Project Advice - Yea or Nay

[Superman]

I wil try to be brief. My car was rear-ended HARD in November. The tub is too bent to repair, they say. I retained the car. It has quite a few nice, fresh parts. It was mechanically perfect. New suspension, rebuilt tranny and engine, etc.

I then bought a '79 Euro that runs okay, but has not had TLC like my car did. This car also has some rust issues. Poor respray. Rust bubbling. Great oil pressure, though, and some decent parts.

I don't want to bolt good parts from the wrecked car onto a tub with rust issues and a bad respray. I have a chance to buy a project car. Stripped tub is on a home-made rotisserie. No fenders. Some rust still needs to be repaired. Seller has new latch panels for it (rear cabin door jambs) and a replacement piece for the oil tank area. Those places and a couple more need -some- rust repair. Battery tray is fine, pan is fine, window frames are fine. Tub is in good shape. Partly stripped, carefully.

Tub comes with good looking high-back cloth Recaros that recline and the seat back comes forward. Tub is drilled and reinforced for through-the-body sways. Weltmeister sways are included with Delrin bushings. Car comes fairly complete with everything but the motor, motor electrics, front fenders and windshield.

Car is a '78 Euro non-sunroof coupe. American doors were added when it was federalized. I have a pair of federalized Euro doors, on the '79.

I would nearly have enough parts for three cars if I bought this. I would finish the project, and sell the un-needed parts.

What do you guys think? Is this project worth $4K $3K?

[Superman]

Pics:

[Superman]

Pics:

[RWebb]

what is rust and what is that rust colored glue?

[Superman]

More.....

[Superman]

[Superman]

[Superman]

Originally Posted by RWebb

what is rust and what is that rust colored glue?

The orange in the rear seat/firewall area is glue. The rust is in the lower rear corners of the cabin door jambs, and in the upper rear quarter panel areas. Not real bad rust, I don't think. The rest of the car appears to not have rust issues.

[Superman]

Oh....car comes with stiffer torsion bars (unknown diameter at this time), adjustable Koni's all around, radiator-style oil cooler without fan, other minor goodies.

[Rikao4]

for the man of steel..a piece of cake

?, does the rotisserie come with the project,
do you have one..you will need one.

Rika

[Superman]

The "rotisserie" is two engine stands with brackets welded to the yokes that engage the tub's bumper mounts. Pretty simple "rotisserie," but it works. Yes, the rotisserie is part of the package.

I'm just wondering two things:

1) Is it worth the agony and trouble

2) Is it worth the money (I think I can buy this for $3K)

You guys cannot help me evaluate #1, but I'm looking for input on #2. The value of this tub and related parts.

[Kemo]

I guess it depends on how soon you want to be behind the wheel of the final product. technically, you could sell everything you have right now and put all the cash towards an original and complete, rust free car.

however, it also sounds like you have a bunch of good parts also. if you buy the tub and ship it straight to the booth for paint, it would be like putting together a model car. You would probably get a pretty good discount on the paint job since they would have minimal dissasembly. This would be a cool project for us on the board to follow

but lets not forget the 79 with the rust bubbles. I would wager that this car is no worse off under the paint than the one on the rotiserrie. So why not strip this one down and have it painted correctly, and then build the best car you can with the two you already have?

[Kemo]

oh...is it worth the money? With the rotisserie, I would say yes. those cant be cheap at all.

[Superman]

Good question, Kemo. The simple answer is that the '78 tub is much further along the process than the '79 tub is. With the '78, I'd just have to finish the rust repair, prep, paint and reassemble. With the '79, I'd be starting with a complete, assembled car. And then there is the matter of the Recaro seats, the through-the-body sway, the stiffer torsion bars, etc.

[Racerbvd]

Is the wirering intact?? That tub would be perfect to powder coat, that would seal it up real nice. If you were closer, I would help you with it.

[Superman]

The wiring harness was cut in the tunnel area and removed in two pieces. This is common. My advisors say this is common, and fairly easy to reconnect. Also.....I have the wiring harness that is still in the wrecked car......if I really wanted to remove the end-connectors properly, using the special tools to avoid cutting in the tunnel.

I hadn't thought of powder coating but yeah, that is an option. At this point, the plan would be to paint it. part of it has already been sealed with POR-15.

Tell ya what, Byron. I'll send you a plane ticket and you can work on this project. I'll stop by occasionally to check on your work and answer questions. Then when it's finished, I'll provide you with your return flight ticket. You like sandwiches, right?

[Shaun @ Tru6]

One possibility that you may not have considered. Sell everything. Buy a decent 84-86 Carrera. With leftover $, upgrade.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by Superman

The wiring harness was cut in the tunnel area and removed in two pieces. This is common. My advisors say this is common, and fairly easy to reconnect. Also.....I have the wiring harness that is still in the wrecked car......if I really wanted to remove the end-connectors properly, using the special tools to avoid cutting in the tunnel.

I hadn't thought of powder coating but yeah, that is an option. At this point, the plan would be to paint it. part of it has already been sealed with POR-15.

Tell ya what, Byron. I'll send you a plane ticket and you can work on this project. I'll stop by occasionally to check on your work and answer questions. Then when it's finished, I'll provide you with your return flight ticket. You like sandwiches, right?

If I had the time to take off, I might just take you up on that, as it is, I may be heading to Portland in a few months. On the powder coating, I've seen the end result, and since you eather media blast or acid dip, it totally cleans & kills any rust, plus, the powder can get coverage where paint can't, inside the tunnels. I posted some pix of the process a while back, maybe in the random 911 pics thread, it would be worth it to find them Plus with powder, you can either go with a color or a base type primer, I've seen both.