BendFCgxl

This build has been a long time coming. I bought the car back in 2004 while I was living in Cali for $300, it ran and drove(sort of). It had minor collision damage on the right fender and right quarter panel, the clutch was out, and it had fuel and exhaust leaks. It sat in my driveway until 2011 when I moved up to Central Oregon(aka the High Desert). It pretty much sat up until last week when I finally started working on it. I bought all the replacement body panels I need, got a new clutch, fixed the fuel leak, and finally started gathering parts for my build. I'm gonna do as much of the work on the quarter panel as I can, and then have the whole car painted at some point. I plan on keeping the S4 look, and swapping to a 20b when the engine gives(130k and running strong!). I'll post up some current pics later...

I'm only 18 and new to cars in general, so any advice you guys have is much appreciated!

clokker

iTrader: (2)

-Whatever budget you have figured on, double it.
Then add 10%.
Assume you'll spend more.

-However much time you planned on, double it as well.
This does not include the very real possibility of "black hole" phenomenon where a part or the whole car (in the case of a paint shop) just disappears for months.
This is especially common with "on the side" or "buddy" jobs, often the great deal you're getting has a hidden time tax as commerce trumps good intentions.

-Assume that every mechanical system is trash, replace/refurb as much as possible.
Prioritize this before cosmetics as it's actually the cheapest (excluding engine rebuild, if necessary) and fastest part of the build. As a bonus, the car becomes almost immediately driveable (if not road legal), which sure beats pushing the sob all over the place.

-Know that it'll be more fun than you think.

BendFCgxl

So I spend the entire day so far trying to get off one fender, and when I finally did, the underpanel was fragged to hell. It pinned a reinforcement bar against the pop up light, and upon moving it and trying to turn the light on, I nearly caught the car on fire(sparks, smoke, the lot...). So I need to rewire my entire headlamp circuit, oh boy. My camera is charging right now, so I'll have pics of my folly up in a few hours!

BendFCgxl

Here's some pics of the damaged body:




Yea, it's a lot of work, but perseverance is the key!