what 80s-90s project car?

This a bit of a thought exercise and personal debate I have been having and this blog post made me post on GRM:

http://livingstingy.blogspot.com/2011/05/why-your-car-wont-last-forever.html?m=1

I have got an sw20 that I enjoy, but I can't decide if I want to spend the money on 'restoring' it but getting paint done and giving it an engine swap or keep it as is and just run for a while and move on. The problem is that trim pieces and little issues are difficult to fix due to a lack of available parts like you have with many american classics (no easy call to year one, etc). This is no mustang as far as non-engine parts (thank you Camry for many engine parts). Whether this or something else, I love the cars of my youth. So, what car from the 80s-90s is easiest to restore and find replacement parts for long term keeper type car?

Better to go with something like a fox mustang or 3rd gen f body (K.I.T.T was my first car love) as a Sunday driver type car or the something like the sw20 mr2, z32 300zx, or hondas/miatas?

What would be your choice as a keeper from that era that you can drive and restore?

Fox-body Mustang is hard to beat for what you're talking about but personally I'm a huge fan of GM G-bodies.

Foxbody, im a bit biased though. If you dont want to have just another mustang with a v8 try a turbo coupe or svo. Or turboswap a four cylinder hatchback. Theres also fairmonts and zephyrs. A clean futura or z7, wagon if your into them. Theres a ton of options and a ton of aftermarket. Body and trim is easiest if its a mustang aside from good quarter windows. Those are nla and clean ones are getting exspensive.

Wait, so you have a SW20, but an SW20 is on your list of consideration?

Something American like a Mustang or F-Body is pretty much the only option that will give you greater parts availability. I would consider a second gen MR2 to be on the "pretty easy" side of the scale as far as sourcing stuff. Even a Miata, with stuff like tombstones and gauge surrounds you are no better off than the MR2. Z32s have a lot of expen$ive parts and a lot of the OEM stuff is NLA, plus they totally suck to work on and break a lot. So really, unless you go American or something made in the past 10-15 years, you might as well stick with what you have.

You like MR2s? Trade up to a really nice SW20. Buying a 'nice' MR2 is still cheaper and easy than restoring one due to availability.

In reply to pointofdeparture:

It is on the list as far as keeping it as a long term project vs eventually selling it. It is getting a new clutch, tires and I put koni and a trd front sway bar on it.

The question is really this, before I dump a ton of money into it with a new paint job and maybe a v6 swap, will I find I can't replace the windshield easily or that some other part keeps the car off the road? I will continue to buy a lot of cars and drive them, but I want a keeper car from my youth that is a 'nice car' in the car show sense, vs an auto-x or weekend racer with diy paint that I keep going until it needs to be parted out or sold.

Windshield availability wouldn't be a big concern of mine. I just can't see a return on dumping a ton of money in one. If you put that same money toward a nice turbo with 50-60k miles, you'll probably get it back when you sell it.

In reply to Tyler H:

Its a concern of mine as I need a new windshield. All the replacements are cheap chinese pieces and I lose the built in antenna that is in the OEM piece. $1100 for an oem one is a bit much on a $3k car. I may get a turbo instead or in addition,if it goesc that way . This is a hardtop car, so it can end up as a cheap close to stock racer as well.

Hardtop is always worth holding on to. There are a bunch of SW20s just sitting around. The rake on the windshield means that they don't typically go through much glass. If you're hellbent on OEM glass, you can probably come up with a used one.

FWIW...I just went to Safelite.com and they quoted me $178 for a replacement SW20 windshield WITH the antenna, including on-site replacement.

Yeah, especially if you have a hardtop, I'd hold onto it. Just get a Safelite windshield installed, the hardtops will always hold their value relative to any other non-turbo MR2.

I'm going to throw an oddball out there. How about a square boxy S-10?

GLH

don't ask me.... 8 body designs for the E7 Corolla, and I chose the 2nd lowest production body of the the lot... lowest was convertible

So, it seems like people think I should keep the sw20. I likely will, but do I spend money on making it awesome or just keep it decent up a a dent fun driver.

Also, fox body was covered, but what the thoughts on 3rd gen the trans am?

Oldeskewltoy,

You have it worse than I do, but I lack the skills to rebuild a 4age.

In reply to sanman:

They are cool looking, but the chassis is really flexible from the factory. By the time you've stiffened it up and located the rear axle properly, you have spent quite a bit of cash, and that's before you've really started with the fun stuff. They are cool cruisers though if you can find one that hasn't been Bubba'd.

Only way I'd go Z, is if it's a Datsun. The Nissan V6's are just such a pain in the lower back to work on. If it's inline 6, then yes! The sound of a Z car with an inline 6, triple webbers, and a straight pipe is just so good at WOT. I'm not big on the 80's body styling of them, but that sound.

With American V8, you may be running out of time to find good cars, that aren't rotted or wrecked for good prices. So if you are going to go that way, you may want to act with in the next year or two. Beat the price hikes of the ones worth buying.

Of course, personally speaking, if I had to money, time, and space to just go out looking for a long term project, I'd likely search for something from Japan, in Nissan/Toyota. 70's/80's Corolla/Celica's, Datsun 510s or Z cars. But those are also not easy cars to find original parts for in the states. Most of them have been crushed or rotted to death that not much is savable. And the ones that aren't, tend to fetch a good penny for a decent start.

Foxbody parts were easy to come by before companies like late model restoration started selling repros of every single little widget that you could ever possibly need. Now you can't open a magazine without seeing page upon page of FoxStang parts made by hundreds of companies. Not that there's anything wrong with that! Your ability to keep, drive, and restore an old Fox is limited only by your wallet, or in my case, by your free time and willingness to wrench on it. Sometimes I get sick of working on my cars.

I too am biased, though.

I'd love to have a stock or close to stock 5.0, 5-speed hatchback to play with.

Miata.

pointofdeparture wrote: In reply to sanman: They are cool looking, but the chassis is really flexible from the factory. By the time you've stiffened it up and located the rear axle properly, you have spent quite a bit of cash, and that's before you've really started with the fun stuff. They are cool cruisers though if you can find one that hasn't been Bubba'd.

They're flexible for sure, but I'm not quite sure I get the comment about locating the rear axle properly. The 3rd/4th gen f bodies actually have a pretty good setup out back, with single lower links, a torque arm, and panhard bar. Its not like the fox chassis where every component needs a complete rethink to get the system to work without binding. A set of control arms and a panhard bar with either poly bushings or rod ends should remove just about any slop and can be picked up for less than $200 new.

I vote to rock the hardtop MR2! Cool rides that I think will hold their value well and still be a car we're all talking about in 15 years.

In reply to Furious_E:

Ah, I wasn't aware the third gens were that well setup back there. I know they have noodle chassis from the factory from personal experience (entering a steep driveway at an angle is a fun experience in a stock third gen) but I thought I'd read they needed some axle setup, however I guess not!

In reply to pointofdeparture:

One of my college buddies has a 3rd gen 'Bird that I think I've ridden in once, but it wasn't long enough to make a real impression. My GF's dad actually has one too, but I haven't seen it driven once in the 6+ years we've dated, let alone ridden in or driven it. I know they're supposed to be quite a bit more flexy than the 4th gens and my 4th gen is awfully flexy. You can hear the doors squeak and rub on the weather stripping at the rear over bumps.

Actually, my buddy bought his for pretty much the exact purpose the OP is looking at them for, kind of a slow 'restoration' of sorts, fix the broken little bits and make it nice again. I want to say he's had trouble finding some interior bits, like he was talking about buying a plastic welding setup to fix his cracked dash because he couldn't find a good one, but I'm not sure on specifics aside from that.

Re SW20 - you can still get most of the parts if you don't mind buying used and searching around a bit on MR2OC and the like. Speed parts are harder to find, you might end up having to scour ebay for those and be prepared to pay accordingly.

Personally I wouldn't make any non-reversible changes to one, nice ones are going up in price. You're not going to get your money back from a restoration (yet), but they're not going down in value either.

some companies are better than other for supporting older models. Ford kills all parts after 10 years.. but BMW still supports cars older than the iconic 1602/2002

Turbo FC? Black Dragon automotive is basically your "year one" for these.