I am planning a ground up project for my 1971 Maverick and am trying to put together an "as complete as" possible budget and list of things that have to be done. With the understanding there will be plenty of cost that simply can't be anticipated, are there any good lists or resources to go through to help plan for everything? I think anyone could plan until they are blue in the face but will still leave out things until it's time to do it and I am trying to minimize the leaving out as much as I can.
That's a good one. You have to indicate what kind of build you want to do and what you are starting with. Once you have that, then it becomes a matter of self control. I knew I couldn't control myself. Even still, it ended up being multiples of what I budgeted. Partly because of unanticipated idiots I dealt with. Don't ask. Good luck. Micah
To be clear I am not asking for anyone to budget for me or anything; I am capable of doing the math and getting quotes myself. Rather I am trying to come up with the most comprehensive list so that I can 1) budget my money; 2) plan the best list of parts I can manage for bulk order savings purposes; and 3) budget the time for my build. I have a 1971 200ci i6, it has low levels of rust, and it's nearly as straight as you could ask at this stage. As I said earlier, I am looking at ground up. I am planning to build a pump gas, semi-regular but non-daily driver. 302 swap with the transmission, discs, suspension, etc. to match; plus a few modifications (hood, tail lights, and the other usual suspects). The better and more inclusive my plan, the less I need self control . In my mind, a complete and excessively detailed resto shop bill or something similar would really be perfect to help me make sure I am not forgetting anything major .
One of the bigger decisions is do you want to pull a roller block 302 from the junk yard and outfit it with a carb and manifold or do you want to purchase a crate engine. The high side cost on a totally outfitted crate engine would be one of the Edelbrock crate engines from Summit Racing for an astounding $12,000, but it comes with a new block, crank, rods, pistons, aluminum heads, carb, manifold, distributor, air breather; basically a brand new performance engine. There are all sorts of crate engines out there for much less but they may have varinging degrees of used parts and "house brand" heads. Another decision is are you willing to rev this engine to 6,000 rpm because that will reveal whether or not you should buy all the go-fast parts for a junk yard engine. If you decide to use a junkyard engine with a re-build including a new cam, set of bearings and seals, aluminum heads, new pistons, original crank and rods, and machining bill, you'd probably still need at least $5,000. How about if you make a "master list" of what you want and the forum members can give you their two cents on what things cost. MD
are you doing the work or paying someone else? price sometimes depends on if the person doing the work is a Ford Guy or not... then if the Ford Guy likes Mavericks or not... ever what est. of cost you come up with...double that... ever how long you think it will take to complete the project...3 times that... as mention above...let us know what your wants are for the car and someone will be able to give you a guess of what each section cost. do you want to build it to drive now or do you want dependability for the long run? how good are you at laying a plan and sticking with it and not letting someone change your mind along the way? " In my mind, a complete and excessively detailed resto shop bill or something similar"...40-60K...3-5 years. I hope you have...thick skin...
If you are like me, as you start work on one thing, it uncovers yet another thing that needs attention. Knock one task off your list, and a new one jumps out to take its place. It is a good thing that you do have the mindset to be thinking in these terms ahead of time. Something else to consider is that the parts removed do still have value to someone, and horse-trading those take a bite out of the bills. Some early Mustang guys might want a good running six. Someone here might want a nice stock hood if you swap that. etc ....
you need to be a little more specific about what "ground up resto" means to you. You need to look at a master schematic of a car to understand just how many groups of components makes up the whole car. Break those groups up and calculate labor/parts in chunks. Then add all the chunks up. Not trying to be a negative nancy here(reality just sucks sometimes).. but I hope you absolutely LOVE this car! Because if you have to outsource much of the labor and specialty work(machine/engine/trans work along with paint adds up REALLY fast) the cost to fully restore a Maverick in today's labor market will literally blow your mind. And as Frank already said.. with the numerous people, shops, build details and logistics involved with "restoring a whole car from the ground up".. be prepared to be screwed around a bit along the way to help skyrocket the required amount of time, money, patience and sanity to actually complete such a huge project. Even extremely diligent builders typically go over budget because of all the unforeseen variables involved. Some even get sold as unfinished projects for dimes on the dollar when life gets in the way too much. Your best defense here is to do more of the resto yourself.. BUT.. the time added for learning curves(can't even begin to describe the amount of internet instruction and numbers of manuals you'll be reading, lol) and initial tool investment can't be underestimated too. Many times you will find yourself at those crosrroads of.. "do I just buy the tool and do it myself?.. or pay a little more and have someone else do it for me?". Not to be blowing winds out of sails or anything like that but figured some semblance of logical reality should be interjected before you commence dumping 25k into a car that will be worth 20k when you're all done with it. Not "love it.. build it.. sell it".... but "love it.. build it.. really love it" is the best way to get all your money's worth out of the whole deal. Lots of subjective and objective variables to consider here.
I will put this together and edit my post when complete. I will also put together a list the work I can do, and what I need to farm out. It was my first car, and I have been spending money jacking around with it and spending money to house it for over 10 years now... unfortunately, I do absolutely love it more than I should. I am like this as well and I know it, which is why I am trying to plan for everything ahead of time. With a great plan, I stick to it well, with a poor plan I never finish anything.
if the underlying passion is there then go for it. Just be sure to factor in the time and money to keep it going or the passion will eventually die off. Nothing quite like learning to fix and create things with your own hands too. I'd guess you could get by at around 15'ish grand with mostly stock parts and plenty of added elbow grease. Nice solid 4-1/2 star driver. If you want 5 stars then add another 10 grand to that. lol Good luck with the project.. hope you keep us posted on the progress.
"It was my first car" you have picked a car for sentimental value....that's the most expensive car to restore...
Totally agree with this.. but I would also add that kind of car is usually the most rewarding one to finish. What you get out of building a car doesn't always need to revolve around resale value.
If you really like the car & plan to enjoy it,then at a reasonable cost,do it right the first time & don`t skimp the big things or you will be sorry & have to go back & fix it again which will cost even more.
Whatever you calculate for monetary and time budgets, double the money and triple the time and it should come out about right.
