sorry if this is in the wrong forum

need ur guys is help on this one. ill show u some pics and then give u the details





heres the details
1987 Formula, orginal owner. 350 L98 700R4 3.27 posi 9 bolt
SLP Headers, CAI, Chip
Aftermarket cats and catback exhuast
rebuitl tranny at 50K, found out to be vette version
117K on it
body is rock solid, no rust cept for surface
dash pad cracked
guy said make best offer.
my plans
Supercharged 383
Viper Spec T-56
12 bolt rear with 4.10s
New paint(either black or dark blue)
restore interior cept for seats(use either 4th gen seats or some kind of racing seat)

worth it or not?

 

Depends on how much you were going to offer him for it.

 

i think its worth fixing up. In the pics it dont look to bad. Its crying for a Paint Job though. Spend 2500 bucks and she be back to new

 

It looks like a perfect foundation. I would play it off like it was a hunk of junk and explain to him all of the problems and act dissapointed. You will walk away from it much cheaper that way.

 

I'll probably get flamed for this, but unless it's absolutely dirt-cheap, don't bother with it.

First of all, you don't know if the car is truly rust free until you jack it up and give it a full inspection, or even moreso, rip out the interior and actually inspect the floorpan. So unless you've done that, don't trust the seller's word. If the hardtop and hood are that rusted, it leads me to believe that the rest of the car is too. In fact, that's probably about the rustiest third-gen I've ever seen.

Secondly...if you're going to spend any more than, say, $300 for that car, you're going to pour a lot of time/money into body work and a new paintjob, AND an interior in already good condition (my car had 55K when I bought it and the interior was almost mint...it's still pretty good at 65K)-- more than you would to buy a car with decent paint and no rust and a decent interior for $2-3K.

Find a straight car with totally no rust and a decent interior, and spend your time and money on the performance goodies, since your project is obviously very performance-oriented.

 

if nothing else. it might be worth the parts. How much?

 

guy said make an offer. this car aside from the surface rust has no rust, i got on the ground and looked, knock on all the lower panels i check it out myself

 

it may cost a bit more in the end, but you will learn a lot about cars and be able to show people what the car once looked like.... Thats almost a restoration... It does have a 350... , but that doesnt matter since ur changing the engine...or are u just rebuilding the original?

 

383 using that block

 

ok, sounds like a fun project...do u have lots of time and a place to put it?

 

Go for it dude if its cheap enough. doesn't look like it needs that much body work some new paint and a little interior work and you're good to go. the parts on the motor already almost make it worth it.

 

50 bucks?

 

Well that's a good sign...

I dunno man, me, I'd just find a straight V6 or L03 car (doesnt matter since you're changing the whole drivetrain anyway) with zero rust and a decent interior for $1000, and have the peace of mind in knowing that you won't have to worry about the interior, or the rust on basically the entire car.

Offer him $300 for the car, then you'll have enough cash to worry about the body work and paint with

 

reason i like this car is that its just surface rust on the roof and hood, im tossin the hood and gettin a diff style anyways, the undercarraige and lower panels are solid and not even a hint of rust. plus this already has the TPI harness in it.

 

You need to get the car on a lift to say if it has no rust.

It's been sitting there for a WHILE, and in the dirt no less. Long term storage on dirt eats the underside of the car FAST.

Something has to be FUBAR'd on that car for it to be just sitting there for a long period of time. Beware.

 

the hood dont open lol. its a gravel driveway

 

hey kyle are you planning on using the car for parts or redoing this one. i say use it for parts on your ta. at least its a 5sp with ttops

 

You must not have seen too many thirdgens.



Dude, if you don't mind doing a lot of work it looks like a good project. Just figure out why it's been sitting there for so long and take a good LONG inspection of the undercarriage. Formy 350's are awesome cars.

 

I always assume the worst. I'd off $500 or less. If anyone expects to get close to retail value for their car it has to look like its worth the money. Like others have said, how it looks tells you the story of how it was cared for. If it looks like crap it was probably treated like crap. I wouldnt consider this car crap (I've seen way worse) but it does look like its been neglected and I would question its road worthness like it sits now. Because of that I say $500. And I'm not a cheapskate either, I've paid over $5k for a 3rdgen but it was in awesome condition.

 

i never saw some much rust on the hood and top of the car in my life. give him 350 dollars for it

 

i wonder if the car sat near lime stone. that would explain the rusting on top of the car

 

he bought a pathfinder and was gonna restore the car but guess he never go round 2 it. i brought a auto body guy up there and had him look it over. he said hes seen a more pitted roof and that the surface rust will sand off

 

I would say go for it....make an offer....it looks like a nice little project car!

 

im going to find out what he wants to get for the car frist. then im going up there on a sunday and gonna kill the bees and get that darn hood up and see if i can get it to start

 

if you just want a nice car to drive around, buy one that's already in nice shape because you'll spend more fixing this up than you will on a nice one.

But... if you're looking for a project, there's no sense in wasting money on something already nice. I'd buy that car instead of one with a shiny new paint job because if a car that's for sale has a shiny new paint job, you have no idea what kind of crap is hiding under the shiny paint. Most people pack rust full of bondo just so it'll look good painted, and in 6 months you have a mess. With this car, you know exactly what you're getting. If that body is as straight and rust free as it looks in the pics, then you have an opportunity to get a rust free car for very little money. Just make sure that you crawl underneath it and check the underside of the rocker panels and floor pans for rust. Check the radiator support at the bottom of the radiator too.

I'll get flamed up and down for this, but to me, that car is easily worth a grand if the entire thing is as solid and rust-free as it looks. Well, at least up here in the rust belt it's worth a grand. I paid a grand for my IROC which was in much worse condition, but I know that if I planned on keeping the IROC for the long run, starting with a rust free body was key.

 

If it's straight and rust free as you say It's a good deal for around $1000 Especially if it can leave under it's own power. But considering your location I'm guessing rust free cars are as hard to come by as they are here? Either way depoends on your location how much it'll go for, I've seen rollers in the area go for over $1000. So talk them down as much as you can $350 would be nice take out a can of starting fluid with you and try to get it moving. You won't know about the rust until you take the interior out. The Driverside floorpan always seems to be the worst. It's a project have fun with it!

Oh yeah if you get it for that cheap, get it running that'll **** the previous owner off if you drive it away lol

 

As long as the fuel pump didn't quit, you shouldn't need starting fluid. I bought my IROC without even starting it, because I already had a 350 ready to go in. Much to everybody's surprise, the car started INSTANTLY at the turn of the key after not being run in close to 2 years.

But, starting fluid might help you establish whether the motor is toast or not in the event that the fuel pump is shot.

 

this is gonna be a 12 second 355 or 383 supercharged street legal car(just gotta get thru emssions here in ct). this car is very solid and rust free, i had a body guy up there lookin at it. he says its worth the time and money and also that if i can get it started and moveable we can bring up our flatbed from work and lift it up and get a reall good look underneath. how i love working at a private garage/body shop/dealer