I just picked up an 88 iroc with 75K orig. miles. The car is all orig, and has NEVER been modified, and with the exception of 3 TINY surface rust spots, there is no rust on the car. I understand its got high mileage, but my intention is to restore it to the way it rolled off the factory floor.

Couple questions: Is it worth it to restore this car (i know that it will never be as desirable as say a GTO Judge, so should i even bother trying to keep it orig)?

Of the people who have restored these cars, what order did you go in when restoring these. for instance, did you start with the suspension, then engine, then interior then paint?

This will be my first restoration and i plan on doing it slowly while i drive the car.

 

Depends on how far you go with it, but if anything you should do paint first since overspray is almost inevitable and that way you can remove any overspray when you fix/replace other parts of the car.

It'll be a while before you will be able to get the value back out of the car, these cars arent quite old enough yet. There are some selling high but in general they are not. 10 years from now, quite possible. If you're worried about modifying the car stick to bolt ons.

 

Thanks for the info. Glad i asked, i would have thought the paint was last due to not wanting to scratch it if removing the engine and such. When i say mod the car, all i really want to do is an exhaust system, headers back. Its a muscle car and just doesn't sound "mean" enough.

 

Sure, paint scratches are an issue but if you're careful that will not happen. Every car I've had painted or painted myself I ended up with paint dust or overspray where I did not want it, masked or not. It just happens.

 

I would definitely do the paint first as well since you say it has three small rust spots. Those spots are only going to get bigger the longer you wait and there's probably a few other small spots you haven't noticed. A good paint job will get those taken care of right away. Sure, you'll have to be a little careful about scatching the paint when you do engine work, etc. but paint was the first thing I when I built my first car and I never scratched anything.

By the way, 75k definitely isn't high mileage when you're talking about a 20+ year old car. I know there's LOTS of people here who wish their car had that kind of mileage.

 

It's worth restoring if it's worth it to you. The odds are stacked against you ever getting your value back on what you put in. It's easy to invest WAY more than what the value of the car is or possibly will be, even with just a quality paint job! If the goal is personal, then go for it. If it's a retirement investment, look elsewhere.

Saying painting should be the first step is possibly overly simplistic. It may or may not be correct. The order to do the restoration depends heavily on what condition the car is in, what must be done, what's optional, what's OK, what's your budget, what's your timeframe, etc, etc.

If the condition is to be truly as it rolled off the assembly floor, then you may end up doing a nut and bolt restoration (or "frame-off"). Everything from the body, chassis, electrical, mechanical, interior, brakes & suspension, etc, etc will need to be inspected. That's the only true way to know what's right and what's wrong with your ride. Then based on that, you can begin to determine the sequence of work.

Personally, starting with so many unkowns, until I new the true condition of everything and how far I want to take the restoration, painting would definitly not be the first thing. Unless all I want is a nice & clean daily driver.

Good luck.

 

Would this car happen to be white, with t-tops? If it is, I wonder if its the same one I was going to look at that I found on Craigslist about 2 months ago...I'm in Southampton MA. I missed the message from the seller where he said the car wasn't sold, and to come look at it By the time I got the message a week later, it was sold from under me...

There just aren't many 75k original mile '88 IROCs in the CT/MA section of the country!

 

I did all the suspension, drivetrain, and exhaust first. Then brought it to the body shop to get painted. Last thing was interior.

Just the way i did it.

 

It is. the guy i bought it from bought it from ma. he decided after he bought it that he wanted a 90 iroc convert. He gave me a good deal, so i snatched it up.

 

Basically the way a car is typically restored to by first breaking the car down and taking off the parts that need to be replaced or repaired.

If your doing a ground up take the interior out,lights,motor etc to see what the condition of the body is.make all for your sheet metal repairs,get the body & engine bay painted,tackle the suspension,then freshen up the motor and interior,put those back in,then do the exhaust and connect that all up.

Basically just have a thought process to it,if your painting the engine bay,think ok will the new k-member get paint on it or is the old one staying in if you want any nice glossy black suspension pieces to remain that way.