Making the decision to go down this path is very exciting.
Trying to put together a detailed plan which includes costs, especially when this is your first time (like it was mine) - daunting....but that's what makes it fun!
I was a newbie when i started. Now i am a newbie with a lot of paperwork. :-)
I just completed a 18 month project and in my case my final bill tallied up to close to $100k. I am sure there are tons of smarter people who would be able to do this scope for much cheaper - and reading the forums, many folks do claim much lower costs, but i could not find a way. I researched like crazy, locally and internationally for close to 6 months - so i know that parts pricing wise i was not taken for a ride...and the 2 shops i used in Dallas who helped me with labor where i could not do it myself (either cos i didnt know how, or later cos i moved to NY and the car had to be finished), charged an avg $110 / hour.
I tried to do as much work as possible myself (except the suspension & engine which was done by William Knight with help from Dick Elverud). I made many mistakes - and learnt from them the easy and the hard (costly) way. I changed my mind several time wrt look of the car, or mechanical spec of the car...all in all meaning that most likely i wasted about $20-25k.
So, the biggest advice i can offer is: before you start anything - spend days, weeks reading (and re-reading) the forums here. Lots of smart people here. Lots of good detailed builds that you can learn from. Formulate a detailed picture of what your end goal is going to be and then start detailing it and then lock it in. I went a bit pedantic by classifying each critical component by categories i.e Interior, exterior, suspension, braking, frunk, trunk, engine, trans etc.. i even started weighing old part vs new part...Once your objective is clear - research parts, manufacturers etc...there are always 2-3 options for each part. Saving $10 or $100 here or there, adds up pretty quickly.
Try befriend someone on the forum or local porsche shop that can help with additional technical guidance.
All in all - a high-level costing breakdown for my build looked like this:
Body work + respray: 10k (added steel flares, sunroof delete, duck tail)
Interior: 10k (i spent initially 3k reupholstering OEM seats - only to spend additional 2k on Recaro XL bucket seats..and then carpets, rear parcel shelf delete, sound dampeneners - installed out of sight full stereo, only to take it out :-( )
Complete suspension: 10k
New CCW wheels + Tires: 5k
Complete engine rebuild + trans: 40k.
Other miscellaneous parts, tools, car shipping to shops etc: 5k
Labor / services by independent mechanics: $20k
All in all - it has been quite an experience.
Would i do it again? No. Many ups and downs during a project such as this. Many frustrating moments and in hindsight i wish i was even more educated (on engines for example) - that would have saved a lot of headaches. Resto-mods are not everyone's cup of tea, but this is my toy and i will fiddle and learn hopefully for many years to come. What about resale value - well, its not an original anymore and my engine is built and geared towards the track rather than DD or cruiser, but I am cautiously optimistic that having spent the most money on the most important elements: suspension, brake, engine, trans and having it custom built by folks such as William and Dick - will help me recoup my money if one day i chose to sell.
Anyways - good luck. Visualize the end goal, and it will all be worth it at the end.
This is my baby. Literally finished a week ago.
