Keep or Crap? few questions..

[jamesblack]

Pictures, 40 of them

Okay so I am planning on doing a v8 swap, but that is aside from the point, I picked this car up for 900 dollars Canadian, Most of the interior is Mint. Alot of the parts are in excellent condition. Nothing is really staying stock except for the shell, aside from flaring the rear and front again.

So here's the plan,

I want to keep this car, most of the frame and body is in pretty decent condition, but there is some rust which concerns me. The floor boards are gone, but rust has not spread to the drive tunnel. There is a little bit of rust in the engine bay on the frame, but not that much, as you can see in the pics. There is no rust anywhere else other than what is circled in the pictures I took. So my question is, should I keep this car, or scrap it and pick up something with even less rust.

My budget is 25000.

Here are a few things I'm planning to do..

Rebuilt Lt1 out of a vette, t56 tranny, r200 and or r230 lsd rear end, 9/10 point cage. I'm not really worried about anything show things, stereo etc. Although, a nice paint job is in order . I'll buy all other things accordingly to what I need, I've looked into this quite abit and am pretty sure of everything I want to do, aside from picking exhaust, rims, tires etc etc.. There is a layer of bondo over the roof, I pretty much want to revert the body back to stock, then get bolt on fender flares, front lip, I'll pick suspension and all accordingly..

anyways..

how much does one think a lot of good body work would cost, along with removing any and all rust in the car, seeing as I have no experience with body work, and although I do have a 230amp arc welder and some welding training, I'd rather it be perfect. I want all the bondo cut out.. and the body mint.. clean cut and ready for paint. Everything else I will be doing myself. Everything should be straightened out.. bleh. The guy who owned this car before me kinda butchered the body, and the Maaco paintjob makes me ill to my stomache. Like some of the door hinges are binding, and all things need to be straigtened out.

Thankyou in advance for any help, I hope this is the right forum to post this thread.

[Victor Laury]

If you strip out the car and deliver the bare shell to the bodyman, That should bring the cost down dramatically.

[Jimbeaux]

Looks like you have a project! I won't presume to suggest whether you keep or scrap it but I thought I'd share my experience with you, maybe it will help.

I bought a 1978 280 for a complete ground up resto. The car was pretty clean to start with, just a little rust bubble here and there, in front of rear wheel, front end of rocker panel and under battery tray. Floors, rear deck, wheel well, frame rails, hatch area, hatch were all rust free. I'm in Houston Texas and the car is a TX car for the record. My plan was:

1. Strip car myself

2. Bring to media blast guy and have blasted to bare metal

3. Bring to body shop for epoxy prime

4. Have body shop fill all rust holes with metal, and dolly and stretch any dents, dings, etc...no bondo please!

5. Rebuild suspension, while car at BS

6. Put suspension in car at BS

7. Have BS paint engine bay

8. Bring car home, install motor, trans

9. Bring back to BS with all the parts, doors, hatch, hood, etc and let BS put it together and paint it

10. Bring home and finish assembly myself

I interviewed and visited about 12 body shops. Some wanted nothing to do with a car already taken apart. Some weren't prepared for the multiple steps I wanted to take.

I found a restoration and custom hot rod shop that would look at it. I brought the car over on the trailer and left it for a couple days. When I went back they said they'd do it for 16,000.00....cough, cough...ummm thanks but out of my budget.

I found a very nice shop that does custom paint work, lot's of old Vette's, hot rods and he took the job. For all labor and materials the tab was 7,000.00. I'm really happy with the results, you can see some of this process in my gallery.

So I guess my point is plan your process, interview body shops, check out their work, take you're time and get quotes. Then you can decide if it fits in your budget or a car with less rust might provide a better starting point and help reduce the cost of the body prep.

I hope you enjoy your project as much as I enjoyed mine. Every step from researching body shops to trailering the shell around town to rebuilding the tranny was enjoyable for me. Now if could only get the time to finish it!

Cheers and Best Wishes,

Jim