Engine ideals but quickly dies after trying some DIY to remedy blow by.

True in both cases. My point was all the other things including piston soaks don’t work. A rebuild includes rebuilding the head and cleaning everything. Assuming the cylinder walls are not damaged yet.

There are good scanners out there but Techstream is the gold standard for Toyotas. Launch software based units are good including the Launch X431. Many like the XTool D8. Both can do hybrid specific tasks such as bleeding and calibrating the brake booster system.

 

Get it back to running first before making it a low rider. Budget job on the drivetrain later? Let it burn oil.

 

"restoration" is a very squishy term. Everyone has a different idea of what it really means, which widens the spread of what it could cost.

Lots of the cars you see at car shows today have had upwards of $40k worth of restoration work done (at todays' prices). I fully realize how much car prices have gone up. But they did not go up alone: parts and labor prices (applicable to restoration) went up too.

I'm not offering this to discourage you from doing it if that's what you really want.

But you'd do well to understand that buying a new or less-used car is always going to be cheaper than a resto project. Especially when you consider updated safety, efficiency and available warranty coverage.

I agree with rjparker... best to focus on cheap and simple fixes that let you extract the last miles from the car you have.

 

Philosophically, I love repairing things instead of replacing them. That's why I was playing Betsy Ross with needle and thread the other night, repairing a hole in my trousers.

I do believe the used car market will cool down, but it's going to be on a much longer timescale. Far too long to help anyone who needs wheels today, this year or next.

Cuba is an interesting case- they fix "everything" on those cars out of necessity, but they are aided by the fact that "everything" is pre-1960 technology. The stuff made then was built to be more repairable because it didn't go that long between overhauls in the first place. Also, labor was vastly cheaper. I think the most technologically difficult thing they (successfully) do is slump new windshields in hand-beaten molds. I was very impressed to see that.

But they aren't building IGBT transistors to rebuild high current 3 phase inverters. They aren't building new fresh traction batteries out of minerals from the backyard. Their cars have frames that can be straightened and re-welded instead of unibody sheet construction.

So, to take wisdom from the Cuban example you've offered I'd suggest sticking to simpler, lower technology cars.

Before we got the Prius we had a Hyundai Accent. Very low tech. I repaired and rebuilt lots of things on it, so it was in excellent condition when we sold it at 190k miles or whatever. We still see the new owner in it every now and then.

Again, not saying you couldn't do that with a Prius, but it's a much bigger challenge due to the relative complexity of the car.

 

I know a guy in Austin who started out flipping gen2s because non-runners were and are cheap. Even 30 day warranties started biting him bad. These cars are old and arguably the most complicated ever made, made more difficult with locked down software and expensive modules. His current business model is complete teardowns and parts sales. When I say complete I mean down to the bare unibody. Of course he often gets his upfront capital back selling the catalytic converter before someone else lifts it off his lot.