hsokhi

UPDATE: I did it. Updated pics....




I have body and frame damage on my 5 speed sc.

Rather than paying for a frame puller and paint job I'm looking to buy a high mileage auto sc with a clean well kept body.

I will save money by swapping all my low mileage parts onto the high mileage chassis and selling the salvage chassis with high mileage parts.

My plan is
Remove motor and trans
Remove rear subframe
Remove front subframe
Remove interior
Rinse repeat and assemble on the other car

Does anyone have any advice for me as I have never stripped a car like this before?

The parts I'm most concerned about is the ac components, braking components, airbags, and fuel lines.

I think I need to get my freon purged before disassembly and as far as abs unit and the hard lines for the brakes, is there anything I should know?
Any air bubbles in my abs module or brake lines can be pulled out by any brake shop right?

Any help or advice would be appreciated guys.

I have two weeks to take apart and reassemble two cars.

Thanks!

freakness

Dude,


Do not do this. You will turn your life into a living hell.


- Chester

hsokhi

I appreciate your concern but care to elaborate on your experience?

Ime when working on cars nothing ever EVER goes smoothly or as planned...

I just have zero experience at all with AC and I've never removed the abs module before or airbags before.

Everything else I have the tools, space, and capabilties.

Any advice would be helpful. I haven't started yet so even if you can talk me out of it with horror stories that would be a good thing.

But as of now I got paid time off work and plan to start this Sunday.
Seems like a good way to save a couple grand with sweat equity.

Simple, but not easy.

mikef

iTrader: (3)

If your going to do all this then I would replace all the gaskets and timing while it's out. Maybe just go GTE might be worth it over sticking an old greasy engine back in. I don't think it's worth it if your not upgrading. There's no thrills after its all done. It's like eating the same food over and over.

hsokhi

I have a gte that I'm working on but I need about 2-3 more grand of brand new dealership parts and machine shop work that I'm saving up for.

The reason I' was planning on doing this chassis swap is bc I miss having a cherry pristine car. My car was beautiful before tragedy struck. It runs well and is still fun as hell to drive.
My current ge motor is spotless and well taken care of already. I do all my own work.


Here's some back story for perspective
I'm 24 yrs old, and I have lots of time lots of energy very little money and I can go and go and go without much sleep.

If you guys can talk me out of doing this I do have an insurance check to pay for body work but,
I am really trying to get this done in a way where I have money afterwards to spend on other things.

Someone check me if I'm being unreasonable and arrogant

SC3coupe

iTrader: (4)

I agree with others don't do it. We are not talking about go karts here right?
a 3500lb lexus with AC and everything? Pulling off stuff is not so bad (sometimes bad) , to re-assemble into both cars? In 2 weeks? Maybe doable for a ASE master mechanic in a shop environment working 8 hours a day.

I would recommend parting out what you can and sit on the cash and buy the next low mileage SC that comes along.

Boxxx

If it were me, find a nice lower miles automatic SC300(or SC400) and just swap the trans and all of its bits from your totaled car over. Then sell the totaled car off for parts, keep it as parts, or part it out. Should be able to get the trans conversion done in less than two weeks. You might even end up with a nicer car for it if maybe there's a particular colour that you really want, or maybe you want black interior instead of tan or what have you.

eknine9

iTrader: (8)

How big is the check insurance cut you? Knowing that will help us give you advice the most.

LEXOWINO

I would do away with the heavy seats.

Id also delete (properly) the rear sears and belts.

Remove the CD player if you have one.

Remove sound deadening. Replave with DEI Goodness.

With out make the car super uncomfortable stripping interiors usually cannot be reversed.

hsokhi

I've stripped the entire interior many times, I know how to do it without messing up or breaking parts.

I got $6100 back from the insurance. I spent about $2200 on brand new control arms, steering knuckles, bearings, a reman steering rack, and other random stuff to make it roadworthy.

I also just spent about $650 to get my rims repaired.

And I gotta buy 3 brand new tires. Maybe $250-300 for some cheapos.

That puts me at about $3000 left for bodywork and paint.

I'm gonna do it though.
I'm gonna buy a car tomorrow for $2000 and swap chassis!

Munch517

I can only offer advice on the interior as I just swapped mine. Just bag and label everything, it's smart to clean everything really good while it's apart also. The only somewhat difficult part is the dash, there's a good guide for that here that will prevent you from removing unnecessary things. Also keep all the extra parts from the car your scrapping that you have storage for.

...And don't be like me and forget to swap your key cylinders for the trunk and glove box.

I will add that my interior rattled a bit before I swapped it but my new interior doesn't seem to at all. If you do it right you should have very good results, it took me less than 25 hours of moderately paced work to remove two full interiors and put one back in.

2jzMoe

It can be done, but will be a pain. I have done this kind of project before and its not easy without the correct tools (air tools and a second set of hands will make life a lot better)
The time and effort you will have to put in will be a lot, it is a lot easier to just get a low mileage shell from the beginning. Just make sure that you understand what all of the procedures are before starting the work on that part of the car; and think about what needs to be done after (properly bleeding systems, sealing, alignment, stuff like that). Whatever your budget is, multiply it by at least a factor of two. The big parts are not bad, but the little things are what will drain your pockets quickly.

hsokhi

Well, here I go.

hsokhi

Well, after 15 days, a lot of missed sleep, crazy amounts of work. The thing can move under it's own power.

hsokhi

.............