Sorry im not very fluent in cars and engines and such, but i have a pretty good idea. So the car im looking at buying, im guessing 86-92ish firebird has had its harness and most wiring in the car taken apart while the previous owner was trying to swap the engine (i guess this wasnt necessary) leaving the car to be a big electrical project. I wouldnt know the first thing in doing this myself, but otherwise the car is rust free and in good condition with everything that needs to be installed. Would buying this car for around $2000 for a project be worth it?

 

Without more details about the car, it's current condition (body, paint, mechanical, engine, etc) no way of giving you any kind of empirical answer. From a broad standpoint, unless it has a very clean body with good paint, or a very expensive engine with a decent body, I would have to say no, especially since you admit you have no experience. Find something where your lack of knowledge isn't going to lead you into a money pit situation.

 

the car had no rust on the exterior of the car but i didnt get to check inside, and none of the parts of the exterior had any damage to them. the paint had a couple chips in it but wasnt in a bad condition. it had a 305 and otherwise mechanically sound besides the electrical problems

 

to me, any 3rd gen not running is not worth 2k (unless maybe it was a tta) you have no way of knowing if it has a good motor, trans, or rear end ... for 2k you can find a good running 3rd gen ... i only gave 600 for my gta not running ... a rule of thumb for buying a car not running is, never pay more for it than you can get for parts off of it ... and if you have to pay someone to take the parts off of it for you, you will not get much return ... just my opinion though

 

If you don't want to pull your hair out and lay in bed all night every night thinking about the nightmare you got into with the wiring to that extent. Especially a person just starting out with no knowledge in that subject. I say pass . On top of that the word money pit and Third Gen go together well, most of the time and in this case that is a yes.
I bought my first project car ( 1989 Camaro )for $500.00 9 years ago in very poor condition but the wiring was unmolested.

 

Thanks for the advice guys ive decided to pass on the offer

 

Yeah pass on it for sure. Third gens are still too cheap to shell out $2,000 for a non running, messed up wiring project.

I don't know the area you live in, but in my neck of the woods $2,000 can get you a pretty good running third gen...

 

I completely agree.

 

I personally would offer 1000-1500 depending on what others have mentioned. But I have been involved in fixing and changing these cars for ten years. You can learn and you could repair it but you would be spending much money in tools and supplies and time in learning and going slow. You would be better off passing on this one.

 

I live in Western New York and have been looking for a solid 2 months now and have yet to find a car in my price range (2-3k). It was nice finding one that could possibly be a project and i could turn around but obviously isnt worth my time and investment.

 

Sounds like you need to go on a road trip and bring back a nice running car for 2K.