Hitting the Reset button on a car headed to the grave

[e30damen]

Nice save!

[scabzzzz]

Great thread, nice work sahn

[mikeedler]

you did a great job on it, looks really good now. BUT being the boo guy I am, that is NOT a restoration, not even close to a restoration. That term is used way too loosely around here.

Once again, you did a great job on that car!

[freeride53]

Does the friend whom you sold it to live in LJ cove? I recognize the car from its yellow fogs. Great work with this one.

[Wild Ride]

Hitting the Reset button on a car headed to the grave

Incredible job man, did you atleast break even ?

As this was far from my first e30 I knew where money could be saved by making smart choices and trading lots of labor for parts savings. I sold off two sets of wheels that came with the car for $500 so my starting point was essentially $300. Instead of $700 in machine shop costs to fix the head with a badly worn cam and valves that didn't seal I bought a pressure checked head for $250 and sold my good 885 casing for $100 so a head essentially cost me $150. I knew I didn't want to wrestle an exhaust to change the center support bearing so that was money well spent at the mechanic. Redying the seats vs reupholstering was 30+ hours but only $200. For torn sections of leather on the bolsters i pulled a good set of bolster leather from the JY and redyed them to match. With these choices I was able to come out ahead decently when I sold it but if you added up my hours it was minimum wage.

[Wild Ride]

Hitting the Reset button on a car headed to the grave

you did a great job on it, looks really good now. BUT being the boo guy I am, that is NOT a restoration, not even close to a restoration. That term is used way too loosely around here.

Once again, you did a great job on that car!

If you parked this car next to one that had a 20k+ two year restoration people would have trouble pointing out any differences between the two cars. The key is that my starting point was neglected but was a very straight rust free car with original paint and was intended to be a clean daily driveable car not a garage queen as a big money restoration would be. Lots of the cars people buy are beyond saving and that's where costs spiral out of control. This thread barely scratches the surface of what was done to the car mechanically. Plus a real "restoration" is unrealistic on a 5-10k car. On the budget I completed this car on I am extremely pleased with the results.

[Wild Ride]

Does the friend whom you sold it to live in LJ cove? I recognize the car from its yellow fogs. Great work with this one.

Thank you. The current owner works over in that area

[shmutzigE30]

wow great job Ryan! I'll be keeping an eye out for it in Mission. Havent seen you driving too much but i stay in south mission a lot...

Ian