rebuild a salvage?

[gac123]

I posted the following last monday on the general discussion board but got little response. Has anyone ever successfully rebuilt a flood car. I'm still temped to pursue this even though It doesn't sound like a good idea...


Yesterday I looked at a Houston flood car. It's a 98 Boxter. It looks very nice. The insurance company cleaned up the interior very well. The exterior is in very good shape. The salvage yard says that it has 25K miles on it.

It doesn't run. Electrically it's dead. The odometer doesn't display. It was a total submersion about a year ago. The salvage guy says that when he got it he drained the oil pulled the spark plugs and pushed it in gear to expel any water. He said that he didn't see any.

Does anybody know what I'd be getting into? I'm handy electrically but am worried about rust in the engine and the general cost of the parts. He's asking $15.9K for it. I think in good shape it's worth $30K. ( minus the hit for a salvage title )

Thanks,
Greg

[Zeke]

And what would that *hit* be? In CA, a clean '98 goes for $27,000-up. It would make a great race car.