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Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 165
CEG\'er
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OP
CEG\'er
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 165 |
Well, trucks actually. I am trying to decide what to do with my truck. I know that you put more money into a vehicle than you can sell it for, but I thought that I would check if anyone here has restored an older vehicle. How much does a typical restoration cost? Other than paint, what are the most expensive things to do (bodywork, interior, etc.)? Anyone know of any good websites that have basic information? I am planning on calling some local places to get info, but I would like to sound somewhat intelligent when asking questions.
Truck stats:
1977 Dodge Powerwagon Adventurer (1/2 ton)
Club Cab
Extended Bed
400 cubic inch engine
Edelbrock carb. and manifold
Contour--It will make a master mechanic out of you!
95 LX MTX Bolt-ons
95 Neon SOHC ATX
77 Dodge Powerwagon-more displacement than my Neon, Contour, and wife's Saturn---combined!
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 8,301
Addicted CEG\'er
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Addicted CEG\'er
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 8,301 |
It depends on what you can do yourself and what you will have to pay someone else to do. Im doing 99% of the restoration on my truck myself (engine, interior, paint, wiring). Anything else (any welding, exhaust) will be done by friends for little to no money involved.
The cost will depend also on what kind of resto. If you just want it to look and run good, or a 100 point resto, that can get very expensive.
IMO, the drivetrain will be the most expensive, if you pay someone else to do it. Machining and head work will make up a lot of that cost. The actual rebuilding can be done yourself if you even have decent mechanical skills.
The real cost will be in all the little things that add up, such as you may think thats a small dent on the fender, but it might be a lot worse if someone did a bad bondo job before you got the truck and you have to strip it all off and start over again. If you do it yourself it means it will take a lot longer than you expected. If you pay someone, then its big bucks. Or you decide to rewire the radio and realise that all the wiring under the dash is shot and needs to be replaced. If your gonna do that, you might as well rewire the whole truck, its old enough to need it. Neither jobs are really that hard if you take your time and learn as much as you can before you start it.
Get a few books on restoring cars or trucks. No matter what vehicle is being restored in the book, there are still plenty of tips and info you can use for your own truck. Buy books on engine rebuilding, electrical systems, and bodywork.
Surf Ebay. I have saved so much money buying parts from there. I got a brand new radiator for $10, a factory 4 barrel intake for $40, and a full gasket set for $45. Plenty of deals to be had there.
It can be a fun project, and if you shop around and get the good deals, it wont be that expensive either. I went into my restoration fully knowing what Im getting into, and I expect to put about 10K into my truck to make it magazine worthy. I also know it might be double that before I am actually done. I got lucky in that my truck is solid, no rust and is 100% complete. It runs so I dont HAVE to rebuild the motor, but Im going to anyway. I drove it for 7 years so I know all the little quirks and problems it had before, so there will be little or no suprises.
Good luck and have fun. The more work you do yourself, the more you will appreciate the effort when its all done.
-Ken V.
1998.5 SE Praire Tan Zetec ATX
psycho_bass@hotmail.com
Roush springs Roush rear sway bar BAT struts 17" Millie Miglia HT3 and a ton of subtle asthetic mods
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 3,335
Hard-core CEG'er
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Hard-core CEG'er
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 3,335 |
Originally posted by Oeneus:
Truck stats:
1977 Dodge Powerwagon Adventurer (1/2 ton)
Club Cab
Extended Bed
400 cubic inch engine
Edelbrock carb. and manifold
Each and every Dodge (truck) of that era that I have owned has had rusty floors. All of them except my current one have had rusty rear wheel arches and the lower rear section of the front fenders. One even had a bad enough case of cancer that the rockers were gone! My current truck is going to get new front fenders, rockers, bedsides and rear bed corners to make it straight again. The sad part, its not rusty (Nevada truck) but the metal has seen plenty of objects being pushed into it. New door weatherstriping is available through Checker Auto for a decent price (they have to look it up in their book), so far I have only found the window wipers at the dealer. You can also pick up the bushings for the windshield wipers from Checker for cheap. Gets rid of almost all of the play in the wipers. Clean out your heater box if you already havent, its probably full of leaves. Hopefully you didnt open it while going down the freeway.  A metal screen over the holes below the cowl panel will solve this problem.
If its a 4x4, expect to spend a little more on the drag link from the steering box to the spindle. It was like a two year part and it shows in the price. AutoZone does have it for the cheapest I have found, of $100. Also, being a 4x4, I would look at your steering u-joints before you drive too much. They wernt greaseable from the factory, so they probably havent seen any since Dodge put it together. The replacements are cheap, and are also cheap insurance with you being a full-time 4x4.
You may find these helpful: rustrepair.com Ebay is also a good source for some hard to find items, like an 8-track. Partsvoice.com is also good for finding hard to find items since Mopar seems to have their part number stamped in everything. If you need a little more help, I would reccomend signing up to the Mopar Mailing List if you already havent. Ramchargercentral.com is also a decent place to put some of your questions.
Also, through the years, I have found that the headlamp harness sucks (not suprising hearing that from me). The 26+ years of service tends to make the contacts in the switches poor at best. I have even had one truck (`74 D100, RIP  ) go so far as to short out its dimmer switch making me drive home without headlamps. Luckily I was less then a mile from home, on back roads and a quick wire through the flasher relay gave me extra bright park lamps. Anyway, I would suggest rewiring the headlamp harness on the radiator support. Doing this on my past Ramcharger I was able to get incandesent lamps to shine slightly brighter then halogens (until I rewired the halogen). I have done this to the `77 as well, it is a much needed mod that doesnt cost a whole lot. Granted, I would only want to do this on a truck that I was going to drive. If you are trying to take it back to perfect stock, stay away. Replace the rag joint in the steering too. Every single truck of this era that I have owned (4) have had the rag joints dying creating sloppy steering.
Long reply, but I am just sharing what I have found. 
· Jon Miconi
· Coming Soon!
· 01 Cougar
· 98 V70R
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 4,149
Hard-core CEG'er
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Hard-core CEG'er
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 4,149 |
Let's put it this way, there isn't a business plan in existence that makes financial sense to restore a vehicle.  It has to be for the love of car. I'll agree that the drivetrain can get expensive, but it is also the thing that most people can do themselves (save machine work). Putting on a show quality paint job requires great skill and infrastructure that is outside the realm of most shadetrees. Therefore, bodywork is the most expensive area IMHO. When done right it's also one of the most rewarding.
-- 1999 SVT #220 --
In retrospect, it was all downhill from here. RIP, CEG.
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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 3,667
Hard-core CEG'er
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Hard-core CEG'er
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 3,667 |
Originally posted by bigMoneyRacing:
Let's put it this way, there isn't a business plan in existence that makes financial sense to restore a vehicle. It has to be for the love of car.
My dad bought our cutlass about 75% done for $2000... He put about $4k into it (2k for full interior, 1k for suspension work and 1k for engine externals... the block is still original) and I guarantee I could sell it and turn a profit. Maybe even double.
It IS possible to make money, you just have to be careful. A car with a [censored] interior and a list has no value at all... but if you can find something with solid body work and good paint, and a functioning drivetrain, it is easy to do a little work and resell it.
My car won't win any concours, but its very good looking, I take very good care of it, and it always gets tons of looks from people on the street, which is all I ever want it to do.
Diesel owns you
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Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 165
CEG\'er
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OP
CEG\'er
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 165 |
Thanks for the answers guys! Oh, and it has 33x10.5 tires and a 4"(?) lift. It is the exact same as when I get it as a wedding present a year ago. Obviously at some point in its life, someone was going the off road route, but I am not sure that that is what I want. The cab floor is rusted, but the bed is in great shape. The engine sucks gas, but other wise is good. My goal was to have an awesome interior with a clean, attention grabbing extertior that didn't involve slamming it to the ground and 20"+ wheels. I can't stand large wheels on cars built before 1990  . In my limited research, I have found very few longbeds that are show qualtiy (instead of off-road beasts) and thought it would be something different. I guess I should say that my ORIGIONAL thoughts were that if I can sell it now for $2000, if I put in 1000, would it be worth 3grand, or only like 2500? Sounds like if I make the interior decent, that is the best bang for the buck (as far as increasing value?) I am thinking right now that I should find somebody who wants an off-road beast and start new somewhere else. Anybody want to buy a truck?
Contour--It will make a master mechanic out of you!
95 LX MTX Bolt-ons
95 Neon SOHC ATX
77 Dodge Powerwagon-more displacement than my Neon, Contour, and wife's Saturn---combined!
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,789
I feel Guilty, Oh so guilty
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I feel Guilty, Oh so guilty
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,789 |
You can also do a show quality paint job out in your lawn. My dad has done 4 100 point cars with a portable air compressor and a $300.00 Binks spray gun. It's certainly possible, but not as ideal as the conditions a pro shop would have.
"If you are flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit"
-Mitch Hedberg
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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 3,667
Hard-core CEG'er
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Hard-core CEG'er
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 3,667 |
Originally posted by Oeneus:
if I can sell it now for $2000, if I put in 1000, would it be worth 3grand, or only like 2500?
It just depends on what you do to it. If the truck would be worth 4grand, but its only worth 2 because of the hole in the cab floor and the fact that the seats have holes in them, if you put $1000 into it to fix those problems, it'll be worth 4g, and you'll make 1k profit. While newer used cars have a set value, older used cars are only worth what someone will pay for them... that's why its tricky and often very difficult to make money. Good luck though!
Diesel owns you
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 27
New CEG\'er
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New CEG\'er
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 27 |
I love older cars. It make sense to me to restore them even if you can't sell them for waht you have in them. I am doing a restoration of my wife and my 1980 Trans-Am. We are kind of hot rodding it though. It is a Turbo T/A with the 301V8 Turbo. The turbo design was all wrong for the motor. We are strengthening the bottom end, crank, and other stuff. Then we are gonna get the heads and intake manifold ported and polished. The turbo set-up is gonna change to the same style set-up that's on the GNX and GTA. The car's also gonna be converted to fuel injection. All of the header, turbo ducts and intercooler and intercooler mounts are going to be custom made. It is a lot of money and hard work but the end result will be a somewhat looking stock Turbo T/A with stock HP of 210HP converted and making around 400HP.
I think its worth it to see others faces and watch them disappear in the mirror.
1998 Contour SE V6
2002 Focus ZTS
1980 Turbo Trans-Am
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Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 5,725
Hard-core CEG'er
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Hard-core CEG'er
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 5,725 |
i agree with all of the points above.
restoring a car is a love thing. i personally love working on my MG, but the process is very long and time consuming and expensive. but i can't wait to see the finished product and drive my little car around town with a stupid sh!t eating grin when it's finished.
For Sale:
- Sony PSP with a Baseball 2k6 and the movie Crash. $100
- 1973 Karmann Ghia Convertible w/ Auto-Stick. Needs Restoration. $1200 OBO
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