how much rust is to much?

[swoopdeville]

I have a 71z and I am trying to decide if its to far gones as far as rust is concerned to put money into it. I've heard so many things, so how much rust would render my car not worth investing money into it. I am getting ready to take it to a local body shop 'cause I dont have a budy around that can help me. I only want to spend about $1000 on the body if I can. Thanks

[skip260z]

Take your car to several shops for an estimate on the repairs. I say several so that you can reduce the chance of being taken, plus you'll get an idea of prices. It all depends on what you are willing to spend for what you want to acheive.

[Rviper]

HI! I´m dealing with the same problem now. I´m restoring my 71´ Celica TA22 and i don´t have the "Know-How" to fix it, and here in Portugal it´s not easy to find someone who want´s to work in classic cars (Unemployment: 3%) so i decided to fix as much as i can: took all the parts out, and take out the paint (with 2 cheap machines) to reduce the work and hours spent on the car.

Every case is a different situation, wish you a big Luck

[PetesPonies]

Being in the restoration business myself, I can tell you $1000 is not going to go far. Sorry (

[EScanlon]

Swoop;

You'll hear this time and time again. How much do you have?

If your maximum budget to invest in this car is $1000 then you can't even afford to get it repainted, without doing it yourself, and then that's about all you're going to do. In this case, then how much rust is too much? Any that you can see, no matter how little or how big. If you can see it, then you're already more into it than $1000, once you include the paint and other items to finish.

If you're talking $1k now, for this ONE repair, and then, more later (and more later, and more later, ad nauseaum) then, it becomes, how much are you willing to cap it at?

If you were Bill Gates and said, sky's the limit. Then with $5k you could get a very clean respectable unit. For more, you could get an even better unit. Have heard of always garaged, never driven units going for $15 to $25k. Rumors claime a $30k unit recently on e-bay.

Sorry to sound so negative, and not offer more support, but the truth here is that you're fooling yourself if you think that it's only going to be $1k.

A good brake job, where they replace all the pads and lines, turn the drums/ rotors, flush and bleed the lines, and generally do a complete restoration of the system, can easily run you $1k.

So, if I were to suggest anything here, I would say, first get a body shop estimate, then get a mechanical estimate. If between those two they add to more than $5,000 then you're better off finding another car.