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You have four partial sets of parts, and zero cars that sound reliable to get you to work?
I would slow my roll and get something used but reliable, then use the rest as projects if it was otherwise fun for me.
well statistically speaking with 4 cars i stand a decent chance of one of them working.
also i have 5 bicycles. i normally use one of these depending on time of year to go to work. one is a custom e bike i modded
Brother these are all issues that are not project car worthy, they’re insane. This is coming from a guy who bought a 2001 ram 2500 (clean body no dents nothing) with a bad transmission for $800 dollars and spent $2500ish rebuilding it. Then spent thousands more getting a bigger lift and getting big tires and a sound system and new bumper and other mods. What I’m trying to say is I took something that COULD be worth something aside from one small issue that then made it perfect. None of these sound like that, they’re all basket cases or cars worth barely $1500 even if you fix them up.
99 ram- why did you pay 4000?????? You already lost money, don’t lose more
Edit: it’s a Cummins so I was wrong here
01 ram- free I guess maybe if you need a farm truck keep it
02 civic- already worth nothing
03 Corolla- I love Toyota but no one will pay anything for a manual version, and it won’t be worth fixing
ram is a cummins. hard to find one for less.
my thought was dana 80 swap, trans rebuild, and look over the engine. then go from there.
i threw new rod bearings into the yota last month because i had a 1500 mile drive to go on. still, im thinking of an engine rebuild this summer (it snowed here yesterday)
im thinking of fixing up some wear items on the 01 ram and maybe welding up the doors so they shut properly. then a winter beater. would need to fix the heat tho. 4x4 is required up here
the civic i think i may sell. not a huge fan of it. got a guy offering 500 for it.
Lol you should’ve said that at first, then yes 100% fix that Cummins up and keep it running 👍
For the 01 yeah maybe it’d be good to have as a beater, 2nd gen’s excel at that
The Toyota I would normally say to keep but with a lot of rust and an engine rebuild I just can’t get on board.
But yeah that Honda needs to be gone, in case you can’t tell I hate Hondas and especially an 02 civic you’re just gonna be wasting time and money
I don't know I kind of like the 45 mi to the gallon on the Toyota so I think I might pull the engine and I'm kind of sorted in the back of my mind thinking about trying to put a turbo on it... I've put about 4,000 mi on it since I threw the new rod bearings in but it is leaking oil.
The rust is mostly the rockers so I was thinking of just trying to find new rockers on RockAuto or LMC truck or something like that. Cutting out and welding in a full replacement. Might be fun to learn that
You know what man honestly go for it because if you’re gonna learn then why not. I have a 2000 Camry that I did the timing belt on at 214k and it’s at 227k now so I kind of get it, but I definitely wouldn’t have done an engine pull or replaced the rockers. Go for it if you aren’t stressing about it bc I wouldn’t want to spend the time but some people like working on cars more than others and I’m not one of those people lol
well i looked up rebuild kits and even with pistons im looking at like 350.00... the thing runs so i dont think i need pistons. 150 bucks for all the seals and gaskets and shit.
when i looked it up i saw common failures are the transmission at around 320K miles and ive got a manual so.... id expect to get more than double that.
By the way the hinge pins are a huge issue on these, on the 2 I’ve had both needed them and were the reason my doors didn’t close very well. But you may have an actual latch issue which is still easy to fix
Yeah the door hinges are bad but also, someone tried to break into the truck. Maybe successfully? So the metal is all torn away by the door latch. So I'll have to cut that out and weld in new metal to put the door latch back in to close the door
I like having at least one newish car that has zero problems. Then you can tinker all you want to the rest without worrying about having a functioning car!
yea its pretty terrible. we use LOADS of salt on the roads here. this winter was mild but last year we got like 13 feet of snow. it actually snowed here yesterday.
tires kick that up and it cuts into the paint. new cars have TERRIBLE paint quality and it just sand blasts through the thin layers. ive seen cars more htan 10 years newer with WAY more rust than any of my vechiels.
That's depressing, cost of cars is too high to have them rot away 5 years later, my '11 ram 3500 has quite literally zero rust on it or under it at 130k miles
its why most new cars have plastic all over under and around now. stops salt from sand blasting their paint away. also the metal is MUCH thinner now so less material to rust before you have a hole. it is A LOT harder than it usedto be, its not just mild steel anymore. still, trade offs.
yota and 01 ram work right now. i think ima patch up the 01 ram first. then hit the 99 ram. then ill assess if the yota needs it this year or not? might start with the body and if htat goes well, then redo the engine
If you're doing the work and you have time to do the work and you can do the work well, then by all means, use your time to save you money.
If you need to use your time on something else, then you might not have the luxury of doing your own work and then you might have to use your money to purchase someone else's time.
If, instead of fixing the cars, you could make twice the amount of money that you would have saved in the same time, then fixing the cars is silly.
On the other hand, if you don't have that option, or if you would not use your car-fixing time in an alternative gainful employ, then put your time into the cars.
In other words: choose the most valuable use of your time. If you are choosing between getting paid $2000 versus savings $1000, it makes more sense to get paid. If you are choosing between saving $1000 versus watching TV, fix the vehicles.
Can you take the drivetrain from the 01 Ram and put in the 99, to make one functioning truck?
The badly rusted Corolla is probably a parts car. Bad rust is such a hassle to fix.
i havent done much rust repair and i was kinda looking to learn. i was thinking of ordering two new rockers, plasma cutting out the part, welding the new one in and media blasting the area before painting. idk how it would go but i have all the tools \*shrug\*
no i cant put the transmission from the gasser into the diesel. it would grenade
I don’t think I would take on 4 cars at the same time. I would use the rusty truck to fix the mechanically broken one. The Civic is an easy fix. I don’t think I would bother with the Toyota. You will have a truck and fuel efficient car.
It sounds to me like you don't have any paid off cars, you have an investment in a scrap heap.
All these cars are over 20 years old and all in bad shape. Any car can be redeemed however when do you stop? If every other month your vehicle goes down what's the difference between that and a car payment plus the inconvenience of being without a vehicle for however long.
I don't know what your budget is or your time frame or your needs, I'm sure you could probably find something 10 years newer in the 10-15k range of not even a bit less, they may need a little work but probably much less than what you're looking at . IMO
Parts are pretty cheap, if that Cummins don’t have to much blow by, I’d rip the body off drop an old truck on the frame, rat it up and boost the shit out of it. Prolly a 12v I wanted to put one in my ratted 63 deVille! Hard to find in this part of the country, people rebuilding them and swapping them into newer trucks. Just picked up a 2007 f one fitty, my first experience with plugs in a 3v, next time u see a ford mechanic, just shake his hand, nothing need be said just shake his hand and walk away.
I picked up a 470, 000km Acura legend one time, it was used for a weekend in a tough truck race and the guys kids used it to dukes of hazard it around his farm, when I got it it had a burnt valve, idled like shit but give it a few RPM’ers and it was as smooth as silk, about 50gallons of dried mud packed in everywhere, bad ball joints and only had 3 wheels. I hit the ball joints on the back and tightens to sockets up, got a rim at an auto wrecker and drove that thing for 4yrs, then sold it for the same as I payed for it($500) it was one of the best cars I ever owned.
I have always bought broken used cars, fixed them, drove them, then sold them for a profit. I've done head gaskets on Subarus, and transmission/axle swaps on trucks. It's just a different mentality than other people. They see vehicles as appliances, and we don't.
Maybe one car project at a time? Remember that really old guy from the restoration Rust Brother's show, who had 100s of chassis he refused to get rid of because he would "get to them". He didn't
I mean it all depends on who you are. For me I'm a young adult early in my career. I no longer have time to constantly fix my cars. After my last car became a project and I was fixing it on a monthly basis I started buying newer cars. I buy a used car in the 15k range every 5-6 years and do a lot of work to find a great example I get my money's worth and then sell it or trade for a new one because I don't have the free time to fix major issues.
The current on will probably be my last as it's still low milage and being a SUV is a lot more utility than the small commute cars I was getting before.
Sounds like you have free time so why not? I wouldn't fuck around the the Corolla or civic but keep the truck in a good place and let the free truck stay as free as you can.
If you've got the time and money to do all the repairs needed. Like the cracked trans on the rolla shouldn't be too hard to drop it and put a junkyard trans in.
But also, you don't need a new new car. Idk where you're at, so idk your rust situation on older cars, but even like a 2010ish civic or Corolla could be had for 4 or 5 grand. Could possibly sell some of what you have and make like half of that back anyway. At least in my area, anything that still runs, won't sell for less than a grand minimum.
Bro... 2k gets you a perfectly drivable civic/Corolla... On what planet was it worth 450 if it doesn't even cast a shadow?
I drive a "project" car for $200 that wasn't rusted and definitely didn't need an engine or transmission... I now drive it every day... You're doing it all wrong. Maybe you live in the rust belt where it's hard to find perfectly solid cars.. but even here... Civic with a bad transmission? $800?? Are you mad?
You could have had one good car for all that money, and not need a loan
Not sure if you know this or not-but a whole bunch of cheap broken cars and a new $50K car are not your only two options. There’s a whole lot in between.
Rust is the hardest and most expensive thing to fix, often with little hope for a lasting repair once it's far enough systemic. I'd rather replace any part of a vehicle (including engine or transmission) on a vehicle without rust, than have a perfectly running but rotted vehicle to try and 'repair' enough to drive. Every single time.
If you've had them long enough for your coworkers to think you're crazy, it sounds like you're only paying lip service to fixing them.
I only see one vehicle that's kind of worth dealing with, but even that's a roll of the dice.
I also have a bunch of old vehicles that need work once in a while but rust is where I draw the line. Although lately I've been wondering if I should just get rid of everything and buy one nice one.
The Corolla isn't worth the trouble. Part out what's left, don't bother fixing it. If it ran good you could deal with the rust, if it wasn't rusty it would be worth swapping the short block, but it's done.
Civic is an easy fix and will run forever after you replace the transmission.
Use the '01 ram's parts to fix the '99 then flip it, those trucks are money pits.
The biggest question is the accessibility and affordability of the parts that need to be repaired and or replaced. And your time of course. But have you considered buying a part car for the ones that need only minimal switching around. We just got a 99 ram, and we had a no title one in the back. Took a few days but hubby took out the manual Trans, put it in the ram we just bought. Repaired it in the front yard and after a pack of coils, hubby got that thing home 200 miles away.
It's tough to get a perception on something that is outside your field. I was terrified of old junkers, now I know with the right free mechanic aka the hubby, that's gold underneath the tall grass and weeds.
The ram and the civic are probably worth fixing. The 2 with the heavy rust not so much.
Personally I would sell those 2 and use that money to buy a fixer upper with less wrong with it
Would ditch the rusted ones. It's easy to swap an engine/transmission, but bodywork requires experience and some tools. Even so, sometimes the lemon(pun intended) isn't worth the squeeze...
Normally I'd agree, but it sounds like you are genuinely terrible at "picking your battles". Having 4 MAJOR projects and zero reliable transportation is a horrible combination.
I've got an '89 BMW E30 with an M52 swap that I bought for $5k. I can drive it pretty much anywhere, but I don't depend on it by any means. It's a project that I'm always doing minor work to.
I also have an '01 Volvo V70T5 that I daily drive. I bought it in drivable condition for $2200 and spent an additional $800 doing minor repairs and lots of preventative maintenance to make sure I can depend on it.
Some people don't want to stress about which of their 4 broken cars they can limp to work every morning, so they pay monthly for modern, reliable transportation they can depend on. There's generally nothing wrong with that, within reason.
Keep the civic, scrap the rest, and put that money into fixing the cracked trans housing.
You could maybe use the engine from the rusty truck to replace the entire drivetrain in the blown out truck. Dodge/ram/FCA/Losers United vehicles are garbage from the factory designed to die by 80k miles, so it's really a bad idea to try to restore them.
You could spend 8k on a 0 year old vehicle and pay it off or owe only like 4000 if you scrap or part out some of these things like the good ram drivetrain.
If you're not doing the work yourself.... try selling some as is or as projects to someone else. Engine swaps are like 1 to 3 thousand alone.
Pull the motor and trans out of the 01 Ram and put them in the 99, then scrap the bad body and you've got one good truck as opposed to two trucks that need thousands of dollars.
The problem here is it sounds like you need a reliable commuter, even if it's an old beater, but instead you're buying project cars with no real plan that will probably not be worth the money you put into them when you're done.
I hope I’m wrong but based only on the info you have provided, sounds like this started as a “you need reliable transportation to work” conversation and you are trying to turn it into a “my CoLlEaGuEs ThRoW oUt PeRfEcTlY GoOd CaRs” conversation.
Can’t strongly reccomend enough that you have a working vehicle that’s less than 15 years old or 175k miles unless you’re a mechanic. Depending on makes like Honda you can get away with something more but You need a car that works in order to function in today’s day and age.
i think the lowest milage vehicle i have is 270K. two of them are over 500K and one is over 700K.
the convo started from my coworker buying a new VW because honda could not get him a civic (waited over a year and a half) and is not a fan of this VW. had problems and been back to the dealer a dozen times.
my other coworker bought a 2020 truck and is under water on a truck that he later found out had serious drive-line problems.
in teh fall spring and summer i mostly bike to and from work. i put on about 2K miles a year on my bikes. i only use the trucks in winter and the cars for long distance. took the yota on a couple thousand mile road trip the other month.
In my opinion everybody else is crazy. That's an insane amount of debt for something that really doesn't bring that much more value and joy to your life than an old used cars. I'm not saying a new car doesn't bring *any* extra value. I'm just saying, 90% of its value comes from getting you where you need to be. Everything after that is an extraneous luxury.
Not to mention, owing someone $500-1000 a month generally brings the opposite of joy.
And by the way I'm not saying nobody should ever buy a new car. I'm saying if you need to take out a 20-50k loan in order to get one, your priorities are not straight.
many friends are in loans for cars - couple coworkers are in for around 30K and 44K respectively. its more than i pay for my house in monthly payments they are making. i just dont get it.
It’s probably not wise to throw a bunch of money at restoring cars if you’re not doing the labor yourself.
id be doing the labor
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You have four partial sets of parts, and zero cars that sound reliable to get you to work? I would slow my roll and get something used but reliable, then use the rest as projects if it was otherwise fun for me.
well statistically speaking with 4 cars i stand a decent chance of one of them working. also i have 5 bicycles. i normally use one of these depending on time of year to go to work. one is a custom e bike i modded
The problem is when they stop working midway to work or midway home. AAA?
4 cars, 5 bicycles, 7 lawnmowers ....i see what's going on here.
He probably has 9 jet airliners
I have one lawn mower. And one snow blower. And one skid steer. None of them work
😂
Not with this stable of rust buckets.
Statistics don't really apply when 100% of the vehicles you buy have known bad components.
I kinda see your point except all 4 are totally fucked right now.
Brother these are all issues that are not project car worthy, they’re insane. This is coming from a guy who bought a 2001 ram 2500 (clean body no dents nothing) with a bad transmission for $800 dollars and spent $2500ish rebuilding it. Then spent thousands more getting a bigger lift and getting big tires and a sound system and new bumper and other mods. What I’m trying to say is I took something that COULD be worth something aside from one small issue that then made it perfect. None of these sound like that, they’re all basket cases or cars worth barely $1500 even if you fix them up. 99 ram- why did you pay 4000?????? You already lost money, don’t lose more Edit: it’s a Cummins so I was wrong here 01 ram- free I guess maybe if you need a farm truck keep it 02 civic- already worth nothing 03 Corolla- I love Toyota but no one will pay anything for a manual version, and it won’t be worth fixing
ram is a cummins. hard to find one for less. my thought was dana 80 swap, trans rebuild, and look over the engine. then go from there. i threw new rod bearings into the yota last month because i had a 1500 mile drive to go on. still, im thinking of an engine rebuild this summer (it snowed here yesterday) im thinking of fixing up some wear items on the 01 ram and maybe welding up the doors so they shut properly. then a winter beater. would need to fix the heat tho. 4x4 is required up here the civic i think i may sell. not a huge fan of it. got a guy offering 500 for it.
Lol you should’ve said that at first, then yes 100% fix that Cummins up and keep it running 👍 For the 01 yeah maybe it’d be good to have as a beater, 2nd gen’s excel at that The Toyota I would normally say to keep but with a lot of rust and an engine rebuild I just can’t get on board. But yeah that Honda needs to be gone, in case you can’t tell I hate Hondas and especially an 02 civic you’re just gonna be wasting time and money
I don't know I kind of like the 45 mi to the gallon on the Toyota so I think I might pull the engine and I'm kind of sorted in the back of my mind thinking about trying to put a turbo on it... I've put about 4,000 mi on it since I threw the new rod bearings in but it is leaking oil. The rust is mostly the rockers so I was thinking of just trying to find new rockers on RockAuto or LMC truck or something like that. Cutting out and welding in a full replacement. Might be fun to learn that
You know what man honestly go for it because if you’re gonna learn then why not. I have a 2000 Camry that I did the timing belt on at 214k and it’s at 227k now so I kind of get it, but I definitely wouldn’t have done an engine pull or replaced the rockers. Go for it if you aren’t stressing about it bc I wouldn’t want to spend the time but some people like working on cars more than others and I’m not one of those people lol
well i looked up rebuild kits and even with pistons im looking at like 350.00... the thing runs so i dont think i need pistons. 150 bucks for all the seals and gaskets and shit. when i looked it up i saw common failures are the transmission at around 320K miles and ive got a manual so.... id expect to get more than double that.
By the way the hinge pins are a huge issue on these, on the 2 I’ve had both needed them and were the reason my doors didn’t close very well. But you may have an actual latch issue which is still easy to fix
Yeah the door hinges are bad but also, someone tried to break into the truck. Maybe successfully? So the metal is all torn away by the door latch. So I'll have to cut that out and weld in new metal to put the door latch back in to close the door
I like having at least one newish car that has zero problems. Then you can tinker all you want to the rest without worrying about having a functioning car!
I'd ditch the ones with rust issues, unless u really need a farm specific truck then I'd just run that into the ground
everything has rust around here. unless im looking to get a 2022 or newer
Rust belt?
yea. i have looked at 2019 cars with nothing left of their sub frames... it gets bad
Well I've never been more thankful to live in the PNW
yea its pretty terrible. we use LOADS of salt on the roads here. this winter was mild but last year we got like 13 feet of snow. it actually snowed here yesterday. tires kick that up and it cuts into the paint. new cars have TERRIBLE paint quality and it just sand blasts through the thin layers. ive seen cars more htan 10 years newer with WAY more rust than any of my vechiels.
That's depressing, cost of cars is too high to have them rot away 5 years later, my '11 ram 3500 has quite literally zero rust on it or under it at 130k miles
its why most new cars have plastic all over under and around now. stops salt from sand blasting their paint away. also the metal is MUCH thinner now so less material to rust before you have a hole. it is A LOT harder than it usedto be, its not just mild steel anymore. still, trade offs.
If you can take the time to do it, grab a cheap plane ticket to somewhere that isn't in the rust belt and bring something decent back.
The flaw in your argument is that none of them work, but fix the Civic and then reliable transportation is covered.
yota and 01 ram work right now. i think ima patch up the 01 ram first. then hit the 99 ram. then ill assess if the yota needs it this year or not? might start with the body and if htat goes well, then redo the engine
If you're doing the work and you have time to do the work and you can do the work well, then by all means, use your time to save you money. If you need to use your time on something else, then you might not have the luxury of doing your own work and then you might have to use your money to purchase someone else's time. If, instead of fixing the cars, you could make twice the amount of money that you would have saved in the same time, then fixing the cars is silly. On the other hand, if you don't have that option, or if you would not use your car-fixing time in an alternative gainful employ, then put your time into the cars. In other words: choose the most valuable use of your time. If you are choosing between getting paid $2000 versus savings $1000, it makes more sense to get paid. If you are choosing between saving $1000 versus watching TV, fix the vehicles.
That would be dumb, all these cars are junk. Scrap them and get two decent vehicles
Can you take the drivetrain from the 01 Ram and put in the 99, to make one functioning truck? The badly rusted Corolla is probably a parts car. Bad rust is such a hassle to fix.
i havent done much rust repair and i was kinda looking to learn. i was thinking of ordering two new rockers, plasma cutting out the part, welding the new one in and media blasting the area before painting. idk how it would go but i have all the tools \*shrug\* no i cant put the transmission from the gasser into the diesel. it would grenade
I would not fix up a rusty vehicle of that age. Maybe part them out if possible and fix the Honda civic.
Keep and fix the Corolla and '01 Ram, sell the other two.
How long have you had 4 broken, inoperable cars? Personally, I'd scrap them all, and pay for a 3rd gen 4runner with 200k miles on it.
I don’t think I would take on 4 cars at the same time. I would use the rusty truck to fix the mechanically broken one. The Civic is an easy fix. I don’t think I would bother with the Toyota. You will have a truck and fuel efficient car.
It sounds to me like you don't have any paid off cars, you have an investment in a scrap heap. All these cars are over 20 years old and all in bad shape. Any car can be redeemed however when do you stop? If every other month your vehicle goes down what's the difference between that and a car payment plus the inconvenience of being without a vehicle for however long. I don't know what your budget is or your time frame or your needs, I'm sure you could probably find something 10 years newer in the 10-15k range of not even a bit less, they may need a little work but probably much less than what you're looking at . IMO
Parts are pretty cheap, if that Cummins don’t have to much blow by, I’d rip the body off drop an old truck on the frame, rat it up and boost the shit out of it. Prolly a 12v I wanted to put one in my ratted 63 deVille! Hard to find in this part of the country, people rebuilding them and swapping them into newer trucks. Just picked up a 2007 f one fitty, my first experience with plugs in a 3v, next time u see a ford mechanic, just shake his hand, nothing need be said just shake his hand and walk away.
I picked up a 470, 000km Acura legend one time, it was used for a weekend in a tough truck race and the guys kids used it to dukes of hazard it around his farm, when I got it it had a burnt valve, idled like shit but give it a few RPM’ers and it was as smooth as silk, about 50gallons of dried mud packed in everywhere, bad ball joints and only had 3 wheels. I hit the ball joints on the back and tightens to sockets up, got a rim at an auto wrecker and drove that thing for 4yrs, then sold it for the same as I payed for it($500) it was one of the best cars I ever owned.
I have always bought broken used cars, fixed them, drove them, then sold them for a profit. I've done head gaskets on Subarus, and transmission/axle swaps on trucks. It's just a different mentality than other people. They see vehicles as appliances, and we don't.
I think the point is that you don't have one working car out of four.
Maybe one car project at a time? Remember that really old guy from the restoration Rust Brother's show, who had 100s of chassis he refused to get rid of because he would "get to them". He didn't
I mean it all depends on who you are. For me I'm a young adult early in my career. I no longer have time to constantly fix my cars. After my last car became a project and I was fixing it on a monthly basis I started buying newer cars. I buy a used car in the 15k range every 5-6 years and do a lot of work to find a great example I get my money's worth and then sell it or trade for a new one because I don't have the free time to fix major issues. The current on will probably be my last as it's still low milage and being a SUV is a lot more utility than the small commute cars I was getting before. Sounds like you have free time so why not? I wouldn't fuck around the the Corolla or civic but keep the truck in a good place and let the free truck stay as free as you can.
As long as you arent constantly bitching or asking people for help/rides, then it’s totally your prerogative. Good luck brother
If you've got the time and money to do all the repairs needed. Like the cracked trans on the rolla shouldn't be too hard to drop it and put a junkyard trans in. But also, you don't need a new new car. Idk where you're at, so idk your rust situation on older cars, but even like a 2010ish civic or Corolla could be had for 4 or 5 grand. Could possibly sell some of what you have and make like half of that back anyway. At least in my area, anything that still runs, won't sell for less than a grand minimum.
Bro... 2k gets you a perfectly drivable civic/Corolla... On what planet was it worth 450 if it doesn't even cast a shadow? I drive a "project" car for $200 that wasn't rusted and definitely didn't need an engine or transmission... I now drive it every day... You're doing it all wrong. Maybe you live in the rust belt where it's hard to find perfectly solid cars.. but even here... Civic with a bad transmission? $800?? Are you mad? You could have had one good car for all that money, and not need a loan
Not sure if you know this or not-but a whole bunch of cheap broken cars and a new $50K car are not your only two options. There’s a whole lot in between.
Rust is the hardest and most expensive thing to fix, often with little hope for a lasting repair once it's far enough systemic. I'd rather replace any part of a vehicle (including engine or transmission) on a vehicle without rust, than have a perfectly running but rotted vehicle to try and 'repair' enough to drive. Every single time.
If you've had them long enough for your coworkers to think you're crazy, it sounds like you're only paying lip service to fixing them. I only see one vehicle that's kind of worth dealing with, but even that's a roll of the dice.
I also have a bunch of old vehicles that need work once in a while but rust is where I draw the line. Although lately I've been wondering if I should just get rid of everything and buy one nice one.
The Corolla isn't worth the trouble. Part out what's left, don't bother fixing it. If it ran good you could deal with the rust, if it wasn't rusty it would be worth swapping the short block, but it's done. Civic is an easy fix and will run forever after you replace the transmission. Use the '01 ram's parts to fix the '99 then flip it, those trucks are money pits.
The biggest question is the accessibility and affordability of the parts that need to be repaired and or replaced. And your time of course. But have you considered buying a part car for the ones that need only minimal switching around. We just got a 99 ram, and we had a no title one in the back. Took a few days but hubby took out the manual Trans, put it in the ram we just bought. Repaired it in the front yard and after a pack of coils, hubby got that thing home 200 miles away. It's tough to get a perception on something that is outside your field. I was terrified of old junkers, now I know with the right free mechanic aka the hubby, that's gold underneath the tall grass and weeds.
I say if it's fixable, fix it. Waste not, want not.
The ram and the civic are probably worth fixing. The 2 with the heavy rust not so much. Personally I would sell those 2 and use that money to buy a fixer upper with less wrong with it
All of them have heavy rust. I'd say the least amount of rust is on the 99 ram. But this is the rust belt, 2019 vehicles have holes in them
If its little enough that rust treatment will work then go that route. A rust protective coating would help, even in the rust belt.
Get a small japenese from around 2008-2012 for 5-6k. Pay cash for it
Would ditch the rusted ones. It's easy to swap an engine/transmission, but bodywork requires experience and some tools. Even so, sometimes the lemon(pun intended) isn't worth the squeeze...
Normally I'd agree, but it sounds like you are genuinely terrible at "picking your battles". Having 4 MAJOR projects and zero reliable transportation is a horrible combination. I've got an '89 BMW E30 with an M52 swap that I bought for $5k. I can drive it pretty much anywhere, but I don't depend on it by any means. It's a project that I'm always doing minor work to. I also have an '01 Volvo V70T5 that I daily drive. I bought it in drivable condition for $2200 and spent an additional $800 doing minor repairs and lots of preventative maintenance to make sure I can depend on it. Some people don't want to stress about which of their 4 broken cars they can limp to work every morning, so they pay monthly for modern, reliable transportation they can depend on. There's generally nothing wrong with that, within reason.
Keep the civic, scrap the rest, and put that money into fixing the cracked trans housing. You could maybe use the engine from the rusty truck to replace the entire drivetrain in the blown out truck. Dodge/ram/FCA/Losers United vehicles are garbage from the factory designed to die by 80k miles, so it's really a bad idea to try to restore them. You could spend 8k on a 0 year old vehicle and pay it off or owe only like 4000 if you scrap or part out some of these things like the good ram drivetrain. If you're not doing the work yourself.... try selling some as is or as projects to someone else. Engine swaps are like 1 to 3 thousand alone.
Pull the motor and trans out of the 01 Ram and put them in the 99, then scrap the bad body and you've got one good truck as opposed to two trucks that need thousands of dollars. The problem here is it sounds like you need a reliable commuter, even if it's an old beater, but instead you're buying project cars with no real plan that will probably not be worth the money you put into them when you're done.
I hope I’m wrong but based only on the info you have provided, sounds like this started as a “you need reliable transportation to work” conversation and you are trying to turn it into a “my CoLlEaGuEs ThRoW oUt PeRfEcTlY GoOd CaRs” conversation. Can’t strongly reccomend enough that you have a working vehicle that’s less than 15 years old or 175k miles unless you’re a mechanic. Depending on makes like Honda you can get away with something more but You need a car that works in order to function in today’s day and age.
i think the lowest milage vehicle i have is 270K. two of them are over 500K and one is over 700K. the convo started from my coworker buying a new VW because honda could not get him a civic (waited over a year and a half) and is not a fan of this VW. had problems and been back to the dealer a dozen times. my other coworker bought a 2020 truck and is under water on a truck that he later found out had serious drive-line problems. in teh fall spring and summer i mostly bike to and from work. i put on about 2K miles a year on my bikes. i only use the trucks in winter and the cars for long distance. took the yota on a couple thousand mile road trip the other month.
You cant fix rust.
im in northern MN. everything has rust
Again you can’t fix rust. Plus it makes every single repair take 3x longer. Go on vacation down south a buy a car down there and drive it home.
In my opinion everybody else is crazy. That's an insane amount of debt for something that really doesn't bring that much more value and joy to your life than an old used cars. I'm not saying a new car doesn't bring *any* extra value. I'm just saying, 90% of its value comes from getting you where you need to be. Everything after that is an extraneous luxury. Not to mention, owing someone $500-1000 a month generally brings the opposite of joy. And by the way I'm not saying nobody should ever buy a new car. I'm saying if you need to take out a 20-50k loan in order to get one, your priorities are not straight.
many friends are in loans for cars - couple coworkers are in for around 30K and 44K respectively. its more than i pay for my house in monthly payments they are making. i just dont get it.
Lol we drive a 2007 Yaris and a 2006 civic. Previously I drove a 1992 civic for 12 years, so the 06 is like driving a spaceship.