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which one should i restore?

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ttomlin85

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
just looking for some advice and opinions on restoring at least one of my s13s.

first of all i bought an s13 about 2 years ago(the red one) in it was the vg30de...terrible swap. the people cut out a big hole the trans tunnel since the engine and trans was a few inches longer for the vg30 and did not align up. the interior was trashed but the body was very decent. picked it up for about 200$. i pulled the vg30 pulled the dash and a few other things out of the interior. for the most part there was very little to no rust on the car. i did some minor body work, stripped the engine bay and painted the bay.

the problems with the first one(red one) is...
1. need to patch in new trans tunnel
2. patch hole where battery tray was(rusted out)
3. has cracked windshield
4. subframe was drilled/slotted out from whoever did the vg30 swap

recently i bought another s13(the black one), has a very clean interior, doors, hood, and hatch are dent/rust free. one fender was dented so i took it off and started noticing major flaws in the body/frame.

problems with the new s13(black one)
1 rocker panels completely rusted out(also on the front side behind the fender)
2 looks like some rust pockets starting on the frame
3 rusted wheel wells, few small holes
4 tons of nuts and bolts broken off(needs to be drilled and tapped)
5 behind the fender in the front, on the side of the light is dented along with the front fender bracket on part of the core support

my first idea was to get the new one running and drivable and fix it as it goes using body parts from the red one...until i noticed how bad the rust was getting.

my next idea was to find a scrap s13 and get the trans tunnel cut out to patch the first one. then completely strip the interior and start from the ground up sanding/grinding/painting. line with sound dampening material..then swap the interior from the black one. the doors, the hatch, hood, and fenders are all in perfect condition on the black car so that also would be swapped.

what do you think??

hole in trans tunnel
Image


stripped/primered engine bay(red car)
Image


black s13
Image


black s13 rocker pannels =/
Image
 
Discussion starter · #3 ·
well just climbed under the black one to fully look at how bad it really is... TERRIBLE... no doubt everything is going into the red one. might as well hack the chunk of the trans tunnel right out of the black one for the red one.

i bet that sob black one would snap in half if i turned it sideways..the first time.. payed 1k for it but id still say its worth it for the parts to finish the original one that i started. doors fenders bumpers hatch hood headlights and the full interior should be worth about that anyway.
 
#5 ·
^^this^^

The amount of ass pain you will exert un-fucking the ghttofied VG-swap doesn't sound worth the trouble. If money is not an issue, recommend you keep whatever parts are in good shape and source out a rust-free chassis. If that is not an option, then definitely press on with the red one. Either way, I can relate- I picked up a chassis when I first got back to the US... Turned out that dealing with the rust would have cost me well-over what the car was worth so I donated it to charity and bought a rust-free chassis down south... I assume you know how to weld? If so, that will be a huge asset in getting the red one back to where it should be=) Best of luck to ya!

--Mike
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
yeh i can weld. the red frame isnt rusted very much at all..just surface rust. i started comparing the red one and the black and the one that had the vg swap..they swapped sub frames also. the only problem the red one really has is that trans tunnel hole, and the windshield.

imho restoring the black rusted one would be a huge waste of money
Image


the red one is just completely taken apart so id sand and paint the interior then swap just about every part over to the red one from the black.
 
#7 ·
Well,
I have been calling my car the Suuuper Lemon.
But, you know, the body is very good, the interior was mint, the engine was not hacked to hell and back and did not blow up on me. There is one bad spot in the frame but will only cost me $150 to have it welded.
The only thing wrong with it is the previous ding dong fried every last computer part and melted a lot of wires.
I've replaced all of the modules, relays, fuse-links, fuses, and main computer and this thing is dreamy. Can't hardly hold her back. Had to throw in a temp relay for his crapo electric fan he put in (with no temp sensor), but the man had the right idea. Without a clutch fan it really unleashes the engine. Replaced the bad power steering pump and got an extra 25% boost. I have to keep reminding myself to let off the gas before I get a speeding ticket.
I am now down to making it look good.
:-D
 
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bash64
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