SN 00042 Restoration; The Older Twin

[Patcon]

Who's going to do the body work?

[motorman7]

Shawn McNally is who I am planning on going with here in Boise.  Customsbymiguel was my body guy in San Diego.  

[Patcon]

Cool!!

I was assuming you weren't shipping the chassis back to San Diego but I knew that shop did really good work. It can be difficult to replace that kind of talent. Shawn looks very capable! It aught to be a beautiful car...

[motorman7]

I have talked with Shawn several times here at some of the local car shows and he comes highly recommended. I will stop by his shop early this week for a final review before transporting the shell. 

[dspillman]

If you have anymore shots of the engine bay from either/ both sides, anything to help review, or  reference for properness……. Thanks..

David

[motorman7]

 

On 11/16/2024 at 6:24 PM, dspillman said:

If you have anymore shots of the engine bay from either/ both sides, anything to help review, or  reference for properness……. Thanks..

David

Here are pics of the engine bay.  I can't say that I notice anything unique other than the two hood bumpers.  Later models have threaded nuts for the hood bumpers.  This SN has a sheet metal screw that just threads through the sheet metal, no welded nut underneath 

[dspillman]

  Thank you for the pictures, exactly what I was looking for.

I have several "later" cars to look at, but have seen very few 3 and 4 digit cars., much less 2 digit cars for reference of amount of stitch welding seen at the firewall / frame rail attachment, and at the radiator core support/frame rail attachment.  

    I had a couple of the flexible wire holders missing on frame rails on 51 that I was trying to determine if different then later models.  

   Thanks again!!

 

[motorman7]

So, I got a little education here on finding a body shop. I went to Shawn's shop yesterday and found out that he has 19 cars in his shop and 8 on a waiting list.  Only saw 3 employees.  He said he wouldn't be able to start work on the car for probably a year and the project would take several years. So that was a 'no-go'.  I asked for some recommendations and still haven't received a call back from them. So, I was a little concerned here. This was not working out like my San Diego operation.  I eventually called Guy, the 'Z Doctor' here in Boise which in hindsight, should have been my first call, and he was a wealth of information as he has restored a number of Z's here in Boise. Not only did he set me up with a body shop that has done 6 of his cars, but he also set me up with his machine shop for the engine work. What a relief!

That being said, I spoke with his body shop yesterday and the guy said he would squeeze me in and should be ready for the car early next week. 

Will contact the machine shop once I finish the motor tear down. 

[Patcon]

Not surprising on Shawn's workload.

I'm glad you found a solution!

[motorman7]

34 minutes ago, Patcon said:

Not surprising on Shawn's workload.

I'm glad you found a solution!

Yes, guess I should have thought about that.  I  am happy though that we will have people familiar with the cars doing the work. 

[inline6]

So...  how will it work?  You just hand them over the car with all sheet metal assembled and they take it from there?  Are you given a ball park figure up front?  Or, do they give you an hourly labor rate and then just update you as they go?  

I was trying to get my paint job (consisting of maybe 40 hours of labor plus spraying base and clear) done for less than $6k.  Even though I put more than 2500 hours in, I failed miserably, as the price tag was more than $14k.  I have several cars that need paint and am genuinely interested in the ball park figure you think you are looking at here. 

Edited November 21 by inline6

[motorman7]

15 hours ago, Patcon said:

 

Yes, this is always a big question.  Previous paint and body work has ranged from $13k to $30k and is pretty much dependent on the amount of body work required.  The $13k job did not require extensive body work, whereas the $30k had new floor pans and a number of other patch panels welded in. So I use this as a guideline. Based on the condition of the body, I can estimate what the cost will be within that range. Typically we are just paying for labor and materials versus a set price. 

Also, my previous body guy would not give me an estimate until the car had been sandblasted. You never know what you will find under there.

Regarding paint quality, my San Diego guy was one of the best. If I am not mistaken, @jayhawk received an award at 2023 ZCON for Best Exterior at the show. I think his work on 'The Orange' was even better....like liquid glass. He really is an artist.  All paint work was 2-stage paint, color sanded and polished.

That being said, the paint on this one will most likely be a little different (need to confirm with owner). As we are going for the as close to original as possible, this paint will be a single stage where I will just do a single final polish with minimal color sand as needed to replicate the original finish. I did this same finish on the orange Z that I previously owned. This finish should save us a couple thousand as there will not be a full color sand.

Also, I typically work as the overseer, coordinator and quality control for the paint shop. The customer pays the shop directly.

I do seem to notice a bit lower labor rate here in Boise which should help withcost. 

All things considered, I honestly have no idea what the final cost will be. My best guess is $25k +/- $3k. I am hoping to come under that, but will know more after the sand blast.

Hope that helps.