Giving up my dream

[John Hartman]

BS Kevin.

Sounds like the car is great except for maybe the tranny or tcase or rear end.

Thats ONE part.  yes fairly big, but an easyish swap.  Transfer case is less than an hour and costs $50-$150.  Rear end is 1-3 hours and costs about $150 or so.

Transmission is more costly, but still even if you get a good rebuild, its gonna only be $1500 or so.  And 3-5 hours to swap it.  If you get a good used tranny its a grand less.

The rest of the car sounds sorted out.  More than I can say for most of the cars on the road.

[Kevin Yue]

Just what I would do if I were him, he already has an RX-8 and doesn't really need another sporty car. Plus he did say he doesn't have the money to put into it, even if it is just a few k. Yeah, a few grand into a nice DSM isn't much in the long run..couple years in and I'm already out like 3-4k myself, lol.

[Ryan Singh]

Personally, I think it could be road worthy for under 3 grand. I'm not a mechanic or anything but I've had my dsm for over a decade now and I can say this...even if it sounds and feels really bad, sometimes it just needs some love by someone who really knows what they're doing.

If I were you and I had the money, I'd keep it. Throw some money into an account here and there and get it running, at least that way you can get the most you can out of it rather than selling for dirt cheap or scrapping it. If it's not costing you anything as it sits, you have nothing to lose by doing this.

[John Hartman]

yea, I agree.  Selling it with a problem that appears so big will mean selling it for dirt cheap.  If the interior and body are in excellent shape, the rest is just unbolting and bolting on other parts.

making a great shell is much harder and more expensive.

[Calvin Ng]

Paul!! I thought your name was very familiar. Sorry for the late reply. Hope everything works out for you! But don't give up just yet!

[Paul Epp]

Hey guys, thanks for such a great positive responses.  Especially Daniel, your comments really made me pause and think about the situation some more.
It shows me that this club is alive and well, and full of great members.

Matt Vangaalen came by on the weekend and took a look at my car.  It's a 5 speed by the way.
He's decided to buy it as-is as a "project" car.

It makes a lot of sense to me that a vehicle in this condition, at this age, really is only valuable for someone who can do his own work on it.  The numbers just didn't add up for me to pay someone a lot of money for parts plus expensive labour, and then maybe sell the car in running condition and maybe break even or possibly lose money in the end.  I certainly don't have the place, the time or the skills to do the work, so I want it to go to a DSM enthusiast who does.  At the end of the day it's just too impractical to keep it, so as long as it's not getting scrapped I'm happiest.  I'm sad to let it go, but instead of collecting dust now it's got a chance to be used as intended one day.

Thanks again for all the great advice..