How to Buy a Budget-Friendly Project Car

[00:02] going to show you how to buy a project car on an affordable budget actual affordable budget now i work on tons of project cars probably because a project car is never done but you guys always ask me chris

[00:14] how do i get started what project car should i buy and the answer is actually really easy it's a car that you're passionate about it's a car that something that you don't worry about what other people

[00:26] think you actually like it and you actually want to work on it well if you can afford a new cell phone you could afford any of these project cars including the new one that i have

[00:39] underneath this cover for example my first project car ever the drift sting i got this car for right around a thousand dollars and my goal from the start was to turn this car into a drift car and learn how to drift and

[00:51] she went from a non-running car that was about to go to the scrap yard to a track car that's been super reliable and fun to learn to drift with you who followed the drift staying build you know there are two major things left

[01:05] to do this car one of them is installing a supercharger i have a used celine root style supercharger which is not made to go on that engine it just doesn't fit

[01:17] but i think i have a couple ideas to make it work and if it does we'll double the horsepower output on a budget reliably for this car and thing is to install a roll cage that way i could hopefully move from

[01:29] group b to group a and learn how to tandem now the whole point is this car the perfect project car it was affordable and i didn't put a ton of money into it and i did it over time and it's been great it's been reliable

[01:41] it's been fun i've learned a ton and that's what project cars are all about another example is the 300 del sol that had a head gasket leak and a worn out replaced the head gasket and

[01:54] rebuilt the entire front suspension and finally i cut out a rust hole underneath and i welded in a new piece of sheet metal so it was safe to drive and now i have a perfect working running and driving del sol for under a thousand

[02:07] and next up for this car is a budget turbo kit install driveway it's gonna be a blast it's supposed to double the output of this already a light car a lot of fun to drive and now we're doubling the power

[02:22] so these two cars give you really good examples of what a budget project car can be and i have a lot of stuff to do them so you're probably wondering to why did you get yourself another project car well because

[02:34] i was challenged by ebay motors to do the 24 hours of lemons race yes lemons not le mans if you've never heard of the 24 hours of anybody could join you only have 500 to buy your piece of

[02:49] then you're gonna have to fix it up and race it all of that for 500 bucks and they have judges to inspect your car and hear your story to make sure the car check this out so what are you saying you paid for the car 300

[03:02] and uh wilson motorsports wilson what's wilson motorsports my brother your brother we did the cage so your brother gave you a car is that what you're saying no i bought it for 300 bucks

[03:15] you pretended to give them 300 and as you can see they don't fool affordable so anybody could race instead of buying parts to make your car the fastest car you're buying a piece of junk and you

[03:30] as reliable as possible so you can finish the race and not get towed off so keeping old unreliable cars running is my specialty so this race is right up alley the hardest part is finding a car in this expensive state

[03:45] that is less than 500 that's halfway decent that's somewhat quick so while searching ebay motors i found something that is local to me and below my budget so i jumped on it right away and it was a non-running

[03:57] v8 mercedes clk 430 and i paid 300 the problem is this car is a basket really really bad the worst car i've ever bought the story goes that the

[04:09] why it's not running but i'm pretty sure this thing was flooded the entire interior the seats the door panels everything was covered it was going to get gutted the problem was

[04:21] needed a couple of computer modules and unfortunately you need to go to mercedes to code them and there's no way i could do all that for two hundred car i sold it for four hundred dollars to a scrap yard

[04:34] made a hundred dollar profit and i had to find a new budget race car so since shipping the car doesn't count towards the 500 bucks i found this car in maine and it is a 2004 bmw 330 xi you guys wanted a european

[04:48] car on the channel well here you go and i'm super excited about this car not race but it's a really good car for the channel because they are coming down in a lot and the platform is great for drifting for autocross

[05:01] and it's becoming more and more affordable so this one has a three liter m54 engine in it and it has unfortunately all-wheel drive but the good thing is if we look inside here

[05:13] perfect so real quick let me show you the listing and how much i got this car for so here's the listing on ebay motors you can see he's asking two thousand dollars and he has a make and offer button which

[05:25] i love to see if we scroll down the history check he does have an accident on here i spoke to him about that it was a light fender and we do have a low auto check score but he did a great job

[05:38] showing the pros and cons in his description he also did a good job with so he lists the pros as it's a solid running car he says it runs and shifts installed but he said he doesn't have any proof of that that's what the

[05:52] been lowered but it really doesn't look that low but i personally see that as a negative i rather have rear-wheel drive and it has an aero package now the cons you can see it has tons of dents and

[06:05] been keyed there's no power steering and he said it you can't steer without it there's a rear end clunk there's some rips in the seats the oil light turns on the sunroof is jammed open it leaks oil

[06:18] to include is it has 230 000 miles which is a lot so this car seemed like the perfect car to fit the bill to turn into a lemons i made him an offer it was a little low a thousand dollars and i knew he'd come

[06:32] back so he came back at 17.50 i told him hey needs a lot of stuff i am a real buyer i will get a tow truck tomorrow to pick it up i will paypal you all the money tonight and uh we met halfway at 1100 and i'm

[06:44] want to thank ebay motors for supporting the video and challenging me to do this because this is gonna be a lot of fun and that is how he became the owner of a bmw e46 for eleven hundred dollars and

[06:57] it was sold to me for eleven hundred dollars this is a tough sell because the exterior of this car is an absolute mess it has dents it has dings cracks it's scratched it's keyed along the

[07:10] right there keyed along the entire side all the way not only on this side but the other side as well and we also have some aren't looking for a car that is perfect on the outside we want a

[07:25] least as close as perfect as we could get race car we don't care about the looks we care about reliability it being able to start every time the suspension being good the engine and transmission being

[07:38] and this car fits the bill pretty good with all that except maybe reliability we'll find out but that leads me to my next point that anybody who's getting a project car should completely understand this is

[07:50] called the project car triangle pick two if you want something cheap and reliable it's not going to be fast if you want something cheap and fast and finally if you want something reliable and fast it is not going to be

[08:03] now the interesting thing about the lemons race is they kind of pick the first one for you it has to be cheap so that means you only have or do you want to be fast and the reason why i picked a bmw is

[08:15] fine line between reliable and kind of fast especially for so that is something very important to understand if you are interested in and speaking of reliability there is one major reliability issue we need to solve

[08:30] right now and that is when the car gets turned on she wants to stall or idle poorly let me show you

[08:43] dropped down almost stalled but now it's kind of i mean the car is like it's misfiring that idol is not staying steady so that is not good that is not what a race car should be doing so let's figure that out

[08:55] scan the computer using a bluetooth obd2 scanner and this will any check engine light codes that we might have to give us a pinpoint on where the problem is now typically the obd2 port is under the

[09:09] on the bmw pop this off and the scanner plugs right in here just like that good now grab your phone open up the app let's hit read codes it connects automatically good now this

[09:21] could check the abs you could check airbags you could check modules we're gonna just do a check engine light check it's gonna scan the computer and pull up any codes there are perfect we have two

[09:34] codes now the two codes it's giving us is a system to lean and a coolant lean let's start with that apparently this code is very common for possible causes but what i want to see is the frequently reported fixes it says

[09:51] replace mass airflow sensor so that's the most frequent reported fix the mass airflow sensor i'll show you how to test it let's go pop the hood and then now your mass airflow sensor is going to be

[10:03] air box so our air box is right here and you can see right there is the mass to unplug this and leave it unplugged all right so now mass airflow sensor disconnected and what that's going to do

[10:16] built-in air fuel ratio tables and not use the mass airflow sensor so airflow sensor from the equation if it runs right then we know the mass airflow sensor is bad let's check her out

[10:33] started right up perfectly so now we know the mass airflow sensor is bad let's go replace it start by loosening up this hose clamp with a flathead just like so and then pop off the retaining clip on this side and on the

[10:47] and then this could come right out out with the old and in with the new well kind of new we're doing this on a budget so this sensor is sure that you have the airflow arrow in the correct direction

[10:59] that's very important snap on the clips and make sure to seat the intake tube all the way onto the sensor and tighten it down so it's snug good the sensor like so all right moment of truth let's

[11:13] go start her up and see if we fix the problem going low where it's trying to stall looks like the idol is leveling out it's so it looks like we fixed our first problem getting this car more reliable

[11:29] now let's go for a ride and let me show you our second major problem all right me and coop are going for a test drive here and the next going for a test drive here and the next major issue huge issue is this steering

[11:42] there's no i can't even turn the steering wheel oh steering wheel oh man this is just so difficult able to use this for an endurance race without this power steering

[11:55] pump fixed all right coop so now let's go for a ride and do my favorite thing test this car out on an entrance ramp to see how much pep it has apparently this goes zero to 60 in seven seconds and this could do the quarter

[12:08] fast but it's not really that slow and it has some pep getting onto the highway and if we can keep it reliable i think now you can probably hear some wind noise and that's not because of an open

[12:20] window it's because the sunroof does not close it's jammed open so let's fix that right coop all right we are back at the with the sunroof and how we're gonna fix it so if we go to try to close the

[12:34] sunroof for whatever reason it gets jammed up and this is definitely not good because if it starts raining we have a problem so how do you fix this well it's actually pretty easy on a bmw

[12:47] start by carefully slipping a screwdriver behind the panel to pop the like that and right there is the sunroof motor so grab a t25 torx on a ratchet and we could spin the motor until the sunroof is closed all the way

[13:01] good now we can push the panel back in place making sure it snaps in don't have to worry about this getting water inside the car because it was stuff i think i'm going to delete this for the race

[13:14] fiberglass it's driver safety so it's a free modification uh it'll take weight from the roof and also make it safer so just in case you roll over or something so now okay well that doesn't close

[13:27] well i'll leave that for now but that is how you fix your sunroof beautiful so that is sealed up i hope that helps some people open you get water in there it just makes a mess of your interior and that's

[13:41] so the sunroof is fixed the mass airflow sensor is fixed so the car runs and drives perfectly right now except for that power steering pump on how to replace the power steering pump and get that all fixed up that'll

[13:54] apply to many different makes and models but the next thing i want to do is yes i said race team because this is an endurance race it could be 14 hours it could be 18. it could be 24 hours you can't race and do all this by

[14:08] and this is another reason why i really wanted to do this race because i get to invite my friends bring them on and we get to have a blast together and there's no better way to introduce my race team than this right here i hope

[14:20] you guys enjoy it choose your race car driver enjoy it choose your race car driver chris hey guys chris fix here chris hey guys chris fix here america gary

[14:35] america gary if i'm not flying i'm fishing [Music] don't worry guys i got it on video

[14:52] all right let's hit him with the soapy [Music] [Music] water

[15:08] let's race common hand tools and some thread locker are all we need to win and if you can't tell we're having a blast already i hope you guys enjoyed quick i should tell you guys a little bit more about the other drivers

[15:22] my buddy ari he's great with cars he swapped a 600 horsepower supercharged engine with a manual transmission into his crown vic so he has a ton of diy experience in this case he's done a lot of

[15:34] brings it to events to jump my buddy aaron same thing works on cars he actually drifts a bmw and he has a bmw car buying problem basically every

[15:47] time i talk to him he has a new project bmw and finally my buddy pierce he's just learning he's tearing everything apart and he's still learning very valuable in the pits for when things go wrong and break he's also

[16:00] helpful so that's our racing team those are my chemistry together which is great win or lose we're going to have a blast cannot wait now these are my good friends and i want to make sure

[16:13] everybody in the race team is extra safe so we got the top of the line safety safety equipment real quick but i want to show you in a little bit more detail very very important so we have fire retardant socks we have

[16:26] one piece multi-layer fire retardant racing suit this is a really good racing we have our helmet fire retardant gloves and fire retardant balacava think of this as like a ski mask except it's fire retardant and made

[16:39] so that will protect us in case of a fire now if there is a fire we don't just on the suits so we're going to be installing a 10 pound fire suppression bay and into the cabin to keep the driver

[16:53] this is a real race this is serious this is racing i mean we're gonna be going 120 miles per hour on the streets so it can be very dangerous it's not something to

[17:05] now i'm curious are you guys interested in seeing a video on how to install the fire suppression system or how to install the battery isolator your battery and all your electrics quick

[17:17] install i don't even have to ask this one i know you guys want to see this how to install a quick release steering wheel that'll happen so we have all that stuff we have our front and rear tow hooks we have a full

[17:29] containment seat with the side pieces here so that your if there is an accident now you're going to be bolted in you're going to be to see behind you very easily so i did end up getting one of these mirrors

[17:44] that way you could see around you and that is all the safety stuff now pit stops to be as quick as possible and in an endurance race the tires are gonna i don't know how many tires we're gonna go through but i would guess one or two

[17:58] so we're gonna have wheels ready to go with tires almost like uh think of it like nascar or formula one except probably not as but we're gonna have brand new wheels check these babies out these

[18:10] are counter gram wheels they are so nice they're gonna look so good on there and this is where i need your help so what tires do you guys racing if you have any experience that would be greatly appreciated we

[18:24] have to use 190 tread wear or higher and we're trying to look for something that has good life but more importantly good grip and will hold the heat well we grippy so that we have good grip around all the turns so thank

[18:37] three sets of wheels that's just some of the wheels we have three entire sets insane now safety equipment gets expensive quickly all this gear here costs about two thousand dollars

[18:49] person race team i think you could do the math it's a 500 equipment so that's where it gets expensive the the 500 budget but we want to be extra safe so

[19:02] we got all the top-of-the-line stuff now you're probably thinking that's not very affordable but the one good thing is go to your local speed shop for example stable energies that's my local speed shop they are awesome they hooked us up

[19:14] big time i said hey let's get your decal on the side of the car let's do a really have stable energies we'll have konig wheels the build on the side of the car in a livery like a real race car

[19:27] discount to save us some money don't be afraid to ask even if you're a big youtuber you don't have to be stable energies sponsors most of the drifters so don't be afraid to ask if they have

[19:41] help promote their shop and the local shops are the best those are the small thank you very much stable energies i'll be sure to include a link in my they have a lot of great equipment they have the best prices and they will help

[19:56] i'm going to pass tech and we'll have the best top of the line stuff and i so that's what we did right there now you're probably wondering to yourself chris you said it's a 500 card but you paid 1100 how are you gonna

[20:08] let me show you now for every ten dollars that you're over that 500 limit you get one penalty lap and at 600 over our limit we have 60 penalty laps

[20:20] that makes us not competitive but the rules allow you to sell safety items well we're going to have to get a quick safety item so we can't sell our steering wheel we have to have a racing

[20:33] sell our old seat anything that doesn't have to do with to get 600 out of our race car let me show you how i attempt to do this first off we're gonna sell this ashtray

[20:47] listings on ebay they're around 60 70 and ours is in decent shape the and it could use a good cleaning so we'll have no problem getting 50 bucks right above that we have our radio these are going for about a hundred fifty

[21:02] i figured ours is in pretty good shape and thirty dollars along with the radio this car comes with the upgraded harman kardon system on ebay they go for 270 plus dollars

[21:15] so i figured our system sounds great we could probably get about 250 no problem next up we could sell all the wood trim in our car and we have a of good wood trim and this is in great shape i could wet sand it and polish it

[21:28] and make it look literally brand new there's no cracks or anything right now on ebay they're going for 150 so i figured for our set we could charge 130 and that brings us down to 540 40 over budget or four penalty laps and

[21:42] some other stuff we could sell in here if you could think of anything could think of and i'm going to go get those things listed on ebay livery for this car here's a side profile

[21:55] or email it to me every team in lemons has a theme so we let me know what you got that's the new project car super excited i hope you guys are excited as well budget e46 european car for the channel

[22:10] thumbs up if you're not a subscriber consider hitting that subscribe button and as always all the tools and products i used in this video are linked in the description including all the safety gear so you can easily find it