Project stalling advice

Short version:

I've got a MINI with a bad standard transmission and trying to decide on selling it as is (and taking a loss), spending the money on a used transmission or let it sit for months while I try to fix the current transmission.  SWMBO has always supported my car obsession and its willing to do whatever I want.  It's not costing me anything right now to sit.

Long Version:

When my son turned 16 he really wanted a MINI.  I wanted to pay cash to just carry liability and reduce insurance (turned out to not be the case).  We found a "decent" 2004 with 200k miles and bought it for $3k.  Probably overpaid, but it was the best we could find in that price range and in our time frame.  Previous owner's dad was a mechanic and claimed he'd rebuilt the transmission about two years prior.  Drove it home from Dallas and it was his car for a few months.  Just a good running project for him to start learning car basics.  Back in September, he was driving and had no forward motion.  In gear, clutch out and nothing.  No noise, no grinding, just dead in all gears. I assumed the clutch went out, but it was going to take a while to fix and he needed a car (no school bus service, plus FFA, plus a job, etc).  Since insurance didn't change, ended up buying him a newer MINI. 

Finally got the transmission pulled a few months later (he had a car, so fixing this one went to the back burner) and the clutch looked "ok" but replaced it anyway.  Went ahead and did some of the bushings at that time too.  Few more months pass and we got it put back in at the beginning of February.  Same issue as before with no forward motion.  When I pulled it the first time, I kinda assumed it was the transmission, but other than spinning the prop shaft and watching the axles move, had no way of checking it without tearing it down.  That's where is sits now.  I see my three options are:

1) Pull the transmission and fix it ourselves.  This is probably the cheapest option, but will be the longest.  It'd probably take a year given how little time I have to work on it.  We don't need the car, but having an extra is nice and I'd rather drive it to work than my gas guzzling truck. 

2) Find a used transmission to put in it.  Shorter time frame.  More expensive option on a car that's not worth much.  I'd probably put a later transmission in for better reliability.  Still would take 6 months at the rate I go.

3) Dump the car and take a loss.  Four cars (and a 6x12 trailer) in a standard suburban driveway takes up a bunch of space.  So, this is tempting, but it'll make me sick to throw the money away that I've already spent.  I'd be lucky to get $1500 for it.

My son wants to keep it and fix it (good learning) to use as a plaything/track car.  His 16 year old eyes see a stripped interior, full cage, straight pipe, etc.  Dad sees a car that he would not enjoy driving to work and even more money poured into it.  It needs some other minor work (new cat, tires, maybe new rings as the current motor is tired), but nothing too major.  If I end up keeping it, I might do a quick motor refresh while it's apart.  Why not? In theory, I could get it all done before summer.  In reality with everything else in our lives, it'd be more like next year.  I'd fix it and play with it.  Might even autocross it.  But still keep it comfortable for daily driving.

I love MINI's (I guess I'm a masochist) and would like to keep it, but with karting season ramping up and the amount of space it'll take up as I fix it, I'm struggling with what to do.  He'll be off to college next June, so the trailer and his car would be gone with more room in my driveway/garage making the space issue non-existent. 

Suggestions?  Ideas?  I've been rattling it around in my head for a month, now.  Need to decide on something and figured y'all have experienced similar and can give me some ideas. 

-Rob

In reply to rob_lewis :

Forget the part about losing money if/when you sell it - is the time it would take you to fix it yourself worthless? 

With that money question out of the way & out of mind, how much do you like the car? If it had been totaled would you go buy another one if if you/he didn't need it? If the answer is "yes" then go ahead & fix it - and you might as well take care of everything you can while you're in there. Otherwise sell it as-is and move on. 

I suggest that the kid could learn a lot by parting it out on eBay.

Is it your project or your son's? If it's your son's, it isn't a project, it's a chore. 

What is your free time worth. Mine's worth about $125/hr. Can you make that or save that fixing it rather than selling it as is?

If your son want's the car as a project, let him do the repair, including the cost of the repair. You would be consultant and tool boy only. 

I do very few repairs on my children's cars. I also do very few repairs on my cars that my kids use. My daughter had a leaking power steering hose on her SC. I told her if she didn't want to repair it, to pay someone else to do it. She priced it out and ended up doing the repair herself with some assistance from me. My sons get the same treatment. My 17 yo just did brakes and tires on my P71. I even made him pay for the parts and tires. 

It would absolutely be a father/son project.  We both like MINI's (and he already has another one), so that's the discrepancy of who would end up driving it more.  I get the "how much my time is worth" aspect, but only think less of it because it would be a free time/hobby job.  If it was my daily driver, I'd be paying someone to do it.  It's not, it's a toy.  My only reason for even considering selling is the space it takes up and competes with regarding karts and my son's FFA welding projects.  Well, that and the depression we all get when we have a project we haven't been able to touch for a while because life gets in the way.  That's really my concern.  How much time will I have to play with it and can I handle it chewing up garage real estate as it gets fixed.

-Rob

My folks used to buy parts for my cars if I did the work.  Wasn't a bad deal when I was 16 and keeping a beater VW Rabbit on the road.

But I was invested from the time standpoint.

on a 200k car, I'd take the loss and move on.  you already feel that it'll need motor work besides the transmission work.  When both are a problem and not quick easy fixes, I say move on.

That all being said, we had a motor put in my dad's del sol over the summer and it then blew the transmission.  We are now in the process of putting a replacement used transmission in.  The motor my uncle did at his shop while he still had 2 mechanics working for him.  We bought the motor for $450 as used but recently rebuilt unit.  The trans is now getting replaced because book time onlly shows 4 hours to do it and we sourced a used one for $75.  Not to mention my buddy is doing the labor for free since I let him work out of my soon to be legal (monday) dealership.  We also chose to repair things because it is a del sol, and the only other vehicle option my dad will consider is a Tracker/sidekick with a removable hardtop.  Those are hard to find around me.

I would vote you just sell it.  It's lots of work for a fairly common car.  I would rebuilt the transmission myself if I was planning on tracking that brand/type of chassis for several years.  Not because I wanted to fix the car, but because I wanted to learn how to rebuilt the transmission on a beater, before I had to do it in my track cars.  But otherwise, I think you should allocate your wrenching time to something else that will be more interesting at the end of all that work.  Even if it's not a car.