Has anyone here taken a shell with no engine or interior and made it a nice DD?

[Figit090]

There's a supra on ebay...its just a shell... and I was curious how difficult it would be to get it into great condition, a good daily driver... the paint looks good and from pics i dont see rust. besides the engine. thats done for.

the shell looks perfect.... engine is a shot GE so it would go...

but the interior and possibly lots of parts in the dash are gone looks like the gauge cluster is there however i dont see the rest.

i was just wondering how hard that might be and how expensive it might be, from someone who's had to source a whole interior from scratch....along with probably rewiring because i'd drop in a new engine and transmission...probably a new diff and driveshaft too....

on another note, what could someone make parting out body panels, glass, suspension, drive train, and exterior parts? thats not that important but if someone has a rough number off the top of their head by all means...lol.

the auction only has 8 hours left and only one bid. so it's at one dollar. but i suppose that guy could have bid 500 dollars for all i know but it still got me thinkin'....

 

[tissimo]

dont bother.. i dont even like my 92 as a dd.. i'd rather have a civic and get 35 mpg... but if you really want a supra dd, just buy a complete one..

 

[Figit090]

ok, thanks. i figured it wouldn't be worth my trouble...

you dont like yours as a DD? why not?

I'm starting to get tired of getting in and out of mine. and repairing it. sure its a beautiful car and it's fun but... its not practical. maybe that's why you feel that way.

or is it just the MPG? lol...

well this is pretty much close if not to the end of this thread. haha... the prospect was nagging me though... i hate it when impractical cars do this to me. it happens all to frequently.

 

[BorHor]

I would love a more fuel efficient car. 250 mile a tank isn't cutting it. I am waiting for my sister to get a car and trade her for DD purposes since she does not have to drive as far as I do.

 

[Datsrboi]

Ehh any car can be a good DD but it really depends how much your willing to spend. If the car has no engine and no interior, it will cost you quite a bit to get it up and going. Not to mention you have to understand its a OLD car so even if you find parts, it might be off a bit or worn down to when you are driving you hear noises from the parts not fitting tightly like a new car. Also supras do not get the best of best gas miles and you will be in need of allot of new parts for reliability. To me the thing that will kill me would be the interior and use parts not fitting tightly.

It will take LOTS of time to get it comfortable.

^^^ Kind of hard typing with no glasses so forgive me for run ons and all.

My solara in my sig when I first got it was a bad ass DD. Got more miles then my friends civic SI did when we travel............Then I JUST had to boost my car.. I get 14-17mpg on heavy driving from then on.

It was then I learn.... Its better to get a stock DD and get out every mile you can get out of your tank.

 

[Figit090]

haha.. thanks datsrboi. no problem with the sentences. sounds right, even my car which i think is all stock squeaks now and then with my window down. 21 years does play its toll on a car, in place you might not think about normally

thats one thing i never thought about until now... it makes me want to stop looking at old cars. sure they're nice and great but...i think i might be better off getting a good truck or cheap daily driver. gas is going to start hurting more now that i drive more to school... plus the whole 21 year old thing...kinda makes the car break more than i'd like. it has been good but i wouldnt be surprised if more stuff happened down the line...soon.

BorHor - what you say about trading for something else suprises me even though i see what you mean. I LOVE supras...but i'm starting to get a little worn on the idea of them. mainly because of their age and cost. if i found an awesome 91-92 in perfect condition for the right price i'd be happy as a clam..but then again, would i still worry? would issues go away for a few years? i dont know. i have the oldest model of mkIII supra so... i was hoping a 1992 (not the shell, a full car) would solve some issues.

maybe i'm wrong........

 

[tissimo]

gas milage.. its getting like 20-21 mpgs.. with premium and not much performance doesn't seem worht it.. its nice otherwise.. nice and quite (cept my lousy noisy tires).. rivals a newer lexus imo..

 

[Figit090]

good grief look at the selling price!

hahaha......

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...item=160169237735&_trksid=p3984.cWAT.m240.lVI

 

[ForcedTorque]

I'm in the middle of putting back together a shell that Too Stand had parted out already. I had a perfect interior, and several needed parts on the car that I totalled. It has been fun, but if you had to buy all the parts, it could be a pain in the ass. That interior is stripped pretty good. At that sales price, it could be worth it. If you know what you are doing, it can be done, and be pretty tight. Recommended...........I think not!

 

[akito]

good grief look at the selling price!

hahaha......

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...item=160169237735&_trksid=p3984.cWAT.m240.lVI

WOW, the winner got a good deal though. He can make ALOT out of that car and junk the shell afterward. Tails, wheels.....stuff like that. Anyway, that car would be PITA to restore and not talking about a LONG down time with it. Not recommended.

 

[suprabad]

I think everyone who said buy one that is already in decent shape is right.

It took me 2 years to get all the rattles, buzzes and squeeks out of mine.

Now everytime I hear a car make a weird noise I think it's comming from my car. Paranoia brought on by 2 years of searching out clandestine little noises.

As far as getting the car reliable for daily use, that's also expensive and frustrating. I'm on my 3rd engine in 2 years, not because they blow up, but because it's either too hot for the street or not hot enough. I'm still working on the right combination to get a good comprimise between performance and streetability.

I drive mine daily (not very far from home) but sometimes I wonder why.

 

[Bigzavs]

i bought my 86.5 shell for 425 bucks with a clean title from a junkyard, but im also not going for a true dd. its still after about 6 months of work, not fully out on the roads yet


all in all, just get one thats all together and running, itd be too much of a headache to try and build a shell for a daily

 

[Figit090]

cool thanks for the info guys.

i figure the only practical use of that car is to part it out, use it for parts on your already nice car, or drop in a sweet engine nice suspension and some body stiffeners for racing

but yeah. thanks for the discussion.

 

[ill Z]

Dunno if this helps, I got my supra for $500 with BHG and needing a serious tune up/restoration. The car had a bad fuse that I had to diagnose and repair(it just wouldn't start and prior owner had no clue why). I got it runing and limped it to my garage. For the last 6 months I rebuilt the engine and got it runing again. I didn't do too much to the motor, I went with a replacement head fully built that was ready to install(I paid right under $500 for it with shipping/warranty). I got an HG from Ebay and a complete gasket set also. I have to say everything fit well with the gaskets and so far no issues. I did go with a graphite HG and some thorough instructions from SM on how to reassemble everything. Replaced almost every hose, got a silicone hose kit from suprasport, Greddy Timing Belt a few new senors and misc items to replace/restore. The car runs as of now, needs a bit more work though. I just got new rotors and pads and once i clean my garage I'm going to install them. I drove her around my apartment complex a few times and so far she seems to hold pretty well. Motor does vibrate pretty bad at idle, I picked up new motor mounts this weekend and am waiting on my friends cherry picker to put them in(this was stupid, I should have just replaced them when the engine was in pieces). Gutted most of my interior so far and would like to just go with a 2 seater setup and as much weight reduction as possible while maintaining daily driver luxury. I need an exhaust next(stock muffler has a hole and sounds like she's backfiring at idle). She starts fairly quickly, warms up pretty decent, I've only had her to 30mph so far and only hit 4K rpm since she's been runing. She'll stay pretty stock on the motor, I'd like to do some mods as it's a hobby to upgrade. Keeping my fingers crossed nothing goes wrong from here as I'm pretty much out of money to continue at the pace i was going at earlier this year.


**IF I knew I was going through the amount of trouble i went through, I would have just bought a 1JZ or a GTE to swap in. It took me long enough to get it back on the road in the time I could have performed a worthy swap, lesson learned**