worth keeping or start over?
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10th Gear
Joined: May 2022
Posts: 10
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From: virginia
worth keeping or start over?
So after almost 4 years of owning my sc 300, i've hit a wall (metaphorically) and am having a hard time deciding what to do. I bought this car in high school without half a clue what to look for when buying a used car of course, and long story short i've come to the conclusion teenage me effectively bought a "totaled" car and now i have no motivation to put more money into it without dealing blaring issue that is my frame not being straight. For reference its a 1997 "clean" title factory auto, with a w58 swap and a decent amount of suspension work done. other than that its effectively bone stock. But from the looks of it the top-hat of one of the strut towers were pushed back in what i'd assume was a pretty significant accident before i owned the car. I went to a body shop and they just kind of glanced at the car and told me it would be ~$3k to get the frame straight and panel gaps all fixed and supposedly have the front end re sprayed... Question i'm dealing with now is do i bother investing the money into getting that fixed? or do i just cut my losses and try to find another SC with a clean body. I had plans of going NA-T and the works, already buying an ECU and parting together a turbo kit... but going through all that effort feels like a waste unless i can get the car to a point where it'll look nice as well.
If anyone else with experience getting frame/ bodywork done on SC's could chime in and give me a blunt answer that would be appreciated. I personally feel it looks pretty grim but i'd be lying if i didn't have some sentimental attachment to this junk.
can provide pictures another time if anyone thinks they can be helpful. I feel like the estimate i was given was kind of BS but that's all unfamiliar territory for me.
If anyone else with experience getting frame/ bodywork done on SC's could chime in and give me a blunt answer that would be appreciated. I personally feel it looks pretty grim but i'd be lying if i didn't have some sentimental attachment to this junk.
can provide pictures another time if anyone thinks they can be helpful. I feel like the estimate i was given was kind of BS but that's all unfamiliar territory for me.
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Joined: Feb 2020
Posts: 659
Likes: 155
From: CA
Perspective. How much money do you have invested in it? Do you have a spare car?
a clean example fetches from 10k and up, you can always drive it as is as you save up and swap everything over when you find a good one. In the long run maybe keep it as a track car, if you're into that and keep the clean for the future.
a clean example fetches from 10k and up, you can always drive it as is as you save up and swap everything over when you find a good one. In the long run maybe keep it as a track car, if you're into that and keep the clean for the future.
Metalwork of any kind is time-consuming and very expensive, and not everyone that does it does it well. In general, those projects are only financially sensible if you can do them yourself. Paying someone else to do them, you'll be so far in the hole on the car, it becomes one of those "if you have to ask, you can't afford it" things.
Honestly, I would treat it as a part car, either for you or someone else. If you can find a solid car with blown engine or ratty interior, you can swap all your good stuff over. I still see them show up for $1-2k with no obvious damage. Or, sell it to someone else with the ability to do the necessary structural work on it. I respectfully disagree with Tallyhoe's ending thought about making it a track car: that seems very dangerous with the condition it's in.
Honestly, I would treat it as a part car, either for you or someone else. If you can find a solid car with blown engine or ratty interior, you can swap all your good stuff over. I still see them show up for $1-2k with no obvious damage. Or, sell it to someone else with the ability to do the necessary structural work on it. I respectfully disagree with Tallyhoe's ending thought about making it a track car: that seems very dangerous with the condition it's in.
Thread Starter
10th Gear
Joined: May 2022
Posts: 10
Likes: 2
From: virginia
Metalwork of any kind is time-consuming and very expensive, and not everyone that does it does it well. In general, those projects are only financially sensible if you can do them yourself. Paying someone else to do them, you'll be so far in the hole on the car, it becomes one of those "if you have to ask, you can't afford it" things.
Honestly, I would treat it as a part car, either for you or someone else. If you can find a solid car with blown engine or ratty interior, you can swap all your good stuff over. I still see them show up for $1-2k with no obvious damage. Or, sell it to someone else with the ability to do the necessary structural work on it. I respectfully disagree with Tallyhoe's ending thought about making it a track car: that seems very dangerous with the condition it's in.
Honestly, I would treat it as a part car, either for you or someone else. If you can find a solid car with blown engine or ratty interior, you can swap all your good stuff over. I still see them show up for $1-2k with no obvious damage. Or, sell it to someone else with the ability to do the necessary structural work on it. I respectfully disagree with Tallyhoe's ending thought about making it a track car: that seems very dangerous with the condition it's in.
Thread Starter
10th Gear
Joined: May 2022
Posts: 10
Likes: 2
From: virginia
i can align the car to be straight and have even camber, but cause of the strut tower its impossible for the caster to be even on both sides. i prob have a picture of my alignment sheet somewhere
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Joined: Feb 2020
Posts: 659
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From: CA
Metalwork of any kind is time-consuming and very expensive, and not everyone that does it does it well. In general, those projects are only financially sensible if you can do them yourself. Paying someone else to do them, you'll be so far in the hole on the car, it becomes one of those "if you have to ask, you can't afford it" things.
Honestly, I would treat it as a part car, either for you or someone else. If you can find a solid car with blown engine or ratty interior, you can swap all your good stuff over. I still see them show up for $1-2k with no obvious damage. Or, sell it to someone else with the ability to do the necessary structural work on it. I respectfully disagree with Tallyhoe's ending thought about making it a track car: that seems very dangerous with the condition it's in.
Honestly, I would treat it as a part car, either for you or someone else. If you can find a solid car with blown engine or ratty interior, you can swap all your good stuff over. I still see them show up for $1-2k with no obvious damage. Or, sell it to someone else with the ability to do the necessary structural work on it. I respectfully disagree with Tallyhoe's ending thought about making it a track car: that seems very dangerous with the condition it's in.
Thread Starter
10th Gear
Joined: May 2022
Posts: 10
Likes: 2
From: virginia
right now im just looking for a rust free running and driving <1997 sc. the whole point of "starting over" for me is to have a stock car that hasn't been ran through, just waiting for the right deal to show up. Anyone know what these cars are actually selling for btw? I feel like 3-5k is reasonable for what i'm looking for but maybe i'm out of touch
You sure the towers are tweaked? it would take a lot to do that and you would notice lots of other things being off.
If it is though then yeah, find another chassis but that is getting harder to do these days even if you have the $$ there are just less of them out there.
If it is though then yeah, find another chassis but that is getting harder to do these days even if you have the $$ there are just less of them out there.
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