Ok...what to do with my budget.....

[StrayCat]

After gaskets, exaust, fuel tank, and all other "mechanical" parts and so on, I have 2 grand left to dump into the body. The engine bay looks like crap. No rust thru or anything, but a almost 40 year old car, with a white engine bay....i think you can get a good picture.......

I got a price from a "hot rod" body and paint guy to do the engine bay, repair the very few and very small rust issues, and do the overall paint and doorjams for like 3500.00. Which as you can see is out of my budget range. And with the ecomony the way it is at the moment, I dunno when I'll have the opertunity to throw large wads of cash at the car again, so, should I make an attempt to do the engine bay myself, and have like a higher priced " macco" paint job done, or what........I'm clueless, paint and body work isn't my thing really. We have a very strict " william doen't use bondo" rule in the house........:blush:

 

[74Satellite]

Is that the price with you doing all the dissasembly? Alot of placed will be a heck of a lot cheaper if you do all the disassembly and tape off of the items to where all they have to do is the bodywork and paint. I had a car painted a few years ago for $1700 with a quarter panel repair when I took everything removable off myself like the doorhandles, bumpers, glass, trim, lights grille etc, etc, I did not have the engine bay or trunk done but it looks great and for $1700 I wasnt going to complain at all. That is something that you might look into.

 

[66_B_Body4ever]

At the end of the day, you get what you pay for. If you remove all the trim, bumpers, handles etc you will save some $. FYI materials alone (PPG, BASF, Dupont) usually run on a car your size in the neighborhood of 600.00 (low) to 1200.00. So, include rust and body repair, paint prep etc...it doesn't leave alot left over for quality labor. The old saying...you can pay me now or you can pay me later comes to mind. After materials are bought shortcuts are usually made through labor to reduce costs. It may look good initially but in as little as 6 months you may see evidence of the lesser quality body and prep.

Check around...there can be good quality body/paint guys that work out of thier 'backyard' I have done a few for people in the past with very good results.