Hey everybody, just wanted to post this so I have a place to document my process... and because I think a few of you might find this interesting. Basically im a full time college student/worker, I've wanted to buy this particular car for several years and finally talked one of my family friends/neighbor into selling it to me. The car is rough but it went into the body shop a few days ago and after that the plan is to re-do the suspension along with rebuilding the motor and adding a turbo. Here are pics of the car before going into the shop... it was ROUGH

 

Rough does it a little bit of justice. I would say cut the remaining of the floor boards out and Flinstone the car.
As for the turbo part, my suggestion is to get a junkyard motor that is already turbo charged and change the bearings and gaskets on it because it already has pistons that can deal with the pressure from the boost of the turbo. Also grab the ECU and other relevant parts.
The body looks fair too.

 

I hope your goal is to learn how to do bodywork, welding, etc. Otherwise, you can buy 240s for a few hundred $ that actually have all their body parts. This car will cost much more in repairs than it will ever be worth... Sorry to be a killjoy.

 

Well, if does the right modifications, it could be a bad *** car that is worth something.

 

an 87 240 was worth about $19000 new in 1987, and its gone downhill ever since. NO aftermarket mods will increase the value beyond what a totally stock low mileage perfect condition one is worth (maybe $4500).

 

I know I'm never going to make a cent on the car but finding a manual 240 wagon in the Midwest is next to impossible, plus I can't see it get destroyed. Also I run my own clothing brand with a few people so it'll basically be a business and travel car that I can still take to car meets, etc. I know the guy who's doing the bodywork; for replacing all of the floor pans, rockers, fender, wheel arches, spare tire well along with tons of odds and ends, and paint, will be about $2500 out the door which is crazy cheap for this part of the country.

 

if the floor pans are rusted out, I'd be very worried about the spring perches, control arms, and so forth.

 

If it is a manual, you might seriously consider just harvesting the tranny (and the relevant pieces) and see about putting it on a more sound body. I'd rather do that than so much body work...

Come to think of it, I did do that....