B.W.

iTrader: (3)

I totalled my 2001 Z28 friday night, flipped it on its roof. I'm insured and will be getting a check for the value of the car, which I assume is somewhere around 10-14k. The car still runs, it's just that every exterior panel is destroyed

I'm thinking that if I buy a beater for 3-4k, and buy my car from the insurance company for ~2k. Find a ~1993 Camaro body, swap the powertrain and interior, find some 98+ fenders and bumper and top it off with a fiberglass SS hood. I would plan on doing most of the work myself, and I imagine I could fix up the car for less than 12k including the cost of it and not including paint. What do you guys think, worth it? It'd make a cool project for me, but where would I get an empty body? Or should I just be looking at used F-bodies?

OldSchoolFormula

How is that in any way, restoring a 2001 Z28? Personally I think your better off finding another car and just going that route. Or, buy back your 01 and swap the drivetrain and seats and such into something else, or just to part it all out. Depends on the buyback price, though... I doubt your going to get it for anywhere near 2K, honestly. Let us know.

G-Body

iTrader: (4)

If your 2001 was totaled it is not worth fixing, since it will get a salvage title and the insurance will only cover it for a salvage title, IE: if it gets stolen, hit, or wrecked they will only give you a couple thousand instead of what it would cost to replace it.

Getting a roller and swapping your drivetrain in would be ok, but again if you pick up a 93 and swap in your LS1 stuff the insurance will only pay for the replacement of a 93 V6 or LT1 whichever the donor was, they will not take into account that it had a LS1 drivetrain.

The only way to make sure the insurance will cover you is to buy a 98+ car that was a LS1 from the factory. But it would probably be difficult to find a 98+ LS1 roller since it seems like most of the time people wreck the car not the engine.

B.W.

iTrader: (3)

That's either what I said or what I meant. Sorry, title was a little misleading. I did a quick search on autotrader found a V6 body with almost 200,000 miles that I could drive home for $2k asking. So yeah I guess I will be seeing about the buyback price, I was hoping it'd be low of course. I'm guessing this has been done before, I imagine I wouldn't really have to buy too many parts for the swap, just replace whatever is broken but I'm almost positive the parts broken are at a minimum. I'll let you guys know when the insurance is all figured out.

rocketrider93

why don't you save yourself the time and hastle and buy another z28 or ss? you know it isn't just swapping motors if you are starting out with a v 6 car right? and the car will never be worth a whole lot if you do the swap you'll never get your money back out of it.

B.W.

iTrader: (3)

Yeah I know, I'm kinda on a fence about the whole thing. I mean in theory it works, but I mean I'd be taking EVERYTHING out of the '01, interior, all wiring harnesses, most likely the fuel system, suspension, etc etc. It'd be a lot of work, but the car could sit while I get the money to fix it, instead of me rushing out to buy another car with only 12k on hand. I think I'm about 80/20 on this idea, in favor of just buying another car.

MrDude_1

iTrader: (4)

i would only go thru the effort if i was building a diffrent car.

doing it to another stock 4thgen is a waste of time, money and effort...

doing it to a older muscle car, a S10, a 3rdgen, or something else like that makes it worth the effort... but doing it to a stock 4thgen is a waste..... now if you had a tubbed/caged/setup drag shell, i could understand wanting to drop the LS1 in that (with a bunch of engine mods...)
i can also understand parting it out... if you did get it for less then 3k, and you have the place to store it and work on it, you could sell the drivetrain for a small profit, then part out the interior and other small items all for profit... then have the shell hauled off.

whitesmokels1

iTrader: (4)

MrDude_1 is right, Why don't you consider swapping the drivetrain into a different project.

67RSCamaroVette

iTrader: (63)

RX-7 swap

Schitzo

iTrader: (6)

Like others have said, I would buy the car back and install the drivetrain into another car......something like an older camaro (70-73 are the best out there as far as I am concerned....but I am biased for obvious reasons) or something like a 240z, rx7......

if you are going to put the drivetrain into another 4th gen, you might as well save yourself all work and just by another 4th gen....and

try not to roll whatever you decide to build

jimmyp

iTrader: (1)

swap it all into some other car. That way all your work will get noticed

Phoenix 5.7

iTrader: (7)

I agree on the swap idea into a non 4th gen vehicle, with FD RX7 as my body of choice.

maro67

another vote for a conversion into a muscle car with the ls1 6spd combo, that be pretty kool, deff. get more looks and with the cash u get from ur z28 u can buy a beater and put some other cash into the muscle car and make it more badass

shr00m-dew

iTrader: (28)

Data point: When I totaled my 92 TA convertible, I got a check for around $7k. Since totaling a 92 is a whole lot less damage then totaling a 01, I wanted to buy it back and fix it up. Buy back was a whopping $237.

Of course insurance companies and values will be different, but buy-back isn't always stupid expensive.

Kevin D.

SHINER

iTrader: (18)

[QUOTE=G-Body]If your 2001 was totaled it is not worth fixing, since it will get a salvage title and the insurance will only cover it for a salvage title, IE: if it gets stolen, hit, or wrecked they will only give you a couple thousand instead of what it would cost to replace it. QUOTE]

No it wont have a salvage title the insurance company will have the VIN of the 93 camaro, he is just using the powertrain, and upgrading the exterior looks, insurance compant will still think he has a 93 unless an adjuster comes out, but they only comeout when asked or some wierd reason, very extremely rare.

rocketrider93

well buy it back and see if you can part the car out. you could make some money on it in parts and then you don't have to decide for a while. if you are thinking abot buying a car you can let sit it doesn't sound like you are hurting for a ride. make a couple grand off of it or do a muscle car swap yourself. where are you located? you can find a 70- 73 camaro shell for cheap.

sgt0704

iTrader: (3)

i like the idea of putting that stuff into a third gen. with the money from the ins. and what you have that's salvageable.. that would be a bad *** third gen.

G-Body

iTrader: (4)

Right, if he uses the shell of another car they will have that vin and insure it as that car, so if he uses a 93 shell and the car gets wrecked again they will pay to replace it with another 93 not an 93 with an LS1 swap and interior out of a 2001. But it probably is not worth fixing his shell because if he used the 2001 shell and hung all new outer panels on it it would have a salvage title.

Again another vote for a conversion into an older vehicle, but mabey were a little biased in that direction being the conversion and hybrids forum I still think its a good idea though.

SHINER

iTrader: (18)

u get my vote goes to the conversion!

Relativelyfast

FD for the win. This is a well respected swap.