GL Dreamin.

[Matholew]

Hey guys tell me if Im just dreaming here.

Heres my situation:

Not long ago I flipped my daily driver, a 2002 Honda Civic and have been driving my 89 Nissan Truck and my VFR800 streetbike. I drive about 70 miles round trip everyday and want another car, my truck is, to say the least, well worn.

I have a 1974 1303 that was given to me, without a motor and I have a stockish 1600cc (I assume) dual port motor that was running when parked in a 63 project car I bought but never reworked. Both seem to be in pretty good shape. So, my thinking is this:

For the amount of money it would cost me to purchase another econobox, I thought I might just sink that money into the Super and build me one of these GL bugs and end up with something I LOVE (classic bugs) with some character and soul. So I would like to get it built for around $10,000. Is this possible.

Heres what I absolutely must have out of it though and this is where I could use your opinions.

Dead on reliability. I want to get in it and it go.
Good Interstate Performance. I want to go up and down hills and maintain at least 70mph.
Good ride. No bumping and bottoming out on pot holes.
Good Fuel Mileage. I would love to get 30 mpg. But will settle for as little as 20mpg.
Decent Perfomance in Acceleration and Cornering, so that its fun to hit the back roads.
Super Nice interior, all redone.
Nice paint and Porsche Wheels (I like the 95-98 993 wheels).
Disc Brakes (at least fronts)
I must be able to get two car seats in the back, for my twin boys.

Can I do all this and have a very nice, respectable German Looker for 10G's?

Also, one last wish for the car would be a turbo, like a lowbugget 1600T kit, that may be pushing the budget but I would love to have a turbo car.

[vujade]

Originally Posted by Matholew

For the amount of money it would cost me to purchase another econobox, I thought I might just sink that money into the Super and build me one of these GL bugs and end up with something I LOVE (classic bugs) with some character and soul. So I would like to get it built for around $10,000. Is this possible.

Heres what I absolutely must have out of it though and this is where I could use your opinions.

Dead on reliability. I want to get in it and it go.
Good Interstate Performance. I want to go up and down hills and maintain at least 70mph.
Good ride. No bumping and bottoming out on pot holes.
Good Fuel Mileage. I would love to get 30 mpg. But will settle for as little as 20mpg.
Decent Perfomance in Acceleration and Cornering, so that its fun to hit the back roads.
Super Nice interior, all redone.
Nice paint and Porsche Wheels (I like the 95-98 993 wheels).
Disc Brakes (at least fronts)
I must be able to get two car seats in the back, for my twin boys.

Can I do all this and have a very nice, respectable German Looker for 10G's?

Also, one last wish for the car would be a turbo, like a lowbugget 1600T kit, that may be pushing the budget but I would love to have a turbo car.

Welcome to the boards...

Yes I believe you should be able to accomplish what you are trying to
achieve. It will take a little luck, alot of hunting for good deals, a some
networking with other GL fanatics to find deals and help you with your
project.

You've already got the suitable car, so you are far ahead of the game.
Interior - $1000
Paint - $1500 - 2500 (if there isnt much body work)
Engine - $1500 for a stock 1600cc
Tranny - $750
Turbo - $2000 for the 1600cc
Suspension - $1000 (Maxx struts, strut bar, bushings, sway bar, etc)
Brakes - $500 (front disk. rear drum)
Wheels - $1000 (buy used wheels on ebay and then new tires)

This comes to $9250 - $10,250 depending on what you spend on paint.
Interior could be done for less as well, depending on current condition
and what deals you come accross for seats (at junk yard). Also wheels
can be found for cheap as well. I scored a set of new 17" Porsche wheels
for $150 on ebay a few months back. And as far as tires go, I always
go check out the used tire place we have here in town and can always
get a good set of low pro's for 150 - 200 for all 4 mounted and balanced.

[oasis]

For starters, a lot will depend on the condition of the 1303 and the unknown engine. I know you said "pretty good shape" but that's a fairly broad decription.

For seconders, nexters ... oh crap, I don't know ... anyway, the next big item depends on how much work can you do on your own. I'm a technoklutz without a garage. I assisted in some work with my mechanic on multiple weekends but in general, labor costs are beating the dog snot out of me. (I knew that going in and have it budgeted over time, but that may not be ideal for you.)

Lastly (from me) is can you afford to do this over time. I feel sorry for any poor soul who is more anal retentive than me when it comes to budgeting money, time, etc. and yet, I have had cost overruns. It just happens.

If you have ten grand you want to kerplunk down and then drive your '74 as if it were a Japanese '04 and then be done with it, you may be sorry. In fact, I would suggest budgeting seven grand and keeping three for those things you didn't think of or things that are also necessary to complete what you did think of.

On the other hand if you have ten grand to get this up and started, and then have a willingness to make adjustments over time, then you should easily be able to accomplish your goal.

As an example, you want to 70 over the hills and across the interstates to grandmother's house we go, you may want to initially build your unknown engine (assuming it is a candidate) to a 1776cc displacement. That would be relatively inexpensive, reliable and fast enough while giving you the 20-30 MPG you also desire. That way you will have more scratch for suspension, brakes and other upgrades. Later, you can add more ponies and twisties under your hood.

That's just one example.

You say nice paint job. Nice paint jobs can range from under $500 to $5,000 depending on who is defining "nice" and who is doing "nice."

You've come to the right place, though. There are some exotic rides here and if you are thinking of competing with these cats, ten grand will only get off the starting block. On the other hand, almost all cars here are in some form of being "in progress" and I'm certainly not the only one dealing with finite finances.

My advice: start by making a budget. Don't worry; you're not locking yourself in. The budget will be quite flexible even if the bottom line isn't. Ultimately after you do a fair amount of research, you will decide where you will compromise and where you can splurge.

And that's why all of our cars look different from each other. Each one of us has a different set of priorities and differing financial profiles. Good luck.

[Matholew]

Thanks for those replies, you guys are a great help. I really appreciate your time in writing those long replies. Lots of good points were made.

The 1776cc motor sounds like a good option, I then could go through the motor myself during the build up and check everything out.

The body of the super is in excellent condition with very little rust and no major replacement surgery required.

As far as doing work myself. Definetly, I wouldnt have it any other way. I want this to be a learning experience as much as anything else. I have access to a well equipped shop and several very mechanically oriented people. I even have a body shop where I can get a good deal, because I used to work there when I was a teenager. So I can save money in a lot of places.

I already have some bucket seats for it out of a Fiero, so I would just need to get everything reupholstered to match, and I think I could fabricate some mounts for them.

[oasis]

Sounds like you are on your way.

Keep us updated.

[Lazarus]

welcome to the board. this is by far one of the most positive boards on the net when it comes to advice of almost any kind. the 1776 is a great engine for reliablity and power. its not gonna be a ball of fire but it gets great mileage. its in my opinion the engine the factory should have put in these cars in the first place. as far as a plan. put it on paper. for more that one reason. first so you can see it and visualize it. second (we like lists on this thread) so you canplan on it and third when you got 20 grand in it you can say thats where it started.my car started out a daily beater. something for back and forth trans. stock to the hilt. 3 years later it rides a trailer to all the far away shows.i do drive to the locals b4 you other VKG guys get me.but remember saftey first. trash those drum brakes first thing. its easy to make one go fast stopping is a must. as far as the car seats go see my thread in the off topic section http://www.germanlook.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=7021 i must agree with zen. if you live anywhere near a large city beware these cars are not made for protection. it does sound like you are well on your way keep us posted with some good pics. and dont be ashamed to ask this forum any thing. ive made posts on everything from coil overs to V-8 Super cars and have always gotten a warm response. :agree:

[Eurolook71]

I think you could do it, just stay dedicated, and of course be ready for extra costs.

[NO_H2O]

$750 is a way high est. for a daily driver transaxle. Also a turbo on a stock engine isn't a real good idea (wrong cam, compresion, cooling, etc.).
A 2L'ish type 4, 1776 or a 1915 type 1 in the right combo would make a great daily driver. Some tid-bits from Top-Line (maxxstruts,sway bars,strut brace), some disc brakes and a set of wheels and tires should stick it to the road. Lots of ways to go on interior. Just do some reading and ask questions here. We have all done many different things with our cars.

[krems]

Reliability & Performance? sounds Type IV-ish to me :agree:

[bow]

hi,

guys you can build a germanlooker for way cheaper than 10gs that a lot o caching to spend on a bug. dont get me wrong there are people on her who have several more dollars tied up in their car but for what Matholew is wanting to do you dont really need that much money although i would keep some of that in a rainy day fund or something because i think bugs were made to fall apart. also paint,interrior, trans , motor, and supension can beaquired for much cheaper than some of you quoted him im not saying anybodys wrong or trying to make anyone mad or anyhting of that sort but it htink a nice german looker can be made for much cheaper than 10g's


thanks bow

[wrenchnride247]

If they are built right they don't fall apart bow.

[bow]

this is very true i was being scarcastic.

[SoCalGL]

they way i look at car budgeting is you have a minimum.. this is the bare bones of what you want... for example the goal is disc brakes now you can spend around 300 and get cb performance front discs ( don't jump on me guys for saying this lol..) but thats the base...but from there you can upgrade to something better alll the way up to 996 turbo brakes... but where you but alot into ...somewhere else will always suffer and not reach the best... the idea is to balance and decide what is most important to you and then leave a maragin for mistakes.. just look at what you want and what you need and decide what is most important to you...

for an idea of the coponents that make a good car look at all the different types of forums and realize that each one of these tech sections is a topic you will have to cover... body, transmission, engine, suspension, wheels, brakes, etc.

also look into how much you can do yourself and how much can you learn... do you have a place to work on it.. do you have the time... the patience... the help... the sanity....and most of all the passion to keep you calm and focused when something goes wrong... .alot goes into a car besides money..its you....

apologize for the long entry... i kindof just ran on a tangent.....or maybe its because i've been inhaling aluminum polish all day... wheels can never be to0 shiney.....