lectric80

A good friend of mine has offered me his 85 Celica Supra for $700. It runs, but needs a bit of work, it's had part of the rear quarter on the right side replaced due to a wreck, it leaks from the rear cam seal area, and has one other minor issue, but runs and drives well. Everything internally works, power windows and locks, AC, and everything else. Here's the kicker, he'd much rather do a 3 for $500 deal as he has 2 other's that are wrecked, but have very good parts.

So, first is an 85, white like the running one, been hit in the nose and has an engine (5m-ge) that has around 20-30k on it. I helped swap this engine in, and without exaggerating, we set a "soda" on the oil cap after we got it running, and that soda sat there with zero vibration or shake. So, the engine, trans (5 speed), and possibly the rear end are all good to keep in my storage unit.

The second is an 84, also hit in the nose, and missing the right side suspension (it's on the running car). This car is blue, had an engine that was burning oil, and leaking more than I like. There are parts that I'd likely take off, but overall this one will likely go straight to scrap.

My question is, who has one of these, and what parts would you recommend I keep from these 2 "spares"? Obviously the engine from the 85 is going to go into my garage on my engine stand, but I'm not sure that there's really anything worth saving on the 84. Are there parts that have a tendency to fail? I mean I've been around these 3 for the nearly 20 years he's had them, so I know they were decent cars, but my thought is to strip the stuff I might need to keep the first 85 running for a long time, then scrap the rest and likely get nearly all my $500 investment back. I hate seeing them go to scrap, but the entire front clip, sub-frame, and more would need to be replaced on them to even think of getting them road worthy again.

All this has to wait until I finish up with my 90 pickup, so I have room in my garage, but he's a friend that has already said he will hold onto them for me. Once the pickup is finished, my engine stand will be free for mounting the spare engine, and I'll simply cover it up and keep it nice for when/if I need it.

So, those of you who know/own/love these cars, what things would you save? Would you even take on this kind of project, if you were me? The plan is, get the pickup done, move the running Supra into the garage, fix the oil leak, fix anything else that isn't right, then drive it like I stole it for a while. Next winter, I would look at fixing any rust issues (I'm not aware of many), then painting it back to white with black accents. Basically make a 3 season car, especially since much of my winter drive tends to occur in 4 wheel drive through the snow. Eventually I have this idea for a 2jz-gte, but that will be very eventually. For the record, I'm not looking for people that want certain parts, or to sell these parts, just to keep them and keep my car running for years.