[Michael]

Like to know how much your frame off resto cost and what you got for what you paid.

 

[ELLI]

Mine cost me $13,000. For that I took a car that was headed for the junkyard, and turned it into a brand new car. Basically anything that was a disposable part was replaced. And everything else on the car was cleaned, rebuilt and refinished. I might add that the only thing that I did not do to my car was, the engine machine work, and the exaust work. Everything else was done by me, in my shop. Mat ACES #2424

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[Dave Birdwell]

'70 SS454, full frame-off, did all work myself except the THM400. Cost for parts alone over $9000.00
Am doing a frame -off on a '69 Camaro indy pace car, expecting to have over $14000.00 in parts, this includes the machinework to the engine components.
Not to mention the 300 plus hours in labor to the Chevelle, and estimate 500 hours in the Camaro.

[This message has been edited by Dave Birdwell (edited 05-15-99).]

 

[elcamino]

$12,000 est. doing a 64 Impala Sport coupe myself. It did not do the paint/body work (1 year in the shop for 3500) or the machine shop/trans (700) but did the engine assembly and all of the rest. In the process I aquired $1000 worth of tools and a $15,000 30'X40' shop/garage (would have eventually built this anyway).

This I got from well known/respected restoration shop not far from me, his price is unlimited. His quote was $50 hr paid every 2 weeks and no idea what the total cost would be and may take up to 2 years to get to it. In other words " a blank check". He prefered to get/use his own parts because he could not control the quality I might provide, thus increasing his work load and decreasing his profit. He had a signs in the shop; Labor $50/hr , $75 if U watch and $100 if U help.

A relative banged up her 64 Olds Holiday coupe with 7,000=/- miles when she backed out of the garage after being in storage for many years, the brakes failed resulting in damage to the house porch next door ($7000). Needed the 1/4 panel replaced and another bumper. It cost her almost $4000 and 8 months. Quality parts were very hard to find and get shipped. The body shop got shafted on some bad parts and she had to absorb the costs. All part of the deal she agreed to.

My advice, sell it and pay the $25,000 for one allready done, you may be further ahead and be able to drive it now. It will always cost twice as much as you can estimate and take twice as long.



[This message has been edited by elcamino (edited 05-16-99).]

 

[Alan F]

Amen on the twice as much as you thought. I am always amazed that every project I do seems to cost twice as much. Maybe its just me lying to myself - if I was honest about what it would really cost, I probably wouldn't do it. Oh yeah, the twice thing also goes for time.

I got $6,000 in paint in bodywork in a '71 El Camino SS454 and its not done yet. I hope my wife never gets on here!

 

[Hugh]

I have $9000 into my car and hundreds of hours of time. It was all worth it. If you start with a very clean and rust free body that is straight as an arrow, you will save yourself about a hundred hours right there! I paid $600 for my car and it needed 1/4's, outer wheel houses and trunk to 1/4 filler panels. it also needed two new fenders and doors, cuz it had been previously repainted and there was filler all over! I was lucky that the floor boards and trunk were good. I did my frame off the hard way, I used a grinder with a wire wheel on the underside of the car and on the entire frame! that all took 50 hrs of work right there. I would suggest using a sandblaster to clean the frame and to do the firewall and underside of the car. I would also suggest buying all the bolt kits that you can, cuz I spent about 30-40 hours just cleaning the original bolts and some are still in rough shape. I got a deal on my paint job. A friend and I did all the body work and priming and blocksanding ourselves. Then I used enamel on the door jams, window frames, under the trunk lid and all the areas that are not exposed to the outside. Then I called the local Chrysler dealership and they painted it with base/clear for $650!! That included materials and it was sprayed in their nice down draft booth! Or up draft, I can't remember the direction of the air flow. But, if you take it to someone like that and they have to take the doors off to paint the jams and they have to do sanding, then you will spend $1500-2500! The finish is show quality, but I had them put on exta layers of clear, so now it is time to ultra-fine it to a mirror finish! There really is no other way to go. The paint job really is the biggest decision on the car, so don't cut yourself short and put a cheap paint job on a nice frame off restored car.

 

[Mel Chevelle]

At my work we did a frame detailing (just the Frame) for about 10,000 dollars. YOu better be a master mechanic to do it yourself. Equipment and tools alone will cost you a whole lot.