, It isn't going to be "mostly labour" to do it all properly.

You're asking a lot before really understanding what you're asking for by the sounds of it, and I don't mean any of this personally at all. But it's at the point where getting a running car that's been looked after, isn't anything too special mod wise and hasn't been neglected may suit you better, and potentially actually cost you less since you are sourcing all the work out. And the 15k is a fair estimate imo, and that's just the basics.

My car had 50k in receipts over a few years by the previous owner, from stockish to built, and nothing was done twice, stupidly or by an uninformed decision and it was a rock solid 375-400whp setup done properly, front to back plus the maintenance costs of track driving. So even $30k after you remove the track aspect.. It adds quickly man.

 

Yep I agree. You're gonna pump ALOT of money in that car to get it back to running/good/great shape whatever you're expecting. But we've seen builds that the car started off much worse than this

 

+3. From the pictures it looks like a good parts car or a bad project car. Outside all those years I would think you'll make some rodents transient when it's moved.

 

REMEMBER THE SQUIRRELS!

 

Project is going forward, updates soon.

Much pondering and going both ways in my mind. In the end, this is MY car and I'm a stubborn SOB. I know in my head exactly what I want, I've known since I bought the car on May 23, 2005. Now it's just a matter of executing that plan.

 

^ I approve this message

 

Much more fun to spend money than save it but flushing money down the toilet keeps me up at night.

I'd part this car out and save, save, save followed up by purchasing a nice always garaged low mileage FD even if the cost was 40k.

 

I more I read posts around the forum and the more thought I put into it, the more I'm thinking of keeping my lightly modded 1167 mile MB FD just as it is, drive it occasionally, and enjoy. Had a few offers lately but nothing that has convinced me to part with the car......

 

After reading through this thread, I fully endorse Fritz' stand. We all hold sentimental value at a much higher price than reality. Given the length of time the car has spent untouched, sitting outdoors, there could potentially be more problems aside from just a typical build. If priced out, all signs will likely point to selling/parting out the car. The OP's money will be better spent buying a low mile, unmolested car which would need less work on things like body and paint work. We all know the little things will add up. Cut your losses .....

I could never understand how someone can leave their car at a shop for such an extended period of time...........

 

If you have the time,tools,skills to take on this project sure by all means. But if you're going to pay someone to restore it back to how you want it.

Be prepared to pay $$$$$

We all have our opinions right? Starting with a good foundation will cost LESS in the long run. Things will always pop up that you don't expect.

 

I'm told the car is rust free, and that the interior is clean (has no mildew smell). Assuming that's true, there won't be any problem making the car exactly what I want. I can see a possibility of maybe getting the car on a rotisserie, strip the bottom clean, blast and recoat. Also blast clean all the suspension components. It's not that complex to restore it to 100% of new.

Then once it's home, I imagine I'll strip the interior to bare metal. I'm going to have a lot of parts suede/leather covered anyway.

 

If you enjoy owning it and driving it etc... then absolutely keep it but if it's about money I'd sell now while the market is ripe

I seriously think you could get 30 to 40k I think a 95 SSM R2 sold for 45k plus recently and it had approx 25k miles.

I see the greatest potential in our lifetimes to make money in the stock market because in my view our economy isn't as good as everyone thinks. No I'm not smarter than everyone I'm just a natural contrarian LOL.

Make lots of money in the market and buy back your FD for 20k LOL.......OR loose lots of money and buy it back for 50k LOL. You never know and contrarians are often wrong but when they are right..............IT'S BIG

BOTTOMLINE: unless it's a porsche RS it's a bad investment LOL

 

As I said. Life is short and it's much more fun to spend money. Have fun

 

Nothing is complex... it just costs money.

Blasting clean suspension components? Sounds easy enough, should only cost $200. How about those bushings? Might as well replace those too, eh, probably $600. Of course when you're replacing the bushings you should do the pillowballs too, only another $500. While we're in there, who can trust wheel bearings that have been sitting that long? $500 is cheap to not lose a wheel. Oh and those dust boots - probably a good time to change those out. Good news! They're cheap, $120. Since we're looking at it, the power steering rack seems to be leaking - we should probably rebuild it. I got a guy that can do it for like $300. By the way, here's the bill for labor - this stuff doesn't install itself you know......

Look, like Fritz said - it's just money. If you have it and you enjoy the process, go for it. But don't underestimate and decide you're tapped out 1/2 way through.


I'll also throw this out there for good measure... If you're currently thinking about recovering stuff in suede - super. But that's like, 12 steps down the road. Make sure you don't get caught up in planning out sooo far in advance that you miss what's right in front of you. Suede in a non-running car just doesn't have the same "wow" factor.

 

Don't forget about the brakes hehe

AND there is no possibility of that interior being smell free etc..... Whoever told you that has a sinus infection LOL

 

Oh yeah. Brakes are toast. OEM for about $1000? Aftermarket / BBK for $1500 per axle? Maybe you can save some money rebuilding the calipers... but still got labor in there. Hubs? Dust shields? **** man.

 

You guys who are lecturing about obvious ****, do know who I am, right? I didn't just fall off the turnip truck.

 

Hey it's just advice. You can do what ya like

 

Some is advice, some is lecturing. Fine line I know.

 

I'd bet very few "know who you are", other than an obviously oversized ego. What makes you so special that we should all know who you are? You also claim to be the "Allspark" in this thread. Did you design the FD or something? I think not.

This is starting to make sense now. Not all shop horror stories are the fault of the shop. Some shops can definitely be shady and rip people off. But there are also certain customers that cause the issue as well. Bottom line, you seem to have had trouble multiple times with multiple shops, maybe the problem isn't the shops, might be time to look in the mirror.

And now you are sending the car to a shop that has something weird going on with another shop (which is well respected and organized by the way), and also basing on Howard Colemans advice (which we've seen time and time again not have a car that runs for very long).

But then again, I don't know who you are, but based on your comments I should?

Hope it works out for you, will be interesting to see whether this car gets saved or ends up sitting in pieces for years to come. If it gets rebuilt into the best car ever, maybe then we'll "know who you are".

 

I believe he started this forum or something along those lines

 

People used to have a sense of humor around here too.

 

Why did you leave it in Chicago for 8 years? Why did you not pick it up or at least physically check on it in all that time? I mean 8 years and you didn't even know it was outside? In my state he could have easily gotten an abandoned vehicle title and sold the damn thing after that long. Sense of humor? Yeah...that's funny.