Budget body work

[austin552]

Would like to save $ome by doing my own body work. Would I be better off learning how or just pay the pros?

[Eagle Custon]

How much body work do you have to do. Do you have the tools you will need to do the work and do you have a place to do it.

[absintheisfun]

When I first started, I had a 4.5" grinding wheel and a couple of hammers...I had the desire, but absolutey no clue how to go about anything. I got a welder and watched a bunch of videos online and asked a bunch of questions. I've upgraded many tools, and learned a whole lot! I did farm out one piece of work, and if I had it to do all over again I would have attempted the farm work myself.

I've made penty of mistakes, but learned from them all. I am by no means an expert, but I'm having fun all the along the way and getting better with each step.

[carguykeith]

That depends, what do you ultimately want the car to look like?

I gave it the old college try and am happy with the results, however it is by NO MEANS a show car or even a great paint job. If I had to guess, I would say I have about 4-500 hours and $1,500 in tools and materials not including the shop, welder or air compressor if you want a rough estimate...

[67 ls1 vert]

my 2 cents...
If you decide to do some of the work yourself you will have a hard time finding a shop that will warrentie anything if they finish what you started. You will need to do the whole thing and try to paint it in your garage or you can hire a booth to paint it yourself. Sometimes you can find a painter that wil spray it for you for a fee after you feel confident that you got it ready to spray. There are many factors that can cause problems after you paint a car yourself. Mixing the products and how you preped the car between each coats of primer. Grease from your hands, tools, dirty air lines... its goes on and on. But if you feel confident about your abilitys to follow directions and listen to what the pros have to say, there shouldnt be any reason you cant accomplish it on your own.

If you can afford to pay the pro's, do it. It will cost you for all the tools, compressor, the supplys, and booth rental. Not to mention you will make a huge mess in your garage with all the dust and over spray. You have to factor your time is worth something too. Good luck.

[austin552]

Okay, there is a good bit of work from small dings to sheet metal replacement(rust) and more.... One side of the front bumper is closer to the body than the other and the hood seems to be twisted which would require a pro. Just thought I could save some money by striping the paint and fixing some of the small stuff. Guess I will take it around for estimates and feel out the local pros.

[john55blaze]

If you have the time and are fairly competent I'd say go for. It sounds like you are having fun and learing a lot in the process. As for the tools you are going to want a lot of the tools and equipment in your shop anyways (welder, compressor, grinders, cutting tools etc.) Yeah a pro is going to give you a pro job, but if you are like me and not a check book hot rodder and like working on your own cars then your love of the cars will help you through whatever frustrations may come and each time you do it you will get better and better. My current project isn't the first, last or only car I ever plan on building so a $10,000 pro paint job (and from what I have seen this is average ---> slightly above average paint job) multiplied by 2-3-4? cars is a lot of mulah!! The Paint-u-cation videos are kind of cheesy but they have tons of good info; that coupled with your mistakes, the advice of others and a little confidence will take you a long way toward a Nice paint job. Will it be PERFECT? probably not but take pride in the fact that you did it and from 10' it will probably look pretty damn good! Good luck and have fun!

[Blown73]

My vote is to try the bodywork yourself. I did my last car myself with some help from a few body guys along the way. It took me almost 2 years to do the body work, but it came out sweet.

Now, I am trying panel replacement. Not a clue how to do it, but I read a book once. I like the challenge of learning something that I didn't know.....

[scherp69]

How fast do you want your car done? If you want it done fairly soon, let the pros do it. If you're in no rush, I say give it a shot. I've never had any training in body work, welding, etc and I've done a ton of panel replacement and body work on my build. I'm not in a rush though so if I do something and I really don't like how it turned out, I can start over. Yes your time is money, but if you don't mind doing it and you're not in a rush, what you will learn from doing it will be worth even more. Search the internet, read books and ask lots of questions. Most people are willing to go the extra bit to help out someone trying to do it themselves.

[blainemeyer]

My vote is to try the bodywork yourself. I did my last car myself with some help from a few body guys along the way. It took me almost 2 years to do the body work, but it came out sweet.

Now, I am trying panel replacement. Not a clue how to do it, but I read a book once. I like the challenge of learning something that I didn't know.....

I decided to do the same and have been having a blast doing it. I will admit that sometime the progress is slow but I have managed to keep moving forward. I have gotten some great advise by posting questions here and on other sites and always appreciate those who are willing to share their knowledge and experience with us beginners.

[John510]

A pro will give you a better looking job. But if its just a beater do it yourself

[Rick D]

Well as some have stated a pro will "some" times give you a better end result. This is not a guarantee and a shop will not always get it done "faster" heard of piant jail before? I say if you are having fun and just looking to do it your self then go for it (and I am a PRO)! I have seen MANY home done jobs that look better then what some "PROS" do and I have seen and fixed many jobs that where done at home and buy the pros. In the end either way it is not cheap unless you are buying paint from Summit and are looking for the chepo paint job. But if you have the time and drive to follow through then go for it and have fun. Oh the reason most shops want to redo what you have done or not guarantee the work is that after you start it and then they have to finish it (and some stuff is not up to their qaulity) it their name that goes on it! Moat people are not going say yah I started it and did not do a good job but the shop only painted it, most will say yah ABC shop did the work what do you think. So if something is not up to the quality they do then you can seen why they want to start over. Also look to see if any one in your area that know what they are doing to have a look to how you are doing. remember to have fun.

[SRD art]

It's not available everywhere, but I decided to go back to school for it. I've been tweaking drivetrains and suspensions for many moons but didn't know diddly about paint and body. A local college had an automotive, collision repair, and Street Rod program so I decided to go full time so I could do this as a living. BUT, our school also offers "paint your own car" classes to the community in the evenings and during the summer months. This option works out great because you have a professor who's your solid resource for help and you can use shop tools instead of buying the spendy ones.

I'm in Utah now, and I rember there were a couple schools that did this for community members in Florida where I grew up.

[68CamaroYu]

There's a bunch of people that are willing to DIY body work. But how many actually succeed in completing the body work?

[austin552]

I will never forget a fellow 911 owner showing me his fresh paint job. Walking towards the car, I commented on how good it looked. He then proceeded to show me all of the many bad spots. He had done his own body work and was very unhappy with the end results. That is why I thought I could knock out some of the big stuff to save money and leave the finishing to the pros.

[6T1_Step]

If you want it done right do it yourself. Just ask alot of questions. There are some very good site's on the web that are there to help you learn. It is time consuming to say the least but like anything else the more you put into it the better it will turn out.

[austin552]

Many thanks to every one.
Next week I will start on the body work. The rear of the car has some work that was done poorly, which is a good place to start.

[67goatman455]

being a body guy and understanding that you want to save money, my opinion is to do as much as you can yourself while asking questions along the way, then once it comes down to the finishing up and making all the small details look good and painting it then find a semi-pro on craigslist to give you a cheap/decent driver quality paint job.

[Judas]

Sorry to be a pessimist, but after 11 years of trying to fix a rust bucket GTO (where every removed patch/panel reveals more heartbreaking rust), I'd say let the pros do it if you can afford it. It was fun for me...for like the first 5-7 years...now I sometimes fantasize about cutting the car in half and calling a scrapper. And no; the car is still a stripped shell nowhere near completion. If you're wondering, not all the time was body work, just like 95% of it (engine rebuild, axle rebuild, ect). No one will help you beyond internet posts. Friends, family, etc all have their own lives to lead.

"on a budget" and "pros do it" are mutually exclusive terms, I know. And picking a good reputable body shop is a quest (search the web for "Confessions of a Body Shop Owner" on google for a lot of tips). Hopefully your car is not as rusty. If you are dead set on it, please do a ton of research on your car; I beg you. One of my big problems was the rusted lower cowls (due to a strike in 68 which lead to improper cowl vents being installed) and the complete unavailability of a tailpanel for a 69 GTO.

[zombiekiller]

here's my take on it.

I could have easily dropped my car off at a friend's body shop. He was willing to cut me a real sweetheart deal.

I didn't and here is why.

I enjoy doing it. I have the ability, if i'm not happy with the outcome, to start over.

my current project is my return to hot rodding after a 6-7 year hiatus due to no garage space.

Read, watch youtube videos ( some of them are garbage).

Get the right tools, learn the right tricks. I will say that in the end, the tool cost to do some of the more difficult repairs will equal or exceed just dropping your car off with someone.

That being said, I'd good with that. This is not my first car, nor will it be my last restoration. If i do 3 cars after this, I've spent 60-75% less on the body work.

My tip? Look up shrinking discs. For the novice, you will not have the skill, talent, or experience to be masterful with a pull, hammer/dolly, slapping spoon, pry bar, etc.

a shrinking disc will allow you to CORRECTLY and PROPERLY, smooth out the product of your work and minimize your filler application.

some guys have it easy, they choose cars that can be ordered piece by piece from various catalogs to the point where they could build an entire brand new car using hand tools and the year one catalog.

guys like me end up having to find usable junkyard parts and get them back into shape. I spent 4 months searching for a decklid that wasnt $500 or attached to an entire car. I finally found one. I was really excited.

then i sandblasted it.

Someone at some point really had a field day with dent repair and bondo on this thing. The lower seam is blown out, the entire front corner of it is a massive low spot. There are 2 NASTY creases in it.

Guess what? I'll get it usable. I'll patch it, I'll smooth it, I'll make it pretty again.

and i'll be proud of it.

our hobby takes all types, but i have issue with "drop off a check" builds personally. I won't badmouth them entirely, because they keep the awesome innovative builders out there doing what they do best so they can inspire the guy at home.

sorry for the novel, this is just a topic close to me own heart. Good Luck!