The Value of a 24v turbo swap car

[Kaiser soze]

I recently ventured on my journey to build a quality E30 turbo car. I had built a turbod MK1 VW a couple years ago and it was nothing short of a nightmare, used parts of unknown condition, limited knowledge, ect. it ran and was fast as hell, but i could have done it better. With that in mind, i set out to create a brilliant 24v turbo in a near flawless shell. as my bank account is frowning and and im looking at my torn apart M52 i just reasure myself how much fun this will be. before starting this project, i never really looked to see the value of a boosted E30 in the classifieds, seems as if there few and far between. my question is what do these cars ACTUALLY sell for, ive seen a few asking plenty, and 2 pages later bring there prices down thousands. but what does a well built, quality swap and turbo get these days. heres a run down of my project

86 325e immaculate body, near perfect, zero rust, very clean AW exterior
Engine
M52 obd1 converted
garret 60-1 *new*
blunttech top mount manifold *new*
Tial 44mm wastegate *new*
Mishimoto IC *new*
walboro 255 *new*
Miller war tuning *new*
cometic .140
arp headstuds
S52 cams

M52 will have a complete gasket/seal/bolt on replacement, everything short of rings and bearings. painted to look pretty


almost everything turbo related will be brand new to avoid doubt and keep the peace of mind. i have no intentions on selling, its just nice knowing that when i spend 10 grand building something, a few years later its only worth 2,000 to the next guy. Nothing short of extreme excitment to finsh this. i cannot wait. I even have a perfomance driving class lined up because i believe nobody should jump into a 400hp car without some sort of training.

im seeing 24v swaps everywhere from 5-12,000 dollars and turbo'd cars asking upwards of 15,000. can one actually expect that? seems like the work can be done for significant amounts less than that?


just as i started

[Farbin Kaiber]

We all know the prices of parts, but what I think we need is detailed pics of the car and interior to actually tell you anything. There is a lot of other info needed. Still using the G260? Is the block going to be stripped down and hot tanked/cleaned, or just gonna throw parts into it?

[Kaiser soze]

This is a work in progress, im just looking for a general answer for what one would consider a well sorted turbo coupe

[Farbin Kaiber]

It doesn't work this way.

[Kaiser soze]

im not asking about pricing out my own specific car, im talking a general price on what these are actually going for. i just gave my specs as an example.

i just wanted to hear,

"well ive seen high end setups selling for xx and lower quality hack jobs selling for xx. along those lines was all i needed"

[NoM54me]

All depends on the quality of the build and supporting documentation, and demand for such swaps. If you can only sell it for $800, then it was only worth $800.

[Farbin Kaiber]

$6,500-$10,000 if you want numbers. Take whatever you spend, not including labor, and expect to get 45-60% of that total when trying to pin down a sale value. Just because they are priced at fifteenkay does not mean they sell at that number.

[mr2peak]

It also really depends on the smog laws in your home state. Selling a turbo'd car in Cali is a hard thing to do, for example.

[blunttech]

so many variables. but in my mind if you are worried about resale on a turbo car you shouldnt be building one. build it because they are insanely fun and expect to take a loss. I do on almost all my cars

[Liquidity]

I thought the title of this thread was you telling us the value of your car to yourself. I value all of my things highly. Much higher than their fair market price. You should too and then you'll stop worrying about what your car is gonna be worth to someone else when it's finished because it doesn't matter.