starting my restoration

Hey Guys,
At the end of February i will be putting my truck in the shop to start the restoration. I got a price from a couple of shops. I ask both shop to give me a absolute most it would cost me and time frame it would take. I've had one shop to do work on my everyday truck and he did a fine job on it. The other one i'm not so sure of. What i'm asking is do i need to have him draw up something saying the price he quoted me as the absolute price and time frame he said he could get it done in? Have any of you guys run into any problems with body shops before?  

I think a estimate for that other shop is a good idea. You may not get a final amount but you may know how much you may spend. For the ETA remember stuff does happen so if it take a tab longer I wouldn't go crazy over it.  

Thanks! I've haven't been through this before and really not sure how to handle it. I know it's hard to give a price on doing it since you don't know what they will run into once the paint is off. I really believe he will do a good job on it. He plans on removing all the paint with a chemical solution instead of sand blasting. He's taking it down to the frame. I talked with him a couple days ago and he's just about ready to take it in. Oh.......by the way. the price he gave me was a absolute of 7000.  

Your welcome.  

Make sure you visit your truck often and get pictures to share...... Dude  

Hi dburgf100,
what does the 7000 include?  

Hey 56f100,
He is taking everything off the truck except for the cab. He's going to leave it on and just replace cabs mounts and just fix any spots on it. He's going to sand blast the frame and just paint it back black. He's going to chemically remove all the paint from the truck. I plan on doing any of the front or rear end work and anything with the motor. I will changing out the steering column myself and putting bucket seats in it. Basically he will be just doing the body.  

Personally I would visit the shop often and expect to see what he is currently working on. You will be much better off and more satisfied when you have a working relationship with the shop. To me this holds true for anything from my truck painter to my pizza place. I would also ask to speak to some of his customers and see what they think. After they’ve really had time to evaluate his workmanship and get feedback from their friends. (it would be more appropriate if he asked them to call you, privacy being highly valued these days)
My body guy was great and every time I was there he would show me all of his latest projects from Jeeps to SEMA cars. It was hard to get out of there in less than a ½ hour but to be fair, he was not doing the work, he ran the place.
Something you may not have thought about yet is the cost of hardware and body trim. ARP makes just the best engine and mechanical stainless hardware bar none. I live 2 miles from the ocean and here everything will eventually rust, even inside the house, except for stainless. ARP is not cheap, but you only have to buy it once. I would also highly recommend a stainless steel body bolt kit from Totally Stainless. Their kits include fasteners for everything including parts I did not expect. You may not use the entire kit right away, but you probably will eventually. Under the hood, all around the exterior and interior old fasteners will stand out. Don’t forget body trim strips, door hardware inside the door, glass channels for the windows, door handles, tail lights, grill trim and headlights.  These parts will all need to be replaced, removed or painted. LMC has been a great source for these parts and certainly has your truck well covered.
Did anyone you are talking to mention the actual cost of paint and materials? What brand do they use? Anyone doing the paint should be able to pretty accurately tell you what they think this will cost. What are the actual paint steps your body man will do? The order I used while taking a class at a community college went like this. When the steel is ready, first seal with a non sanding primer sealer. (although there are alternatives here) This seals the metal and anything on it like welds or a thin coat of body filler etc. It’s called non-sanding because sanding would break the seal it has made. Then there are 2-3 coats of filler/surfacer. This gets sanded as smooth as possible, getting progressively flatter with each coat. Finally another coat of “pre-paint” type sealer is used just before the color paint goes on. For the top coats there are 2 kinds and this could set off another great debate. Single stage and color coat clear coat 2 stage. Both will hold up fine if properly maintained.
In the end, most projects I have done or seen, took almost twice as long as I thought and cost almost twice as much as expected.
As always I hope you enjoy all of this and Good Luck.  

Hey guys,
Just wanted to give you a update. The guys keeps putting me off on went he's going to start on it. First it was going to be the end of February and now till the first of April. Now April and he still hadn't called. Had one other guy to look at it and he gave me a pretty good price but he wanted to fix the rust spots with fiberglass instead of cutting it out and welding metal back in. He said that where you welded it in it would start rust on the inside. It would be better to cut out the rust and fiberglass it back in. What do ya'll think about fiberglassing it back in instead of welding metal?  

It sounds to me like you are 0 for 2. Real steel is the only right way to repair, period. The first guy you mention does not want to do your truck either or he would have started in February. Get your truck out of there before it's too late. Once he starts you are really stuck. Have you ever heard the term "paint jail" ? Like when your job takes 2 years instead of 2 months. Get your truck back and keep looking. No way that guy would still have my truck. You would be better off driving or hauling it hundreds of miles instead of begging some guy to keep going on your truck. In this economy there has to be all kinds of good shops ready and willing to start soon. GET YOUR TRUCK BACK NOW AND KEEP LOOKING  Or keep worrying and waiting, you are scaring me    

HB70F100, I have the truck at home. The guy had never started on the truck yet. He's been telling me that he will call me when he is ready. First it was the end of February then first of April. This guy i talk to yesterday seemed ok except that he wants to fiberglass instead of welding the cab corners back in. I think i like the welding. You know i've talked to just about everybody about restoring this truck. Talked to to restoration companies in middle Tennessee about restoring it. One said no more than 20,000 and the other basically said they was sure but worked by the hour. Then the guy yesterday said he could do it right now for 3500 dollars. That's to remove front fenders and bed. sand blast frame and undercoat it. paint inside and out. Maybe i can get someone else to fix the rust spots by welding in new metal then taking it to this guy and let him finisH it. I've seen the guys work and does good painting. Just hard to find someone good.  

Hope you find a shop to do the work. Based on the stories I have heard of people going this route I would make sure I set things up so payments are based on work done/parts supplied and not money up front as some shops seem to require.

I would also make sure you get paperwork from them identifying your truck by VIN or other means in case they go belly up you have a means of claiming your personal property.  

Also I would not give them all the parts necessary but rather hold them yourself until the shop calls for them.  

Too many times shops have sold off parts of customer's rides.  

Caution is the best policy no matter how good they may appear.  Better to be safe than sorry.  

I'm glad you got your truck back so that body shop couldn't take you to the cleaners.  

Well guys, I let the guy come pick up the truck last Thursday the 9th. Went to check on it Saturday afternoon and he had the front clip off of it and had the bolts out from the bed. He really didn't ask for any money up front but said it would be nice if he could maybe get 500 to buy supplies. I figured 500 wasn't that much and he didn't want anymore till it's completed. I do have to go out one night and pull the wood out of the bed so i can sand and stain it. I really believe he will do a good job. I've seen some of his work around town and it looks very good.....oh yea......he ask that i get him a camera to take some pictures as he goes. Hopefully i will have some to post soon.......What is a good steering column to buy that's not going to empty my pocketbook?

Dburgf100  

Are you going to do a floor mount or a column mount?