In a bit of a dilemna.

I've had my subaru for a few years and it's an absolutely fantastic and had quite the history on here too actually but unfortunately i've somewhat neglected it over the last year. - A Red Blobeye WRX JDM Import so quite unique too but have come to the conclusion that I need to sell it to make way for a more sensible and cheaper to run daily while i focus my funds on my project gt86.

I wish it was as easy as making a for-sale ad and away it goes however over the last couple of years the arches have been plagued with the usual rust issues. I've had them repaired by a local garage twice however after the second time I didn't have the funds to get it painted and silly me thought as long as it was covered it was safe whereas of course primer can be pourous however besides that it looks like the rust has come back from the inside this time so i'm actually imagining it's had a pretty bad repair done on it with no internal rust prevention rather than my mistake of leaving it in primer over the spring months.
Either way i'm left in a position where I just want to get rid of it for a few grand. If it were in peak aesthetic condition i'd like to be asking 4.5-5k for it however i'm wondering if its worth simply selling as is and try and get say 3k for it rather than have to spend the £1000+ to get the rust repaired and painted.

This isn't so much a "How much is it worth?" thread but more of a "Do you think someone will take it off my hands for a below-average sum, rust included?" thread.

Either way as always these threads are useless without pictures so...

 

I’d have it painted as long as you know it will be a goood job but it should be for a grand

people want something they can jump straight in and enjoy tight asses and traders don’t mint buying work but your put it up for say 3000 needing paint and they will come and barter it heavily because it needs paint!
Selling a car is hard enough at moment mate you may as well try make it easier

 

Mate your litterally like the resident crabber

it’s a nice looking motor and to be fair to him I sold a black blob uk wrx at beginning of year for 4500.
Wasnt anything speacil just clean and on good miles.

Lad that bought it is on here some where.

to say you don’t actually own a Impreza why do you just slag them on here a lot. It’s a bit boring

Used front wings are probably as rotten as ones that are on it. You are right about rear arches but you’d assume for a grand there welding new lips in?

 

You don’t slag his motor just laughed at valuation and halfed it. That is lagging a motor.
Not ruining lads thread with your uneducated bull **** opinions
do your sen a favour go actually bu a Impreza before you slag any one else’s!

 

Oh wow haha.

Yeah I wouldn't want to simply paint over the rust and i'm even reluctant to simply grind it out and body filler it as that feels like a bodge to me as well although it is something I could probably do myself.
Truthfully I don't think i'd be able to get it done for anything less than £1500 as it would be good to get it done with new metal welded in, paint, the lot and findiing places around here that do that kind of work that don't charge insurance company prices is tricky.

I know full well how annoying it is to sell a car at the moment haha as this would be the second one im currently trying to sell.
I don't have a great deal of funds to take it to a shop currently although I guess maybe I could try and contact a few and see if they'd give me a rough quote based on the pictures. I was kind of banking on maybe someone that does bodywork for a living hoping to pick it up cheap as a project car, there's a few more people about like that these days but it really does limit my market.

Truthfully i've been a bit lazy with it and hoping that one day it will kind of disappear and materialise itself in to a stack of cash lol while i've been preoccupied with other things and I don't have it listed anywhere currently so i'm not going to get any offers any time soon.
I'll start researching some reputable local bodyshops and see what kind of ballpark figures they can give. If the body condition was sorted out i'd love to get 4500 for it, i still have the old wing and bootlid too haha.
Another little idea i had was cutting away the arches, stricking on some bolt on 40mm arches and keeping it in the garage for track use but that still leaves me without a means to get to work!

it's cool to hear you've read my other thread T8bby, where was that? Pistonheads or the 86 forums? Unfortunately the whole time since I finished the 86 this one was sitting outside feeling sorry for itself.

 

What area are you from ? Round here having arches welded in and rear quarters painted with front winds would be pretty easily done for a grand. But different areas different prices

 

Down south of london - West/East Sussex area hence the hefty price hike really

 

That's fair enough. I knew it wouldn't be something for everyone but it's something I've looked forward too for a long time. That car will get the attention it deserves in the engine bay when the time comes but i wnat to do everything in massive strides as you may be able to tell. Someone asked me recently why I don't spend a bit on making it a little quicker NA but its well over a grand to get a manifold and tune on them and I'd rather put that money to one side for bigger changes

 

is it all standard wrx

 

You could always cut the rust out and do something like this .Obviously it wont be for every one and I wouldn't know about the cost incurred or the fit of these arches .sorry about the rubbish screen shot.

 

Yeah that was my thought but i'd still need to get someone to weld up the arches, etc

 

Mostly Standard JDM WRX with AVCS, exhaust/tune, Coilovers, Hawkeye Interior, etc amongst other things

 

I wouldn't think that the welding job behind a new wider arch would need to be as precise as welding in parts of new panels eg no filler work as long as the panel doesn't get too hot and distort .
But as you say is it worth it ? I don't know.

 

I imagine it might be worth more to break it but that's crazy hassle to do out of one's own garage.

Also the gearbox does seem to have something funky going on (in a good way) with 1st and 2nd, i have no way to confirm it without getting inside the gear box but it does seem to probably have Straight cut / PPG 1st & 2nd gears as they let out a nice whine when in those gears. I have no way to confirm but I don't suppose any of the JDM gearboxes came with those from the factory? so must be something the car had fitted in Japan, Australia or in its early life in the UK i guess.

 

I've been quoted £500 to have a door resprayed, one rear arch cut out and replaced. Other grinned back and resprayed. That needs both arches cutting out and welding and respraying and a new front wing. No point respraying them and rust proofing.

 

Don’t break it pal it’s hard work.

As far as paint goes that’s hard work too. Round here I can send it to one place and have car “look” mint for 150 ish give it a month your wish you hadn’t bothered.

But then iv given 600 before expecting a good job and had exactly the same happen.

Got a really good painter that charges far too much money and if you sent him that you’d probably get it back next year!!
But have a deal with him. So with that car I’d weld arches in fit new wings drop it off, he’d skim it prime it paint it I’d go get it and flat and buff it my self and I’d tell him he was taking **** if he tried charging me more then 300 lol. Wouldn’t surprise me if he blended in rear arches.

Round here for a good job you’d be giving 5 600 quid not including the panels. But you wouldn’t be seeing your car for a couple of month.

Every painter I know hates flatting and buffing second you offer to do that the price drops.and so does the time you get it back Just a tip

 

I've booked it in with a shop in milton keynes that does alot of body/paint and restoration work. They've quoted me 1k so far from the pictures, i'm somewhat expecting them to say it'll be a little bit more once they see it in person but I know that can often be the case.

Hoping they can set it straight and I can feel good about selling it on to someone. I think unfortunately for the car it's just quite an early blobeye being built in 02 and was imported to the UK in 07 so its had a good long time to get a bit crusty and i think the sub par repairs i've had done on it over the last couple of years haven't done it any favours as Jaygsi mentioned.

 

Rear arches aren’t you fault pal likes been said they rot inside out.
Cant comment on quotes although I know everything is dearer down there.
Just make sure you get a few quotes and if you get chance have a look at what they’ve done already. Get a time scale off them too. Don’t commit to anything with out getting a price and time outta them Surprised there’s no body work lads on here jumping on it at a grand.

 

there weld in a repair section of a repair panel probably 3 or 4 inch up.
Need to ask if there painting full rear quarters or blending it in if there blending it. Really make sure they know what there doing mate. A bad paint job is worse then the original problem! There probably buff rest of car to match paint or as near as can so make sure that’s included in price and there not going to just do front and back and leave middle!