Originally Posted by sofakingdom

No, I'm not really "missing the point"...

I think you are.

Looking at those pics I see a front cap including bumper cover & ground effects, not just fenders, although since it has the SMC hood, that might be repairable; COMPLETE interior, wheels, weatherstripping, maybe a few other significant pieces here & there. It's been a squirrel nest so there's no telling how much wiring is chewed up or what it smells like. Obviously can't tell whether it "needs" a motor or not, you'll have to be the judge of that; but if it does, "rebuilding" the original is probably not the wisest choice anyway. But motors are EEEEEZY; lots of that other stuff is MUCH tougher to come up with, and MUCH more expensive in many cases.

You're going to need essentially a whole car in good shape that you can tear down to put its pieces on this one, PLUS all the stuff that has to be replaced (weatherstripping) with new. It's not going to "buff".

In the "sense" dept, if you've got to buy a good car ANYWAY, how does it "make sense" to destroy THAT to fix THIS one, rather than the other way around?

"Sentiment" and all that, tends to work in the opposite direction from "good sense". I have heard over and over again about "this was my 1st car", "lots of good memories", all manner of such stuff, concerning such a car as this; it has rarely ever turned out well. Always seems to go over budget, take years, and come up short of re-creating whatever the owner is shooting for, especially since the car itself is just a heartless soulless chunk of metal and plastic with no "memories" or "sentiments" of its own. Just a mass-produced consumer good, with many virtually identical copies indistinguishable from each other originally.

While I can't of course "predict" that the same thing will happen here, I can definitely see a strong likelihood. That's the reason for my skepticism. "Sentiment" and "My First Car" typically end up taking a back seat to "bank account", "24 hrs in a day", "city condemned the junk heap in my front yard", etc.

You came here for advice, looks like you want cheerleading. I'm not a cheerleader, sorry. All I can do is provide advice, based on MANY repetitions of the same theme that I've witnessed. Since you don't appear to want that, there's not much I can add. Which is too bad; I REALLY like these cars, especially HO ones, and that's one of the sharper looking color combos. Damn shame it turned into what it turned into.

Best of luck in your project; you'll probably need quite a bit.

Originally Posted by Z28Disaster

Later this year i will start to tear down and begin this project. I will post a build thread and update it as i go.

Originally Posted by kmcn47

awe come on. let him tell you why your opinion of your car and what to do with it is wrong some more

Originally Posted by Z28Disaster

Originally Posted by sofakingdom

Looks to me like the part about "LS1" is the least of your worries at this point...

Doesn't look worth salvaging to me. That is, you can get another in better shape, for FAR less than fixing that one.

Think of it this way: You have a start point (where you are now, with a pretty much used-up junker) and an end point (where you want to be, which is, with a functional car that's not an embarrassment or anything). Everything in between "start" and "end" is a blank canvas, waiting for you to fill it in. You have any number of ways to fill in all those blanks; "restore" what's left of that hulk, buy another similar car and make 1 good car out of 2, part that one out and use the money to buy another, etc. etc. etc. etc. Realize that the choice you make, will make THOUSANDS of dollars of difference in what it will take to get from "start" to "end", as well as no telling how much difference in time, labor, risk, etc.

Choose wisely.

Originally Posted by kmcn47

awe come on. let him tell you why your opinion of your car and what to do with it is wrong some more

Originally Posted by Z28Disaster

Most 82-84 third gens will need just about the same parts. I am talkin about weatherstrip, paint, seats redone, carpet, misc things. The body parts i need are not that much money. The ground effects are in my shed. The door panels are in amazing shape. The plastics for the interior all in good shape and need only to be dyed/painted. The wiring is all there and not chewed up. Its alot of labor involved i agree. But i do bodywork/painting for a living. This thing will get 100% disassembled go and on my rotiserie and get blasted down to bare metal. I have done many restos on some real buckets over the years. This is not one of them. I am not looking for you to cheerlead. This is the car i am doing. If you feel its not worth it thats your opinion and i respect it. Even if we disagree.

Later this year i will start to tear down and begin this project. I will post a build thread and update it as i go.

Originally Posted by dmccain

Originally Posted by Z28Disaster

Most 82-84 third gens will need just about the same parts. I am talkin about weatherstrip, paint, seats redone, carpet, misc things. The body parts i need are not that much money. The ground effects are in my shed. The door panels are in amazing shape. The plastics for the interior all in good shape and need only to be dyed/painted. The wiring is all there and not chewed up. Its alot of labor involved i agree. But i do bodywork/painting for a living. This thing will get 100% disassembled go and on my rotiserie and get blasted down to bare metal. I have done many restos on some real buckets over the years. This is not one of them. I am not looking for you to cheerlead. This is the car i am doing. If you feel its not worth it thats your opinion and i respect it. Even if we disagree.

Later this year i will start to tear down and begin this project. I will post a build thread and update it as i go.

Originally Posted by sofakingdom

Anybody that'd tell ya the TRUTH, has GOT TO BE a jerk.

Just doesn't get much worse than that.

What an insensitive you-know-what-hole.

Originally Posted by Z28Disaster

But what you are saying is an opinion, not the truth or a fact. You speak from opinion not from experiance. You say how you see people run into issues with builds. Whether its builds guys post on the internet or people you know personally......but have you done a actual restoration yourself? There are always issues with EVERY build. Any seasoned tech knows this. Mine will be no different. What you are saying and how you are saying it makes you seem like a dick and you are getting called out for it.

At this point only decision i have made is THIS car is gettin done. What you suggest is not even an option. But thanks for responding and taking the time to post your thoughts.

Originally Posted by Z28Disaster

But what you are saying is an opinion, not the truth or a fact. You speak from opinion not from experiance. You say how you see people run into issues with builds. Whether its builds guys post on the internet or people you know personally......but have you done a actual restoration yourself? There are always issues with EVERY build. Any seasoned tech knows this. Mine will be no different. What you are saying and how you are saying it makes you seem like a dick and you are getting called out for it.

At this point only decision i have made is THIS car is gettin done. What you suggest is not even an option. But thanks for responding and taking the time to post your thoughts.

Originally Posted by kmcn47

do me a favor during the resto? peel that goddamn stupid sticker off and burn it, burn that k&n filter too. i can't stand k&n filters

Originally Posted by sofakingdom

especially since the car itself is just a heartless soulless chunk of metal and plastic with no "memories" or "sentiments" of its own. Just a mass-produced consumer good, with many virtually identical copies indistinguishable from each other originally.