HELP! I need a game plan!

[Nwayne]

Lets see, where to start. Well, since my bad body shop experience I don 't know where to start. I've never had a car this far apart. So I need some good advice here. Should I put it back together and drive it primered for awhile? Should I take it and have it sand blasted, and start over? I'm just not sure what order I should do things? I was going to drop it off at another body shop, then decided to hold off. Figured I would reassemble and drive it. But looking at all the parts, most not being labeled or tagged, I just don't know where to begin. No to mention I'm limited with the space I have to work, one car garage. I know I'm going to have to partially reassemble to get all the body parts aligned. I feel like a dog chasing his tail. Man, this crap is starting to make me dizzy!:eek:
I'm so far into this thing, dollar wise, I just don't want to keep throwing money in the wrong direction. I'm sure there are a lot of others that have been down this road. Please help before I burn the dang thing, or I start sucking on the barrel of a 12 Gauge shotgun.:(

Thanks

[FunkyNova66]

Man...:eek:
I can only imagine how you feel. Without the funds it would have made my build a whole lot more stressful. Do you have pics of where the car is status wise? I guess I need to go and read some of your other posts to figure out WTF the body shop did to your car. Let me do some researching on some of your other posts and see if I can come up with some prospects.

Hang in there. It can only get better.
Dave

[Nwayne]

Thanks Dave.
Yeah, funds are limited right now. Space is even more limited. But I can do a little at a time, and spend between 2-5 hundred on it each month. I'm just trying to figure out which way to go. The only thing I don't want to do is throw away money by having to do it twice. Which I've done once allready with the horrible body work.:mad:
I'm in no huge hurry at this point. I just want to do it, and do it right.
What I need is a guideline to follow. Yeah, that's it, a step by step instructional video! Anyone have one of those?:D j/k

[Greg McMillan]

A game plan is a good Idea but you need an objective. What is this car to be? Show only, streetrod, basic transportation? Then how much money can you, or do you want to spend. Make sure those fit together. You can't build a show car or 500 hp street machine for $3000. Once that is figured out, then you can start to answer the other questions. Body work can cost $500 or $10,000 depending on what you are trying to do. That determines where you take the car for work. It also depends on how much you can or want to do yourself. Speaking from experience it is sure expensive paying someone else! Then I suggest you get an assembly manual. That will certainly help putting it back together and help with what parts you might need. Again from experience, be prepared to spend 25% more than you really want to! There is always something else you can do with just a little more cash!

[Nwayne]

The objective is to build a nice daily driver. I'm not trying to build a trailer queen, or 500hp street monster. Allthough, having that much horsepower would be nice. I'm hoping to finish this car for around 7-9 thousand over the next year. As far as assembely goes, I will be doing a lot of it myself. Body work is just one of those things I don't have the space to do, Nor do I know how. It's hard to turn a one car garage into a paint booth.

[NIGHTSHADE]

2-500 each month. If you can come up with a specific number, say $150 to be safe, I'd say go to your bank and take out a loan and get it finished. If you can budget more then you can get a better job done. Depending on how much work is left, maybe take it to somebody who you can trust to finish it properly and get an estimate. Then go talk to the bank.

[skrymir]

Dont worry about being able to put it back together. All you have to do is post a question here and someone will answer within minutes, ussually.:)

[Nwayne]

Nightshade, I thought of doing that, but I don't want anymore loans or credit. I'm going to buy another house in the next six months, and I'm trying to get what credit I have paid down so I can get the best rate possible.
The guy's that are going to be doing the bodywork said it's going to run between 5 and 6 thousand. Once they get the car the will have it for 3 to 4 months, longer if needed. But that doesn't include putting it all back together. Right now I can safely afford to spend a couple of thousand. But I want to make sure I spend it right.
Like I said I'm in no hurry. If it's finished in the next year that's great. If longer, so be it. Just want it done right.

[novanutcase]

My .02..............Save up around $2,000.00 for body work and do the following: Send it out to be bead blasted or acid dipped. If you can acid dip it have it e coated to keep any chemicals from leaching into your paint that stay in the nooks and crannies after they try and rinse off the acid. IF you bead blast it make sure they hit it real good with the air hose to get as much of the dust out of the nooks and crannies as you can. Now that you have your body down to it's true condition you can decide to either do the work yourself if it isn't too bad or, in the time that you are saving and acid dipping you can find a friend or befriend one of the guys at the body shop and have them come over and help you with the body work. At this point most of your investment will probably be the beer you have to have on tap to coax them to come over although you don't want to get them too drunk, otherwise you will hve very wavy body work! They will probably do all the filler stuff while you do the more labor intensive part which is the sanding. After it is arrow straight then have it etch primed. Once you save enough money have it painted by someone who knows what they are doing to make sure you get the best paint job possible. Look at Funkies 66. That paint job looks killer and really helps make the car what it is.
In my opinion, all you need after that is some nice wheels(17" Torque Thrusts with 255's in the front and 285's in the rear gets my vote if your on a budget and want the most bang for your buck!)
If your going to go this far then I would also seriously think of replacing the front clip with a Wayne Due front clip. I would also have some sub frame connectors added to the chassis to stiffen it up a bit and have a truck arm installed in the rear(Keep in mind that a truck arm will limit your exhaust out choices) You will also want to upgrade your brakes(Even though on my project I am using Wilwoods, Baer makes a very good brake system and is reasonably priced). Add a small block 350 or, if you can find one cheap, an LS1 and hook it to a TKO 500 - 600 and a 9" 12 bolt rear and you will have a KICK *** daily driver.:nascar:

[Carl 66]

Nwayne,
I would first buy an assembly manual, then evaluate what to work with and you can and can not do yourself. Do a search and see what other board members live in your area and see if they will come over for a beer and give you some input. Also go to some local car shows and see what is available locally for the amount of money you have to spend (paint and mechanical). See if there's a Nova club close to you. Do your homework before you spend any money, then spend it wisely. Keep us posted.

Carl

[Brett]

One of the main questions you want to ask yourself is do you HAVE to have the car to drive as transportation. I took my car down to bare metal with liquid stripper and putty knife and then had it sandblasted and then the whole car epoxy primed. This was after disc conversion, front end rebuild, quarterpanel and floorpan/trunkpan/rockerpanel replacements. Naturally, taking the whole car down, means EVERYTHING came out, windows, door parts, dash stuff, everything. Then, came along a used engine at a price I couldn't refuse, and naturally, I didn't want to bolt it to the 700r4 I had laying under my bench, I wanted a 4 speed. Which snowballed into a new bellhousing/2 different shifters (one wouldn't work), etc. I have so much in mine now and am mad about it, that I'm close to the point of reinstalling windows and finishing getting it going and just driving it in primer for a few years to save back up. At least then I'd get some "seat time" in it. It almost seems you get too far in to see the light of day and bail out. I have seriously considered a "Two Lane Blacktop" version Chevy II, as my car has a brutal cam and 4 speed and is a bare-bones radio delete/cigar lighter delete kinda 2 door sedan anyhow. I could kinda envision driving something like that as a toy every now and then. BUT, I also consider if I could be patient and wait, a car in final paint and finished out is worth a great deal more. Good luck in your thought process, Brett in Ala.

[Nwayne]

Hey Brett, taking everything out is the easy part. Everything is out. The only thing left on the car is the fuel line, and rear end. The rear would be out if I had a way to move it around. I'm just trying to decide where to go from here.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c283/64Deuce/NovaRust032.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c283/64Deuce/NovaRust030.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c283/64Deuce/NovaRust029.jpg

[CDJr]

I can definitely relate, Nwayne. Your situation sounds almost identical to mine. I bought my 68 Firebird as a rolling chassis, with most of it (and lotsa parts from a Camaro also) being in boxes. However, I wanted to build it from the ground up anyways, so I didnt mind it being totally disassembled. You definitely will benefit from an assembly manual, if for no other reason, just to identify parts, etc. As far as working room, Im also building mine in a 1-car garage, so I know how frustrating it is to work in tight quarters lol. I put mine on a rotisserie, which also helped make the most of what little space I have. The benefit of being on a limited budget is that you probably wont wind up getting burnt out on working on it, since you can only do a little at a time. Of course, the down side is that itll take awhile to get done lol. But unless youre in a hurry, that shouldnt bother ya. To me its fun building it, so every time I go work on it, I enjoy it. If I had to do it daily for 10 hrs a day, Im sure it wouldnt be as enjoyable. So Id say to just take your time, and just cuz youve never had one this far apart shouldnt discourage you...hell, thats how you learn ;) Im sure youll make mistakes here and there and wind up realizing there was a much easier way to do something once its done. If I were to list the things Id do differently on my next build, Id probably fill this page and a couple more lol. But, live and learn.
Lets review---assembly manual, beer, identify parts, tight working space, frustration, more beer, set your own pace, never listen to Flyer (OOPS), avoid burnout, have fun doing it, and last but not least, dont get discouraged! :)

[Nwayne]

Well, I guess what I'm going to do is have it blasted, or dipped, and start from there. I would just have it blasted but there are areas of concern. Like the inside of the cowl, and inside roof structure. I can see surface rust that I don't think blasting will be able to get. The problem I'm having right now is trying to find someone who can blast it, or acid dip it here in LAs Vegas. As for the Dipping I think I'm going to have to take it to LA to have that done, if I go that route.

[Bruce]

Part of your planning should include how serious you are about moving in 6 months and will you be able to get the car finished before you put your current place up for sale. Perspective buyers like seeing a clean organize garage and you will loose a month or two between packing and unpacking. Also, the complete the car is the easier it is to move.

Just a couple of thoughts from one who has moved a project....

[Coprod]

Just curious:confused: , What was supossed to be done by the body shop and what did you get in return?

Was it a complete car when you dropped it off, and mid way through the job you pulled it out?

Richard

[Nwayne]

I Don't really want to rehash the whole thing, (whole other post about 2 months ago) but yes it was a complete car. And half way through he decides he's not making enough.Anyway, I took the car home in boxes. The body work he did was bad and needs to be redone.
Anyway, from here I'm just looking to move forward. I'm trying to figure out the best way to proceed.

[Nwayne]

Part of your planning should include how serious you are about moving in 6 months and will you be able to get the car finished before you put your current place up for sale. Perspective buyers like seeing a clean organize garage and you will loose a month or two between packing and unpacking. Also, the complete the car is the easier it is to move.

Just a couple of thoughts from one who has moved a project....

Moving it won't be that difficult. Most of the parts are in storage and I have a car cover over it most of the time. Also, I'm probably not going to sell this place right now. I'm thinking I'm going to rent it until the market get's a little better. Never hurt's to have rental property.