I saw a 89 iroc today for 1000 bucks, the car fired right up, however it needs some light bodywork, floor pans no rust, 7xxxx miles, interiors in one piece minus the stereo, when the car fired up i didnt hear anything but after about 10 mins i can hear a faint knock coming from the pass side with my head right over the valve cover. the guy cut off the exhaust from about mid way of the doors, i can see the rear end looks damp so im guessing it needs work, i saw the hoses from the air check valve were removed, a/c compressor, heater core hoses cut, and window sweeps are rotten and cracked, its a hardtop, my question is how much would i be looking to spend to make this a decent drivable car again? what would need definite repair/rebuild? the guy said it has been sitting for 6 months and nothing leaks, didnt notice anything on the ground

 

Dont let the price fool ya, the knock could be any of things internally, you would have to open up the heads and take a look, and alot was removed from the engine bay, the hoses were removed? from what you explained you could be looking at around 2k-3k to make it good and reliable, and I might be lowballing. It may not include the possible rear end swap either.

 

you aren't even in the zip code

check out my 89 restoration thread. I got very lucky in finding deals that i did for weatherstripping and seat upholstery

there aren't a lot of craigslist parts in GOOD condition out there for such old vehicles so it will be aftermarket time

the weatherstripping will set you back a few $hundred

the rug will be the same

headliner is a deuce

you won't get out of the interior for less than $1,000 but it will be closer to $2,000 to get things away from being tired and into good shape. Again, you may get extremely lucky but, when I found my seat upholstery I was months from needing it but JUMPED ALL OVER IT because I know a deal when I see it and don't hem and haw or wait for forum opinions. If you snooze, you lose. My point, interiros and weatherstripping are expensive

then comes the engine. I find it hard to beleive that a 10 year old frame has only 70k miles and the price is $1,000. Those 2 just don't add up

We then get into mechanical work aka rebuilding and also body work and paint.

If you don't have the tools and ability to paint it yourself then allow $1,000 for an economy paint job

if you budget a minimum of $5,000 and can do it all yourself (except send the engine to a machine shop) then you would be OK

that is without new tires or brakes. If you need those then another grand.

If you just want to toss in any old parts and don't care about the longevity of the effort, then you could put it together with chewing gum and junkyard parts...........and it would look and run exactly like that

good luck

projects of older vehicles ALWAYS cost more than we hope

Allow $2,000 for a paint job where you can even dare question how it looks to the shop.

 

i dont know how to rebuild an eng/tranny/rear, but i guess im looking at 5grand, a red flag did come up when he said 70k for that price, but given that the rear quarter and bumper had tons of specs of rubber and the condish of the body, he`d be lucky to get 1000.

 

look over my thread

I paid $500 for a running/shifting 89 RS with 305 and it had new tires and I later found it had new brakes so it was worth the $500.

it's a FL car so it had no rust except where the paint had been dinged.

Again, I got very lucky finding some of the deals that i did

I also have the space to perform the work, the financial resources and the ability.

I got lucky finding a machine shop to rebuild the engine including the heads for $1300 and that included parts

I got lucky to find a place to perform a bench rebuild of the tranny and include a TC for about $575 (a few new hard parts too)

I also can paint myself and use an HVLP turbine.

The car had a Flowmaster system on it so I tossed in some hedman shortys and y pipe

 

If it is a 305 with a light knock at idle plan on a crank kit of the motor. It is most likely a streched rod but the knock will have the crank out of round.

It just my opinion but this car sounds like it has had years of neglect and "cut hoses". While this might be a good canidate for a restoration the cost of a restoration for someone that does not do their own work will be 5X what it would cost you to find a finished car.

2 ways I find deal on cars
1.) Almost done projects is one place you can find good deals. People will loose their shirts on unfinish project which means someone is getting a good deal. Your issue will be figuring out which person is selling a car at a bargin price and which person is selling a bag full of headaches.

2.) Very well maintained cars with one problem. Lets take your Camaro example. You know your going to have to do a major engine repair even tho the guy selling the car says it fine. Why not buy a car that is in real great shape but needs a motor. These car will take time to find, cars with blown motors all sell for about the same price regardless of condition. While you are replacing/rebuilding the motor go a head and replace all the wear items.

When I bought my 96 it was a one owner dealer service garage kept car. The owner had a stack of dealer receits including a $1200 T-top repair due to a leak. I paid $1100 for the car plus a tow home. I put a low miles motor in it and in two years I have over 40K on it and all I have done to it is fuel pump and front brakes, Oh and tires. Brakes and tire will be on any car.

 

Just let me know.. Zip code has something to do with this because?? I was giving him a rough price estimate, I never said I was on the money..

 

thanx for the input, i think im going to pass on this iroc after thinking about it the past few days, the amount of work and time outweighs the good. heck i still have to change mounts and rear bearings on the ls1, sounds like a woodchipper now