Rebuild the one from twins
 

Hi Everyone,
I am thinking about to get rebuild twin (FR-S/BRZ). My raft estimate is 5-7K for a car on auction and them perform repair work investing another 5-7K. So in the end it will be 10-14K for a car. I am considering front or side damage without touching engine, with mileage less than 10K

From your experience what I need to consider doing that? are there any showstoppers that I need to check and go away if see them?
What do you think about that idea?

I think it's a good idea if you keep the car for a long time and do all the work yourself. You're not going to get jack shit if you plan on turning around and selling it after you fix it.

I am planning to keep it for years, that is why I am not afraid of Salvage Title.

A salvage title car for $5-7K is going to cost you a whole shitload more then another $5-7 to fix properly.

what type of repair you think will be the highest expense?

If it was written off but left the engine intact than there is going to be some serious structural damage. That is not something you can fix yourself (if it can be fixed at all)

This is the risk I am trying to challenge. Do you have any idea what kind of structural damage can make car unusable.

I am consider something like this
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/attac...1&d=1415928349

And do not consider something like this
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/attac...1&d=1415928349

You can buy my 2013 for less than you can repair either of those....

Can't tell from looking at the body panel damage really as a lot can be hidden underneath.
If you have to ask these questions a project of this size probably isn't the best bet anyway.
These things can seem really simple but as you get deeper into them they start to snowball and can get out of control.
Took on a couple of restoration projects on some classics in the past and only half finished both as costs started to build beyond where I had expected and planned for.
If you can find just the right car, at just the right price, have all the needed skills and equipment you might, just maybe, hit your budget.
But... now you have a greatly reduced value car that probably will not recover the costs for what you put into it.

I had thought about it as well, but after awhile decided it wasn't worth it. you can't take the vehicle to get the frame checked out until you've purchased so you wont have an idea how bad it really is until you've paid for it, which is big gamble in my opinion, unless you can get trustworthy auto body guy to go with you to check the vehicle out. Also, with the prices of the twins dropping, i've seen several in the 16k-17k range with winter coming in... only couple thousand more than your budget for a clean title.

The other option is to find a vehicle with hail damage, or maybe a flood vehicle that wasn't submerged past any vital parts, i would say below the seat that way you know there's on frame damage and no air bag deployment.

hope that helps

I wouldn't touch a car with the amount of damage in either of those pics. I've seen some that got side-swiped listed at about $13K.

My car got major hail damage ($13K) which will require replacing EVERY metal panel, and repainting the entire car. Still not a total loss, but my car had less than 2,500 miles on it and was valued at $26K at the time.

Fenders or rear quarters are easy to replace. A car that's either rear-ended somebody, or been rear-ended at anything over about 30 mph is probably going to require a frame straighter...

However if you want to make a race car the red BRZ might not be too bad.

yoooooooooo i'll buy it....

you already have one, save it for someone like me who doesn't have one yet! haha

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh2sWSVRrmo"]WHY? D:[/ame]