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I guess it just comesdown to what purpose the car serves. For me, the enjoyment lies in just tinkering around with it. It's really the only reason I bought it. I do like driving it, but oddly, driving it is more of an after-thought for me.
I've spent just about what I figured on spending getting it back up to at least par and absent any major malfunctions, I figured it about right.
Whenever the time comes to satisfy an itch for a newer one, I'll probably pick up stock a C6. Something I don't have to mess around with. I'll keep the C4 for wrenching around.
I wanted a cheap car with a removable top and a manual and stay at or below 10k in a nice driver. My biggest mistake was buying a 4+3. Along with that everything kept breaking sitting in my garage lol. It drove fine during the test drive and the 1.5 hour drive home. I wanted an 89 or 90 but none were available as I looked for a year. Of course as soon as I buy one some came up for sale.
I knew there would be failures but chasing the transmission gremlins along with the other failures I can tell you I came close to taking a sledge hammer to this car. Most of my mental state was due to the COVID related issues and that mess. I finally gave up and swapped the pos 4+3 trans for a T-56. and I think I finally got it where I can drive it.
I was going to drive it the other day and there was brake fluid all over the floor. The Master cylinder seal failed and leaked into and out of the brake booster. It's always something....
I bought my 85 almost a year ago for $4000. I have spent about $18k since then. I have done all the work myself and it has added up pretty quickly. The car would have been great with only $2500 worth of maintenance, but the more I drove it and enjoyed it, the more I wondered how much nicer it could be if I put some extra cash into it.
I bought my 85 almost a year ago for $4000. I have spent about $18k since then. I have done all the work myself and it has added up pretty quickly. The car would have been great with only $2500 worth of maintenance, but the more I drove it and enjoyed it, the more I wondered how much nicer it could be if I put some extra cash into it.
18,000 in parts alone! That must mean a tranny/motor swap along with a lot of other parts?
18,000 in parts alone! That must mean a tranny/motor swap along with a lot of other parts?
I haven't touched the engine yet, but I am in the middle of a 700r4 to ZF6 swap as well as D36 to D44 swap. I've done a ton of other stuff, but too much to list here. I probably didn't get the best deal on some of the things I have purchased, but the car will be like new when I am done.
One of the mistakes I've made while building this car is that I have kept a running total of how much I have spent, but not of what I spent it on 😆. I probably should have done the opposite. One of these days I will do a build thread to document everything.
It is an insane number for a C4, but my goal is to finish the car with a budget of around $27k, including the $4k I bought the car for. For that much money it will be pretty quick, handle great and still be comfortable and reliable enough to drive anywhere.
It would be nice to open a few eyes as to how great these cars are, rather then the typical assumption that C4s must be slow, uncomfortable and unreliable. Wrenching on cars is my hobby and even if I never get the money back, I've enjoyed building this car so far.
I haven't touched the engine yet, but I am in the middle of a 700r4 to ZF6 swap as well as D36 to D44 swap. I've done a ton of other stuff, but too much to list here. I probably didn't get the best deal on some of the things I have purchased, but the car will be like new when I am done.
One of the mistakes I've made while building this car is that I have kept a running total of how much I have spent, but not of what I spent it on 😆. I probably should have done the opposite. One of these days I will do a build thread to document everything.
It is an insane number for a C4, but my goal is to finish the car with a budget of around $27k, including the $4k I bought the car for. For that much money it will be pretty quick, handle great and still be comfortable and reliable enough to drive anywhere.
It would be nice to open a few eyes as to how great these cars are, rather then the typical assumption that C4s must be slow, uncomfortable and unreliable. Wrenching on cars is my hobby and even if I never get the money back, I've enjoyed building this car so far.
03-16-2021, 07:03 AM
