So a junk yard near me has 2 Gen Coupes that are totalled completely. They were both used in drag exhibition and crashed with no roll over. 1 is totalled in the rear and the other is totalled in the front.



I can buy both for $8,000 (4k each). I have a buddy who works at a collision shop and offered to swap the front end and subframe on one with the other, along with the engine, tranny, and repaint everything. He said it would run me around $3,500 since hes a friend and would be doing it for me.



So basically I could get a brand new GC 2.0 for $11,500 but it would have a salvage title.



Is this a good idea or am I playing with fire and taking a big gamble?

 

Oh, and I know my friend would do a good job. he wouldnt let me drive it if he did any short cuts or if it was unsafe.

 

Hard to say without inspecting the cars, or at least seeing pics.



Do you have pics?





I'd love to get some fog lights, part of the dash, and side mirrors with turn signals :biggrin:





You could probably part one of them out for a good chunk of money. There are people willing to buy factory tails, headlights, seats, turbo, etc.

 

You do realize that changing subframes basically means cutting the car in almost half, right? Its not something that someone with light experience should tackle. If they dont weld the new subframe in perfectly, you could end up with a TON of problems, along with an endless amount of safety hazards. If he has the experience and you think he could do it perfectly, then paying 11.5 for a new GC is a ridiculously good deal. I on the other hand probably wouldnt touch something like that with a 10 foot pole, considering there could be more issues with it than you want to deal with.



When the next gen of GC's come out, it should be very easy to pick up a used 1st gen 2.0 between $15K and $19K with low miles from a dealer. I would just wait and buy one for a few grand more that didnt have half of it chopped in half and built back together like Frankenstein.

 

f*cking win... thats what it would be.. i would go inspect the cars first though before you make any big purchases. it might be much more of a money pit than you would think.. but could turn out to be a great decision..

 

I wanna know where this yard is at. If it has leather seats, fog lights, or an extra pair of head/tail lights, I want 'em

 

Assuming the shop in question has the ability and you have the money and patience, I have only one reservation: structural integrity. The sheet metal IS the strength member, and you are going to put a line of weaker/different temper all the way around the car at the weld joint. I'd want to have that question answered to my satisfaction before I jumped on this deal.

 

So after looking into this more I have decided its not worth it. The subframes were twisted up on both gen coupes and it would have been more trouble than it was worth. I didnt want to take a chance and dump all that money into this and end up with major issues or safety concerns down the road.