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Great thread, never really thought much about keeping track of what I'm putting into my car. I think it will be interesting to go back and figure it all out. I bought it just to enjoy driving and working on, only because I enjoy it and using it to spend time with my kids.
Restoring a C4 is not for the financially feint of heart. In the beginning, I religiously kept receipts and I totaled them up. In the first few years I dropped $19,000 into my 96; no labor; all parts. Wife found about that and blew a gasket. I don't keep receipts anymore.
Great thread. So for less than $7k you have built yourself a "new" 85 C4. You have had your hands on most of the car, know exactly what it still needs and what is fixed. I would be intrested to see a time breakdown just to put a value on your labor.
I would never add up the hours for a labor cost. I work on mine as enjoyment so i'm ahead not behind at the end of a project. But i'd guess he has $100,000 in labor as i do in mine, that is, if i were adding.
I am right there.
i bought an 86 for $8000.
drove it to work for 16 years.
put 2003 front brakes, wheels and tires on it.
put in a 383, hipo throttle body, holly pressure regulator and rebuilt injectors, 1988 chip, 1994 alternator, true dual exhaust with bullet cats, ‘91firebird trans, 96 collector car seats, 1990 rear carpet kit, rebuilt steering unit, bilsteins with polyeurethane bushings. Aluminum 3 row radiator, edelbrock water pump, high volume fuel pump, What it looks like now
had all upper surfaces repainted,
looks and drives great.
I can’t get anybody to give me more than $6000 for it.
so i will drive my money out of it!
My car was junk. Nobody here would have bought it. I felt sorry for it, and it looked like a cool project. Never owned a Corvette before. Mine is an 85.
So, I bought it for 2K with a trashed interior, a "stock rebuilt" 30 over engine that had low compression on several cylinders. (Didn't know that at the time.) A bad transmission. Bad paint. Bad tires. It was just bad. But I liked it, so I bought it anyway.
I took great interest in Branden's thread because there are always questions about what it costs to fix up a less than perfect C4, and if it affordable. If it is even worth doing. How much can be saved if OP does all the work themselves. Etc.
I think this is important because I think a lot of people psych themselves out over it. In an effort to answer the $$$ question as accurately as possible, I dug back through my RockAuto Account and the accounts from other suppliers, as well as my Amazon account.
This is as close as I can get to the definitive list for "Yeah but, what if I do it all myself?" as I am able to remember and to calculate.
The standard here is a dollar total from junk to a nice, freshly painted, (Not done yet, but the bulk of the materials obtained) 85 C4. with a new interior. A rebuilt and upgraded transmission. A refreshed engine and a Vortec/TPI with a mild cam. IOW, a nice car that runs better than stock and is a blast to drive, and with the owner doing ALL of the work himself.
I came up with about: $6500 bucks in parts and supplies. These are broken down below. If you don't want something (Like the Vortec Swap?) you can subtract it. If you can't do something yourself (Like Trans or Paint?) you can add it. If you car isn't complete junk and doesn't need all of this stuff, you can subtract.. And hopefully it will help estimate the cost of what repairing a distressed C4 would be.
This seems like a lot of money because it is, and I questioned spending it VS just junking mine and buying a nicer one. You can look at it either way, but even a nice one is 30 years old. It is stock and it still needs a lot of this stuff anyway. So, I did it thinking when I was done it would all be new and fresh. Plus, as the car had "project" status, I didn't have to do it all at once. The money and the labor was spread out, and made it easier to deal with.
TOTAL: $6,490.22
Description Amount
Dash Polarizing Kit W ship $66.00
Dash Power Supply $110.00
PCM $100.00
Engine mounts, fan relays, Hood Shocks $66.00
Oil Pump, Screen, Bearings, Gaskets, Seals, Plugs $194.00
Timing Set, Valve Cover Gasket $41.00
Rings, More Spark Plugs $66.00
Seat Covers (Red, vinyl) $262.00
Door Lock Cylinders $8.22
Hatch Struts $40.00
Full Carpet Set, Upgraded with Mass Back $366.00
Oil Cap $3.00
Door Switches $10.00
Heater Core, Fan Switch, AC Dryer $66.00
Rockford Fosgate 6x9s Rear. $53.00
Rear Wheel Bearing $110.00
Plug Wires, Accel $33.00
Interior Hardware (est) $40.00
Lunati 10120701LK Voodoo Camshaft $185.00
Break in Lube for Cam $13.00
Vortec heads, New $628.00
SD Vortec to TPI Intake (Used from Forum Member, I think it was 350?) $350.00
Electrical pigtails (est) $35.00
O2 Sensor $33.00
Water Pump $40.00
Radiator $120.00
U-Joints (est) $90.00
Base/Clear Red and 2K Primer (gallons) (est cause labor swap) $700.00
Estimated remainder of body materials $500.00
Transmission Rebuild (700R4) with Upgrades $350.00
Powder Coating (est) $60.00
Flex Plate $30.00
86 Hood Strut Upgrade (Used from Forum Member) $100.00
Radio Headset (actually was a gift) $55.00
BF Goodrich g-Force Sport Comp-2 Tire 255/50ZR16 x4 $548.00
Mount, Balance Tires $75.00
Mass Air Sensor $113.00
Bosh III Injectors from FIC (I forget, I think it was 158 or so??) $158.00
Vortec Rockers, Pushrods, Valve Covers (free/I had them)
Delphi Fuel Pump $48.00
Headlight Gears (New, from forum member) Shift Needle and Lens $50.00
Shift **** $40.00
Wheelskin Steering Wheel Cover (actually a present) $60.00
Fluids (est) $75.00
Complete Weatherstrip Kit (est) $400.00
I would never add up the hours for a labor cost. I work on mine as enjoyment so i'm ahead not behind at the end of a project. But i'd guess he has $100,000 in labor as i do in mine, that is, if i were adding.
I completely agree with you, I do it because I enjoy it. Besides, the number of hours would scare me.
04-28-2017, 10:49 PM
