engine and drivetrain Where To Start On Restoration ?

[NickOrciuolo]

I have had my 2002 for 6 years now. I have not given her much love the past 2 years do to the restoration of a house I bought. I want to take the next couple years and give the car the attention that I have always had in mind.  I also am curious if anyone can share costs, I know that each project is different but I want to get a budget in place. 

 

New paint

Interior

Wheels 

Engine 

 

I also wanted to take the time to learn more about the car and learn some new skills.I finally have some space and a steady income, and thought this would be a good time. My thoughts were to strip the car down for paint, rebuild the motor and start fresh. I wanted to know if anyone had any feedback for me. I guess the idea is a scary one and I needed a push in the right direction.. 

 

All the best.

 

Nick 

[AceAndrew]

Nick,  It really depends I know a lot of times we kind of "fall-into" a restoration.  Personally I brake it down as follows....

 

-Brakes

-Suspension+Steering

-Engine

-Exhaust

-Cooling+Radiators

-Ignition+Electrical

-Clutch/Driveline/Diff

-Body+Chassis

-Interior

-Wheels

 

IF part of your plan is to learn more about the car, it might be wise to take baby steps before tearing the complete car apart for body/paint.  I'd suggest the restoration of your suspension as a good way to start since it's well documented and you can then take it off easily once your ready for body (if your cars going onto a rotisserie or casters).

Edited December 3, 2013 by AceAndrew

[jdeitch]

WOW... This is a open ended question.  This website is the GREAT tool you can use to answer this question, and most any other 2002 questions you might have. Use the search function. Try using quotation marks to narrow search results.  NUMEROUS restorations documented here.  Lots of knowledgeable and friendly folks here to help.

 

I started a blog on my '75 2002 restoration. You can find the link in my signature.  Sorry to says it is WAY out of date. 

 

IMHO I prefer to get all of the mechanical work/restoration done first.  Body and interior last. This method reduces the likelihood of damaging fresh paint, etc.

 

Let me know if I can help in any way. I'm in Las Vegas, NV.  Numerous projects going now, including 3 2002s.

[gliding_serpent2]

What is your skill/experince level (have you testored a car before), how much time do you have, and what kind of setup/tools do you have. All key questions to best guide an approach and estimate cost.

My rule is expect to replace more than anticipated. Double and quotes others give you for work and add 50% to that again for the unexpected. Sourcing parts yourself saves a lot. If you are doing work yourself, book 4x the time you think you need to do any job. And if you read it on the internet and a diy job is said to be easy and done in a few hours, book a weekend. It they say an afternoon.... Anticipate a week of your time.

If you are learning, expect to do it poorly the first time, ok the second, and decient the third time. You will get good the 5th time.

;-)

[Hans]

Before embarking on a serious refurb of mechanical parts, I'd want to be sure of the condition of the body and the likely cost to remediate problems. Body work and paint are not cheap, so unless you don't care about the ultimate cost, best to get an idea of what's required. Otherwise, you may end up with a lot of rebuilt components with no place to put them.

[TobyB]

I've done it both ways- mechanical first, then body, and body first, then mechanical.

 

Both have their advantages.

 

My only real recommendation is to NOT do the body and the mechanical at the same time-

too disparate a set of requirements, unless you have a 3- car- garage sized space to work in.

 

And do the brake and clutch hydraulics last- if the bodywork drags on, they don't age all that well.  The rest

of the mechanical parts don't mind much.

 

Any more, I start with the shell- get the unknowns out of the way.  But you don't have to.

 

hth

 

t

[M3M3]

body first.  get the hard part out of the way and eliminate any surprises.  there have been many for sale threads of projects where people focused on the mechanical first, then ran out or energy or found too many body issues so the projects were abandoned.   very rare to see a project abandoned at the finished shell stage.  

 

plus, you get to look at all the fresh paint while you bolt on the rest of the parts.....motivating!

[dlmrun2002]

Chicken or the egg? What to do 1sT? I did my mechanicals first. It gave me the ability to move the car around ( I have a sh*tty garage) when working on the body. Plus it gave me more time time too think about what I was going to do to the body ( color-spoilers-bumpers). You can unbolt mechanicals but you can't unbolt paint. And you'll get more scratches on your new paint job when doing mechanicals after the body work. My small meaningless opinion.

dlm ny country

Edited December 4, 2013 by dlmrun2002

[TR]

I think "Hack Mechanic" has a good philosophy on restoration.  I would loosely translate it this way:  As quickly as you can, make it safe and then take it for a drive.  This way you'll have a real feel for what makes these cars so much fun.  Then continue with your restoration and if possible do it in stages so you can take it for  "fun drives" which will help make the work worth the effort.

 

For reference as to what it can cost if you pay someone else - I called one of the best shops here on the East coast about doing my '73.  They said for a 100% complete restoration plan on $90k.  Yes, $90,000 US dollars.  I thought the amount was ridiculous until I started doing the work myself.  Working on old cars takes time and can quickly open a can of worms!  Plan on lots of hours and post pics of your car so we can see/help.

I think "Hack Mechanic" has a good philosophy on restoration.  I would loosely translate it this way:  As quickly as you can, make it safe and then take it for a drive.  This way you'll have a real feel for what makes these cars so much fun.  Then continue with your restoration and if possible do it in stages so you can take it for  "fun drives" which will help make the work worth the effort.

 

For reference as to what it can cost if you pay someone else - I called one of the best shops here on the East coast about doing my '73.  They said for a 100% complete restoration plan on $90k.  Yes, $90,000 US dollars.  I thought the amount was ridiculous until I started doing the work myself.  Working on old cars takes time and can quickly open a can of worms!  Plan on lots of hours and post pics of your car so we can see/help.

[TR]

Sorry about the double post. I hit the post button and nothing happened....so I hit it again with bigger hammer! 

[dbmw2002]

As much or as little as you want, you can rebuild calipers for 5 dollars a side, or go new oem for 200, this is the varience you will find. Dad always told me the big three were brakes battery and tires, dont skimp on these three and no matta how fast you get your jalopy going you will be able to stop, after that its all up to you, to put 90k into a 20k car wouldnt work for me, some guys wouldnt have it any other way, a year after buying my 76 and aboiut 2 k in reciepts I had a good strong dependable driver, my biggest splurge was an IE header as my original split at the seams aroud 6000 rpm, its not done and I dream of perfect paint and twin carbs but as Bob Segar say its just got to be clean, enjoy the process and when you hit that brick wall walk away, buy your bride some flowers and a chat, when you come back a new door will open, it always does 

[fsf517]

I just had this 68 coupe sand blasted and primed for $400. Next is paint shop . Putting it all back together... Now that's the challenge. Good luck, fred

[fsf517]

In my opinion , a full strip down is best. The key is finishing it in the same year, so things don't get overly scattered. Good luck.

[Harv]

If a car goes on a rotiserie, it's 10k. Then again, the results of that level restoration........ It then becomes a restoration of every single system. "Your not really gonna put that hood hold down bar on that car are you?" kinda becomes a recurrent statement. Thats how I got to where I am.

John

[Hans]

So, Fred, you found a 2000CS with no rust??