Opinions needed: my financial well being is in your hands!

[DeeVeeEight]

my suggestion...sell the Corvette and buy a minivan, your going to need one sooner or later....

That's the answer.

If you are going to finance $8500.00 buy a brand new car with a back seat that you can get the groceries home in. Before you know it you will be looking at car seats for the baby. You need a practical and reliable vehicle. The 'Vette will have to wait.

 

[Dirtbuster1]

Make up a budget for the LSX swap, and anything else for the vette. Have a good plan in hand, and have the members here see if it sounds right.

1. If you shop hard hard for the engine & tranny, you would be surprised on how cheap you could find one. Consider buying a wrecked car for the engine, tranny, ECM, wiring, and all of the other parts that you probably want think of.

2. How much work can you do, & how much will you have to farm out. Your time spent on the swap is free, because you will never get that money back! However, you will have lots of good & bad times to talk about.

3. Play toys are expensive & additive. Make sure to please yourself. & not someone else.

My 2 cents worth

 

[greg75vette]

you're going to need a down payment on the house.

i'm guessing what? 20% of 500k. I doubt there's much for less than that on Long Island.



you got 100 grand saved yet?

Well for one, LI doesn't have the kind of market currently. Not even close in most areas. LI is what one would call a soft market. There are very few $500k houses near me. Ours is significantly less.
Second, I'm taking over the mortgage to finish out it's 25+ years remaining. There are closing costs, but I don't need to put down 20%.

The fact that your daddy is giving you a house makes the decision easier. You're a mechanical engineer probably pulling down 60-80k a year.

Get the loan, take money out of savings or borrow against your ira/401K. You're in good shape. Have fun.

No need to be a dick. And for your information, the house is far from free.

my suggestion...sell the Corvette and buy a minivan, your going to need one sooner or later....

Yep. Once your married, unless she REALLY likes them, it's history anyhow. You can be it back for $100,000 when your 50 and the kids are out of college.

Haha, I knew that someone would say something like this eventually. The vette is safe. Not only does she love it and have attachment (picked her up on out first date with it, proposed in it, etc..) but I have a car with a decent back seat already. The DD is my Ion Redline which has the rear suicide doors so the back seat is easy to get to. Also, she plans on replacing her car (mustang) for a family vehicle.

Although, I could get a minivan and drop and LSx into that...:stirpot:

Make up a budget for the LSX swap, and anything else for the vette. Have a good plan in hand, and have the members here see if it sounds right.

1. If you shop hard hard for the engine & tranny, you would be surprised on how cheap you could find one. Consider buying a wrecked car for the engine, tranny, ECM, wiring, and all of the other parts that you probably want think of.

2. How much work can you do, & how much will you have to farm out. Your time spent on the swap is free, because you will never get that money back! However, you will have lots of good & bad times to talk about.

3. Play toys are expensive & additive. Make sure to please yourself. & not someone else.

My 2 cents worth

Absolutely. I set up an excel sheet for this very job. That's where I got the $8500 figure from. According to my sheet, if I can find the LSx/T56 (plus some typical drop out goodies) for about $3500, the swap should cost, in total $7900. That's including %15 fluffer which I have there for anything unexpected (about ~$1300).

I also looked into doing a truck engine (like a 5.3 iron block) to go on the cheap. But figuring what it would cost to get the accessories and the T56 all separate, seemed to be more expensive. I also added in the cost to convert the engine to an LS1 intake since I do believe the truck intake does not clear the hood. I read a post on another forum (about tech on LS1's...) about doing a truck block, but it doesn't seem to be cheaper. I may PM the author with my calcs to see where I went wrong, if anywhere. I felt some of my estimates were conservative, but I know I still have to add a few items I forgot.

If anyone would like to see this sheet, I'm more than willing to share it.

 

[greg75vette]

And as for an overall update, I don't think I'll do the loan. I pretty much knew doing the loan wasn't the greatest idea, but I didn't want to miss out an opportunity if it turned out that someone here knew something I didn't. I figured this was the best way to bury the thought within my head and never see it as a possibility. You never know unless you ask, right? I'm thinking it is just best to wait. I'll see how my money balances over the next few months since I'm saving for the wedding on top of everything else. If things look ok, I may just start buying swap parts. I have had it in my head I have to buy it all at once, hence the usfulness of the loan. But in actuality, I think I can buy it in stages. I also wanted to buy the majority of the parts at once to minimize the amount of down time the car will have. Honestly though, this swap will still take me a while and not having all the parts would force me to take my time and not fly through it.

 

[greg75vette]

Because I loooove posting so many times in a row, Here's a .pdf -> .jpg -> resized .jpg print out of my excel calc.



Let me know if you see an issue. I rather know now then later.

 

[mrvette]

Just read the rest of this thread, and so looked at your profule...age 24, M/E power industry, and so earning decent money, and you are typical engineer, rather thoughtful and very well organized.....

lotsa things I would like to go back 45 years and redo.....

I hope my son, age 25 is as well organized in his thought processes as you are.....I basically went to work full time at age 21 having not gradded college, and so my son got the degree in 3 but it's just basketweaving 101 type shit....

:sos:

 

[Dirtbuster1]

The 1st item I would buy, would be the motor 1st, & the tranny next. Shop Ebay, & Craigslist every day looking for a deal. Check it out good, & pounce on the deal when you find it. Make sure it stays in your budget so that you don't get off to a bad start. While shopping for the parts, research all the info that you will need to make your swap as easy as possible.

I found a LS1 with wiring, ECM, cats, & all accessories needed for 1800.00. 200.00 for the 4L60E transmission. So shop around & be patient for what you want. Also research what vehicles have the engine combo that you are looking for. Buying all of the parts at one time will save a lot of money. You can sell the rest of the parts to offset your swap!

 

[greg75vette]

Just read the rest of this thread, and so looked at your profule...age 24, M/E power industry, and so earning decent money, and you are typical engineer, rather thoughtful and very well organized.....

lotsa things I would like to go back 45 years and redo.....

I hope my son, age 25 is as well organized in his thought processes as you are.....I basically went to work full time at age 21 having not gradded college, and so my son got the degree in 3 but it's just basketweaving 101 type shit....

:sos:

Just so I'm clear, your son got a degree in three years or has three years to go? If he's out with the degree, good for him! I'm sure he can see it was worth it. I know all of those day sweating over a test or project were worth every second. I'm still shocked I made it through relatively unscathed...

Thank you for the complements. I try to be as thorough as possible with everything I do. I don't mind making mistakes (that's how I learn, really), but when I release something I like it to be right. That goes for major decisions things I make/produce.

Excel tends to be my life with engineering so doing the that spread sheet just made sense to me. Always have a plan and you screwed less, haha.

As a side bar, I'm currently teaching myself Net Present Value since work is a little slow lately and I decided to apply some of this to the engine swap, :lol:

I did a Future Value calc to see if I pay $'x' today with a fixed interest of 'y'%, what will I have in 'n' years? Well, if I save $250 a month for 3 years and earn 1.5% in interest, I'll have $9,135.67. Or if I continue to save $275 a month for another 2 years at 1.5% interest, I'll have $6,649.50 which plus what I have already means I'll have enough for the swap. Let's just hope I can continue to save that much. If I can, I could start buying parts next year and begin the build.

Or the wedding will suck me dry and I'll go back to contemplating robbing banks again :devil:

 

[greg75vette]

The 1st item I would buy, would be the motor 1st, & the tranny next. Shop Ebay, & Craigslist every day looking for a deal. Check it out good, & pounce on the deal when you find it. Make sure it stays in your budget so that you don't get off to a bad start. While shopping for the parts, research all the info that you will need to make your swap as easy as possible.

I found a LS1 with wiring, ECM, cats, & all accessories needed for 1800.00. 200.00 for the 4L60E transmission. So shop around & be patient for what you want. Also research what vehicles have the engine combo that you are looking for. Buying all of the parts at one time will save a lot of money. You can sell the rest of the parts to offset your swap!

$200 for a transmission?! I'm jealous! The best I've seen (for a T56) is about $1,000. I have seen some LS1/T56 packages in the $3k range. From what I've seen, it's cheaper to buy the two together. I've seen LS1's go for what you've paid occasionally, but once you tack on the 1 grand transmission she's get's up there. Not to mention that if I bought them separate I would have to also buy a flywheel (maybe), clutch, t/o bearing and sometimes the bell housing. That's why I've been looking for packages.

I absolutely agree with you that buying as much up front is the way to go. What I would maybe buy separate is things I would have to go somewhere else for, like motor mount adapters.

From what I've found, GTO's and F-bodies are the best donors. GTO's seem to be the best (best gearing and transmission internals), but they go for blood money on fleabay. I think dealing locally might get me the best for my buck instead of fleabay, I hope... That way I have a better chance of hearing it run as well.

I'm also researching now what other parts I could steal off of an F body, like the rad fan maybe (I like my rad).

As far as things I'm not sure what to do about yet is the crossmember mod and the wiring harness. I can't really wrap my head around how to handle the wiring (modding the harness, hooking it up to the car, etc) and I can't weld and haven't done too much metal fabrication in my life so the crossmember has me fearing as well. I may have to farm these out...

Thank you for all of the wonderful tips Dirtbuster

 

[mrvette]

Nah, Tom got bored, so took 20 credits for his last few semesters to get the fuck outta there....degreed in 3 years...
but it's not anything tough, like engineering, just basketweaving, not downing his effort necessarily, it's more than I ever did that way, but I sitll repect engineering/tech work a whole lot more, and always will.....

Kinda like that olde movie Fiddler on the Roof......


:chinese:

 

[greg75vette]

Nah, Tom got bored, so took 20 credits for his last few semesters to get the fuck outta there....degreed in 3 years...
but it's not anything tough, like engineering, just basketweaving, not downing his effort necessarily, it's more than I ever did that way, but I sitll repect engineering/tech work a whole lot more, and always will.....

Kinda like that olde movie Fiddler on the Roof......


:chinese:

Well I appreciate the praise Like I said, I'm shocked as well. If I was told in grammar school this is where I would be, I would have thought it was a cruel joke. I nearly failed math a few times in grammar school...:sweat:

On a side note, looky what I found in craigslist, haha.

http://newyork.craigslist.org/que/pts/1283522024.html

I emailed him to see what else it came with and I can't see the pictures because of my work security. So does it look good (literally)?

 

[SmokinBBC]

Was looking at your spreadsheet and 2 things came to mind.

You might already be set, but there are tools to consider.

Also, what about your cooling system...in good shape?

 

[greg75vette]

Tools are a concern. I do need an engine hoist and maybe a trans jack, but I do have standard air tools (rachet, impact, cut off wheel) a full array of sockets, wrenches, plyers, screwdrivers, a pulley puller, I need a tap set and do plan on getting one soon, I have 4 jack stands, access to a sawzall, etc. That's all I can remember as of now.
DO you have any special tools in mind? I'm open to suggestions. Actually, I have a question for you. Do you know of a way I can transport and engine/ transmission across gras without damaging the grass or cargo? Reason I ask is my driveway and storage shed are separated by about 150ft of grass, haha.

I'm happy with my cooling system as it stands. I will go electric for the swap and I just replaced my radiator with another '75 radiator that was recored a few years ago. After I bought it of a forum member ('another forum'), I had it checked and some pin holes were found, but all repaired. Keeps my L-48 at 180° almost all the time. This 'new' one seems thicker than my old one too where my temps used to be 210° range everything else being equal.

 

[SmokinBBC]

Tools are a concern. I do need an engine hoist and maybe a trans jack, but I do have standard air tools (rachet, impact, cut off wheel) a full array of sockets, wrenches, plyers, screwdrivers, a pulley puller, I need a tap set and do plan on getting one soon, I have 4 jack stands, access to a sawzall, etc. That's all I can remember as of now.
DO you have any special tools in mind? I'm open to suggestions. Actually, I have a question for you. Do you know of a way I can transport and engine/ transmission across gras without damaging the grass or cargo? Reason I ask is my driveway and storage shed are separated by about 150ft of grass, haha.

I'm happy with my cooling system as it stands. I will go electric for the swap and I just replaced my radiator with another '75 radiator that was recored a few years ago. After I bought it of a forum member ('another forum'), I had it checked and some pin holes were found, but all repaired. Keeps my L-48 at 180° almost all the time. This 'new' one seems thicker than my old one too where my temps used to be 210° range everything else being equal.

Use the hoist to pull it up into a buddy's pickup truck and drive it across.

 

[greg75vette]

I thought of something similar except I would be using a trailer instead. The yard is gated in so I don't think I could get a truck in, but I might be able to squeaze the trailer if I put it sideways... I know the old man is going to love that idea, haha.

 

[DARROW 74]

Credit Card

If you can not pay it off at the end of the month don't do it.
home, car, medical ok. All other wait untill you can afford it.
At this time cash is the king.

 

[turtlevette]

I don't get all the fiscal conservatism here.

He has a fairly economical daily driver and bought a cheap vette as a toy. He wants to put a little money in the toy.

A lot of young professionals spend 30-40k on a car these days. He'll have 2 really cool cars for that price.

 

[mrvette]

I don't get all the fiscal conservatism here.

He has a fairly economical daily driver and bought a cheap vette as a toy. He wants to put a little money in the toy.

A lot of young professionals spend 30-40k on a car these days. He'll have 2 really cool cars for that price.

All the friggin' news on the waves these daze, everyone is nervous as a whore in church, getting stupid already....

:hissyfit::flash:

 

[1Michel]

I don't get all the fiscal conservatism here.

He has a fairly economical daily driver and bought a cheap vette as a toy. He wants to put a little money in the toy.

A lot of young professionals spend 30-40k on a car these days. He'll have 2 really cool cars for that price.

I dont see any problems if he has money or has as a yong professionnal he can provide enought of it.

But why start in life in debdts$
It's maybe fiscal conversatism but if we look back not that long ago, a lot of people got in huge troubles because on a lack of fiscal conservatism.

I dont know, he asked for a opinion and got it.

 

[big2bird]

I don't get all the fiscal conservatism here.

He has a fairly economical daily driver and bought a cheap vette as a toy. He wants to put a little money in the toy.

A lot of young professionals spend 30-40k on a car these days. He'll have 2 really cool cars for that price.

If he has the money, sure. If he don't, he should wait till he does. Would you take out a loan as a newleywed for a $10,000 stereo?