1989 Corolla DX....restoration

[syrius]

So I have been driving used cars for about 9 years now.....the latest is the 1989 corolla that I bought from my sister for $1.72. Now I was planning on buying a brand spanking new car around this time next year. But I have been thinking how much of a beast this corolla is.

It has 179,000 miles on the speed-o-meter and I cant even shift into 4th (completly ground out). The paint job has oxidized really really bad and the room lining is comletely gone, including the foam. But man does this thing keep on kicking. It drives great (besides being kinda light) and the AC still blows very cold air.

Here is the thing..... when it comes down to it I dont want to finally not worry about this that or the other in a car. So Im either buying a brand spanking new car..... or Im getting alot of things fixed with the corolla professionally.

As an estimate from you guys since your the enthusiast. How much would the following cost.

New clutch
New tranny (or rebuild)
New paint job (nothing snazy just a good looking coat of blue and fix some small dents)
New suspension

Whatever that comes too, Im adding about 500 bucks to put a cd player in it and fix some interior stuff.

What do you guys think.

BTW how much HP does the 89 GTS have? is the enging swapable? (yes I know you could swap just about any engine but is it a bolt in?)

[w203]

Too many variants comes to play in the pricing. Location and shops all vary in prices. You r also not specific on the parts chosen, what kind of clutch? Where do you plan to get a used tranny? How much dent repair is needed? What suspension components are you talking about? Since your getting it "professionally" fixed just go to your local shops and get an estimate. Unless if the car has a lot of sentimental value to you I don't see why you still need to think about your decision...

But if I had to guess I'd say one dollar Bob.

[punter]

Why don't you just buy a similar age corolla that's in better shape, yours sounds pretty stuffed.

[retiredat44]

about $2,500 for those repairs. Could be more.... there's tons of crap that wears out on old cars. That's for a cheap paint job included. The struts alone could be $800.00 for parts and labor. Interior a couple hundred, and tranny, could be up to $1000,00 easy. I would bet there many more things that are either bad or ready to go bad.

[90 GP]

Drive it till it dies but don't invest any in it. If you invested in it and had an accident you would never recover your loss. The book value on it is probably nill. Your money would be better spent going toward that new car or a low mileage used one.

[retiredat44]

You could do most the work yourself and save most of that cash..