How do you approach a cheap car project?

I am a self proclaimed cheap car lover. Ain't nothing better than dragging home someone else's project that they lost interest in or couldn't sort out.

I get a lot of joy in ending up with a vehicle that I put some effort into, that I'm able to transport myself and my family around in that costs less than the equivalent of a few months of car payments on my buddies near new Sienna. 

I keep track of these projects very carefully. I don't track hours, all work is done in off time after the goblins go to bed, but I track costs very closely. 

One behavior I've noticed is my inclination to do my best to make the cheap cars stay as cheap as possible. I tend to not look at it and say that it is cheap compared to the end result and I can spend a bit more cash, I look at it in a vacuum and check myself when I want to spend 2x the cost of the car on tires and wheels. 

I suppose it's how you view the end product, your time budget, and how much liquid cash is floating around. Another aspect may be if the car is a forever car (not the case with most cheap cars), or if you've always had a vision for what you wanted the end result to be. 

I just love being net negative compared to the projected sell price. I'm not great at speaking French, but I can turn a berkeleying wrench like my life depends on it, and that feels like a nice application of my skills. 

To be clear, I'm not talking about not spending money on a car in exchange for lack of function. I.e. my most recent acquisition is a 500$ 1.8t A4 B6 quattro wagon who I'm all in at 700$ with heat, ac, working windows, no warning lights, etc. It isn't perfect, but I don't think a lot about that as I'm throwing my kids muddy bike into the back of it. Or getting back from a particularly cruddy mountain bike ride. 

I just love a cheap car man! 

Steve said:

One behavior I've noticed is my inclination to do my best to make the cheap cars stay as cheap as possible. I tend to not look at it and say that it is cheap compared to the end result and I can spend a bit more cash, I look at it in a vacuum and check myself when I want to spend 2x the cost of the car on tires and wheels. 

Its really easy to let a project get away from you. I'm not trying to be as cheap as possible, but I do consider a lot of value for money instead of just throwing a boatload of new expensive parts at it.

My Datsun 1200 was/is a cheap car. 

We bought it in 84 for $270

When we went to SCCA drivers school it had $1800 in it.

Currently I am at $9200

Our approach has always been how do we mod or fix it cheaply. it could be faster and or better but then the price would be double.

I am doing the same thing with the Foxbody Mustang. We are making it fun and fixing what needs fixing. We are not trying to make it the ultimate car.

It depends on the situation but I try not to get upside down on it.  Gotta be able to sell for less than the cash outlay.  The exception is brake parts and tires as safety always comes first.  I broke the rule on the turbo baja, had a complete rebuild on the motor rather than a questionable used one.  I don't think I can sell it for what has been spent but it will last a long time and maybe someday the price of these will go up  enough to break even.

Finding an appropriate candidate is always the challenge.  I have gone thru 914s, 5 cylinder audis, and early 2000s subarus.  My latest fishing has been british sports cars.  There are still a lot of abandoned projects with no rust issues that go for little money.  Parts seem to be easy to get and the skill level to do mechanical work is par with my lawn tractor.

With a Sawzall.

I'll see myself out.

All money put into the car are considered as a % of the purchase price. My Saab was $750, so a wheel & tire package for $1700?  No way. A $35 seal to stop an oil leak?  I will consider it. A $3 replacement window motor at the junkyard? Begrudgingly purchased. 

porschenut said:

It depends on the situation but I try not to get upside down on it.  Gotta be able to sell for less than the cash outlay. 

This is my primary benchmark. I don't get into trying to maximize profit but I do like to target breaking even. It doesn't always work, but that mentality keeps me in check. 

pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) said:

All money put into the car are considered as a % of the purchase price. My Saab was $750, so a wheel & tire package for $1700?  No way. A $35 seal to stop an oil leak?  I will consider it. A $3 replacement window motor at the junkyard? Begrudgingly purchased. 

if you got a car for free would you feel like you shouldn't spend any money on it?

I usually weigh the cost of repairing vs how much a pain it is to search for another car. Whenever I look at another cheap beater I always assume it's going to need tires, dampers, and some engine maintenance right after purchase.

Simple: immediately spend way more money than I planned.

We are down the road on a LOT of "cheap" projects.    Some of them needed a lot of work and not so much money. Some needed a lot of work and money. They always need something. Or things.        Oddly, I have two now that needed it all. Time, treasure, talent...     Not crying and 99% have been winners and a joy to work through.     But as an.... ahem....older fella now, I wonder if a newer thing wouldn't have ended up costing me the same. And I could have spent the time investing in incredibly high paying financial market trades.... Nah.... 

Nothing kills my interest in a cheap project like not being able to drive it, so I try to get them running.

It gets too tempting to just walk away from it if I can't enjoy it. It's also a good benchmark for knowing when to cut and run.

EricM said:

Simple: immediately spend way more money than I planned.

This is the correct answer. But not necessarily cheap cars, but fun cars I'm absolutely HORRIBLE with scope creep/while I'm in there. 

This sounds more like car flipping than "project cars."  In my world the DD and the "project car" are two very different buckets.

If I buy a car to flip after spending time getting it on the road, my time is the #1 item on the balance sheet. 

If the goal is to send the vehicle down the road, its done with the absolute cheapest, rock bottom, bargain basement solutions.   Buy a car with a bad head gasket.  Normally, you would do the timing belt, deck the head, and do other PMs if items are of uncertain condition while the head is off.  If the car is a flip, you loosen the head bolts, loosen the timing belt or pull the cam gears, lift the head up with some come-alongs, slide the old gasket out, slide the new gasket in, run the same torque to yield head bolts back with 3 ugga-duggas, change the oil with whatever garbage filter and oil Walmart has on clearance, and send it down the road.

If the goal is a daily driver at minimal cost, then its try to find something in good condition that the PO spent all the money on, drive it till its starting to have a few issues like needing tires or suspension, getting a little crusty underneath, maybe a decent oil leak like a rear main that's a huge pain in the ass to fix, a bad heater core, non working A/C, burning oil at a rapid but not alarming rate, something thats a huge time sink to fix but oddly doesn't detract much from the overall value, and send it down the road.   Its amazing how little an issue like a leaking rear main, a quart every 500 miles, or bald tires effects the price of a $4000 car.  

If its a car you love - a keeper - you spend all the money.  Everything is either OEM or a known improved part.  You do a lot of "while I am in here" jobs and parts replacements preemptively.  You spend the extra money to search out NOS interior clips, tabs, and covers for missing or scuffed items.  

I start out by looking at what the car needs and then x3 that for the repairs.  It also depends on the vehicle. My last project I got for $300 . But it was clean, rust free and just needed a head. So I was all in around $1000 with used tires, a head job, waterpump and timing belt. I sold the car for $2300 to a guy who had been looking for a rust free protoge5. Now I got a 96 f150 to spend all that money on.