It never stops.Ok,you get your car done just the way you like it,and maybe couple years go by,and you like a set of wheels and you buy them,its stuff like this that never stops.Engine rebuild ,repaint from rock chips in your paint,fix seat because it ripped with years of sitting in it,it goes on and on.The only way it would work is if you parked it in a museum or climate controlled bubble.

 

Sorry I don't get it. You are still talking about work that gets done after the initial scope is complete.

The tasks you are describing are scope changes, usually involving extra moneys.

I still think planning and budgetting your work is a good idea.

 

I know what you are saying ,im just telling you this because spending money on these cars really never stops.i know you can work up a budget and you can do what ever you want,but there will always be more money spent then your budget will allow.

 

You're right! "Wing it".

Just make sure you are not talking food off the table to support your hobby.

 

I know what you mean ,theres probably some of us that are guilty of that

 

Budget? It depends on what your expectations are. What are you going to do with the car? Is it NCRS material or a real driver? I think if you want "safe money" buy a NCRS type "correct" car. Buy the best car that fits within your budget and you should be close to done after paying the purchase price (providing you have done your homework and a thorough inspection). Now a hot rod, pro-touring, or weekend racer type car that you're not going to be affraid to drive anywhere is a totally different story. How "new" do you want the car to be. Even if you buy a car that's close to what you want there are lots of areas to "blow" the budget. New modern wheels and tires $1500.00 or maybe light weight hi tech stuff $3000.00+. How about new front and rear wheel bearings? Or maybe the 500+ horsepower motor runs hot. A new radiator with cooling fans another $1000.00 invested. I think unless you can do almost ALL the work yourself you can't build a high end car for less than 30K. I'm guessing in this economy you can find some real nice cars in the 25K range or less. Now everybody has a different vision of what their dream car would be but the bottom line is before you can think about a budget you need to decide exactly what it's going to take to satisfy your C3 desire. If you are realistic with your finances and your expectations and you buy with your head not your heart you shouldn't break the bank. Patience and planning will go a long way here.

 

I was in Charlevoix, MI yesterday walking the docks- those boats looked like an expensive hobby to me but from what I saw and heard no one was worried about the budget- the government also seems to not worry about the budget- so maybe in our hobby we shouldn't either-

 

Will I get a bailout though if i spend way beyond my means?

 

My divorce will cost even more if she ever finds out.

 

I guess I'm one of the few, but I keep a detailed budget of my engine swap. With my current situation, I knew I could do it, but I needed to know how much it would cost (roughly) first.

I created an estimate on everything I could find out about my swap. I planned out my direction and figured out almost very move I would make. I tried to cover every detail in every category. I researched cost of the parts, estimated high and put it into the spread sheet. I then added 10% to the final tally. This was to understand what the total would be. I didn't want to be half way through to find out I'm out of money and won't get enough for quite some time.

This is an old screen shot and it has been updated/modified since then (the final estimate before pulling the trigger was closer to $11k and A LOT more items were added):



Things were forgotten and thing have been tweaked along the way, but so far I'm tracking way below my estimate and I'm staying on budget.

I've also tallied a parts list of all things I've bought for the swap (outside of tools and cleaners) in order to have a list when something fails in the future. This isn't your regular swap and I feel the extra care now will pay off big time later.

You can all go and flame away, but I feel this is the smart way to handle a larger project. For little things here and there, this is overkill, but having a way to estimate and track your budget is a great way of keeping yourself out of trouble.

 

The last time i figured out how much money i spent over the years ,i got really depressed,and that was about 10 years ago,so i dont even want to add it up now so i dont,i do what i want to do to the car and with what ever money i have to spend on it,which isnt much now a days But over the years, 28 years, i have spent ALOT. i dont sweat about it anymore Im just going to enjoy it , life is too short to worry about it.

 

Congratulations Dude, well done

Next time someone tells you a job will be triple what you think, you can call

 

Thanks!

One of the driving factors for me was hearing how different LS swaps were getting out of control. I couldn't afford being way off.

I also feel when I'm done I'll be able to answer the many times repeated question "how much does an LS swap cost?" and answer it definitively.

 

Here's what I have so far....
Anything else I should be adding that I'm leaving out?

 

That looks good to me. The only thing I would have added is manufacturers and part numbers. Makes replacement parts easier to find.

A solid job you did there.

 

My budget is whatever it takes to get the job done to my satisfaction. I also consider this a hobby and labor of love. I do keep track of the major expenditures which in my book is anything over $100.00 (with a vintage Corvette that is just about anything!) so I will have some idea how much I have spent when I am done. I know that if I take 5 years to get the project done and spend twenty-five thousand in the process I will not be able to sell it for what I have into it but the time I spend with my sons is, like the commercial says, "priceless".

 

Some of the numbers seem a little light.

What is your goal for the car?

 

What numbers seem light?

I want the car to handle and drive more like a modern corvette. But not so much so that it'll take thousands to get it that way. I already have the suspension package and i feel it's going to handle pretty good with that.

I bought the nicer one without having to go to coil overs and the expensive kits.

Eventually I'll either fix up the engine in the car but i'd really like to do an LS swap.. but having not done any engine type work i'm not ready for that just yet i think...

 

It's good to see the detail you have in your estimte

I would recommend sorting it by the area of the car the detail is related too.
If you format it this way you can have a price for each major work item.

You have a lot of shop supplies listed that should be seperated from the car pricing.

Your hardware costs are the items that need to be increased.
Nuts, bolts, washers, trim screws etc. add up to a pretty penny and you will need a good supply.
Grade 8 and stainless fasteners can cost you over $20 every time you visit a hardware store (you will go there often!).
Bulk buying fasteners is far more cost effective but you will not likely need that many so you will be buying piecemeal which costs.

Some of the consumables you have are in sort quantities.
Items like blasting media, solvents, spray paint you will be continuously replacing as you use them up, so your need bump those numbers up to account for the amount you will use over the life of the project.

It looks like you will be replacing a lot of suspension components so an alignment will need to be added.

Motor mprovement could require outside help, so you should add some money in to pay the expert.

I'd recommend bumping up the headlight restoration costs.
The used assemblies you have listed could need extra work.
Having said that, a full restoration on the headlight assemblies you have would only cost a little over the price you have listed doing the work yourself.

Lastly, tell me how you attached your spreadsheet to your post. I've tried that unsuccessfully in the past and would like to learn.

Great work, keep it up

 

I just took 2 screen shots of the spread sheet so i can't help with how to attach one. Any larger and I wouldn't have been able to do it very easily.

The list is just the money i've spent so far, not future plans as of yet.
But as i'm getting more and more organized I should be adding information on what projects I still need to do(cooling system, paint, interior, seats, engine stuff.....) As well as finding a better way to sort the list. Suspension, Engine, Interior, supplies, Body, ....)

I can tell you there is already a few times i've gone to buy paint or bolts that I haven't put on the list. Not all that much but some. I go to rural king for that as I can buy grade 8 for $3/lb which has a lot of course threaded ones, or grade 5 for $2.50/lb which has a lot of fine threaded stuff. Plus cheapish paint that lasts enough to make it worth it.

I have a column to the right that is for optional costs. If i buy it and use it up on this car it's not optional. Like most of the paint/bolts/blasting media will be used on this car and when done will have been used up or needing replacing. But the blasting box, and other things I will be hopefully using later on down the road so eventually it can be put in it's own category as general use items.

Headlights came to me in almost working order, I blasted and painted, installed and now have working headlights for about $450