Fixing old cars.

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So, ever since I got out of the army I decided I'm going to find a hobby, something I like doing. I used to have one thing I loved doing very much (I loved doing it for many years, had extreme amounts of fun with it), but I don't seem to like it anymore. The obsession died out. I feel like I've been lost/bored/depressed ever since. There have been many failed attempts at getting back into that old hobby, all unsuccessful.


Ever since then I go from thing to thing trying to find something I enjoy as much as this other thing. I decided I'm going to buy an old barely working car, read some books on fixing cars, fix it up, give it a new paint job, and sell it. Now, I am not particularly mechanically inclinded. I only own a few choice tools (screw driver, ratchet set, drill) and I rarely use them. I realize that what I'm talking about will cost hundreds of dollars worth of tools that I don't own, hundreds of hours learning on my own (the best way to learn IMO), and when all said and done if I only do this once between tools and other factors I probably won't make a profit.


Mostly, I'm doing this because I like to learn. But also, because I have found that if I don't constantly engage myself in new things (things that don't involve dealing with others) I start to go crazy. Recently my boredom grows more and more, if I don't do new things I find myself extremely depressed. So, I wrote all of that simply as an introduction so that I could ask the question, has anyone on this forum ever done anything like this before? What was their experience? Is there anyone around here knoweldgeable about mechanics in case I find myself in a very odd conundrum?

Autozone has a thing where you can rent those weird specialty car repair tools that nobody wants to buy.

I'm trying to find a new hobby too. I've thought about doing this myself. I would like to know more about how my car works.

I have a little knowledge about auto mechanics. Its a good skills to have as the work load most shops have exceeds the amount of time/workers to do it. So getting a job is
easy if you can turn wrenches.

I've been looking on craigslist... Theres dozens of cars that could potentially be good project cars. I'm having trouble picking, I'm not too keen on the idea of towing (pretty expensive I think). I'm going to do some more research, but I'm hoping to start this up sometime within the coming weeks.


I've decided that since Honda parts are supposed to be easy to come by I'm going to start with a Honda. There are several good choices in my area. My big concern is the tools, tools are expensive. I'm also worried that I may end up buying a vehicle that can't be reasonably fixed. From my understanding if the transmission is shot, or the engine is blown then it usually costs more to fix then its worth. I guess this is why I need to do more research before I make any decisions.


Its funny, theres several cars that don't work but the owner doesn't give any particular reason. Then there was one with a really funny reason... It was something like "It runs great, I've been driving it around SF all day, the breaks don't work though so it will probably need to be towed"

In town towing is $45 in my town. You need to get a car rolling at the buy location and pull it home with a friend if you can.

Yeah the best deals are likely low mile cars needing a single major repair like an engine
or transmission swap. Getting two such cars one with a good transmission and other with a good engine and you do your magic Do you have land to build a minijunk yard
on? Will you get in trouble having junk vechiles inyour yard?

Part of the basic law of economic you will face in finding a good deal requiring little work/skill is that the market will not price those cars cheap.

I have fixed up a few cars (partly fun , partly no option ).

Its very hard to get a good do-it-yourself paint job. My advice is to get a car that has a good body & paint. Fixing the mechanicals and interior (seats, carpets) is easy, just like a big mechano set.

Only buy tools as you need them (this is what workshops do). Get a genuine factory workshop manual as well as a "brandX" aftermaket manual. Sometimes the non-genuine manual has tips where the factory manual assumes you have all the special factory tools.



Also, don't try to do it all yourself. If an alternator needs work, just get a changeover unit. Likewise if valve guides are stuffed, or heads cracked, just get changeover cylinder heads etc.

I also recommend a book on general engine theory & practice. I have the "Repco Engine Manual", which is good but I don't think you would find it in the States. Repco is an Australian company that in the 1960's build Jack Brabham's F1 car. It tells you things like never use a cloth to clean the internal parts of an engine because the fibres that will be left may clog up oil channels.

Good luck and have fun.

TM1 is right.

I had a Ford Capri (made by Ford UK) with a stuffed 1600cc GT motor (Formula Ford motor) that I replaced with a 2000 belt driven OHC (I think like used in Ford Pintos (?). I bought a wrecked car for $100 just for the engine, gear box and diff, which would have cost about $800 from a wrecker.

I ran the car for a few years with the engine as is. Eventually a skirt dropped off a piston (#2 & #3 pistons are usually cracked in these engines and I over revved it for too long - the diff was only 3.9:1 so it really needed a taller diff or an overdrive) and I found another used "short" engine (no cyl head or any "bolt on" parts) for $50 so I put that in.

I have done up engines (bore out and hone cylinders, port heads, resurface cranks and cam shaftes, new rings bearings etc). Unless you want to keep the car a long long time for yourself, I wouldn't bother with all that. Just swap engines. A friend of mine does up a 400 small block on a ski boat every season. (I think he should just put a big block in and not over stress it ) but he likes doing it.

A straight chassis is the most important part of restoration, in my opinion. Repairing rust on body panels is fairly easy. The only hard part, is a motor swap, which I have to do in my Corolla.

My dad has totally re-built 12 Mustangs and some other cars back in the days.
The most important thing is too get the chassi and all the moving parts like engine, suspension, wheel hubs, drive shaft and all that properly working.
It can be a messy job but if you`re really inn too it, don`t let that scare you away.

yes, but that comes with a strait body and good paintwork as a general rule. And did you "repair" the rust with bog (body filler) or weld it up?

And what's hard about pulling out a little Corolla engine?

For a 4 cyl engine, a simple winch like this

does the job. If you don't have a suitable beam to lift from, use a tripod made out of 2" water pipe.

Take off the bonnet/hood and follow the steps in the workshop manual. Take the gearbox out with the engine up thru where the hood was ....

With practice you can do it in under 1 hour.

I have removed a geo metro 3 cyl engine by hands alone after i removed the transmission. Did it twice but decide not to rebuild the car too many problems and too much ADHD. I paid $100 for one car and $250 for the other. Geo metro are made so cheap that they usually have multiply system failures or about to

Straight chassis on 21 year old cars has little to do with the condition of the paint. As for the repair work, it was a combination of welds, Bondo, and fiber-glass. And living in Chicago, meant absolutely nothing. The rust came back around the fender-flares, and I'll fix it when I have time. Engine swaps aren't as simple as pulling the old one and dropping in the new one. The motor I am going to install is expensive for a 1.6L, and I will have to modify the firewall because it's a front wheel drive motor going into a rear wheel drive car. Then I have to route fuel and electrical lines, plus figure out how the hell I'm going to make the VVT work with a carburettor. Make that two carburettors. Then I have to custom make my exhaust, because the headers I'm putting on are for right-hand drive only. Then I have to figure out how I can pass emissions without a cat. Going back to the engine, I'll also have to workout which cams will work best with the carb set-up, as well as an ignition system that will give me 10,000 RPM for a redline. And it has to make a minimum of 160 horsepower, with 190 being the highest. And it has to get 30 miles to the gallon for the daily commute. I also need to find a Limited slip that can be switched between limited-slip and open (one for fun everywhere, the other to increase maneuverability for autocross). It's also going to have two, that's right, two fuel systems: an 8 gallon, daily driving tank, using 93 octane, unleaded, and a 2 gallon tank for use with leaded aviation gas (120 octane, costs the same as 110 octane racing fuel). I need to find an 8 quart (double the stock size) oil pan, to assist in cooling as well as lubrication, and I need to get a larger radiator and a special thermostat that fails in the open position. So there is my difficulty with an engine swap.

lol - that's not your average engine swap.

Why not just put a blower on a Celica engine?

And I always thought it was an American saying "there no substitute for CU's" - lol - are you sure your American - lol

For Iruka's benefit, because car makers like to have common parts, engines of the same make and era are often able to be swapped without any significant modifications. For instance, the rear wheel drive small Fords (which I am familiar with) from Anglias in 1950's thru to Escorts in 1980's could all be swapped easily. It would be a bit cramped, but you could take out the 1100cc 105E motor from an Anglia and put in a Lotus 1600 DOHC, 2000cc OHC, or even a Capri 3000cc v6.

Big engines= Big weight. My target is a stock Lotus Exige, so the added mass of the engine would kill me in the turns. Also, big engines have big torque. This is normally good, but the chassis of the AE86 has been ripped apart from torque. The Celica's 3SGE (I assume we're talking the good Celicas, right?) is good on it's own, but the head won't work in the Corolla chassis (more firewall, as well as motor mount modifications). And it's a 2.0 liter. With forced induction. That's close to 250-300 horsepower, which will kill the straight chassis. I'm going to have to cage the car, and it will only have 160-190 horse power. I think I will use the old components to build a home-brew Lotus 7 (I've seen some put together for $600!).

that makes more sense to me now

I don't know much about that engine or Toyotas. I did have a Lotus Twin Cam (Lotus Cortina) for a while. Based on the Ford 1500, I think the block was about the only thing that was Ford, and even that was a special casting with thicker walls (designated by an "L" under the engine mounts).

Is the Exige motor out of the Toyota factory, or is it modified by Lotus?

HEAVILY MODIFIED.