My new '70 K10 - $ for body work? PICS!

[DJZ]

Hey guys...

Wondering what the cost is going to be for the body work on this K10. Won't officially be mine for a little while, but I need an idea of what I'm looking at. I have about $4k to $8k (maybe a bit more) to put into the body on purchase. Will that be enough to completely fix the body? The drive train is in great condition and won't need work for a while. Also, I feel more comfortable doing the drive train work myself. I want to get the body done right, though. Thoughts??? Thanks in advance!

BTW: I hope these pictures work...

[DJZ]

More pics!

[jrdv]

Just to give you an idea. I had my longbed 72 4x4 repainted in 2004. They took it all apart--doors, bed, fenders. One fender was replaced and the rockers were replaced. No rust anywhere else. It cost about $6000. I would think yours would be a bit more because of the rust repairs. Hope this helps.

john

[DJZ]

Interesting... Were you happy with the work? As a side note, I already have the two door panels that are needed to fix the doors. From what I've seen online, $1500 (or even $1k) seems more than reasonable to replace the panels that I KNOW about.

[72armyswbtruck]

6K should do it right, just le tthe body shop know what your expectations are and that you want it done right.

[RamAirZ]

with the amount of replacement panels available for decent prices, I would think you could tackle it yourself and SAVE a ton of money. I'm planning on putting 2 new bed sides on my truck (about 700 and change for both), 2 new front fenders (about 300 for both), the doors are good on mine but new door skins aren't too expensive. You just have to take your time with filler and mounting, I worked in shops for years doing frame off restos and modifications, it's really not as hard as people think, just VERY time consuming and tedious, that's why the prices are so high

[Bishops Trucks]

Nice looking truck. What ever you do, don't go with the cheipest guy. Look at some of the work the guys have done in the past.

[RamAirZ]

^ what he said, but sometimes the cheapest guy may even be the best but do you research before dropping any money. I have seen a TON of cars come in that had been butchered by a previous shop and the owner lost alot of money on

[special-K]

That`s a nice truck to build on.Replacement panels are cheap.It`s the labor that gets pricey.Still,do you know what all the panels you need add up to against that $1,500?Think how long it would take to rebuild the bottoms of just your doors compared to another door.I believe in saving OEM doors.But,it may be cheaper to replace.
A friend is having a guy come over on Saturdays to repair his floor at the kick panels,rockers,and cab corners(maybe a support or two).It`s looking like 4 Saturdays.Figure shop hourly rate against that,32 hours.That should help you strat to get an idea of cost ivolved for the rest.

[49m]

It cost 4k to do a paint job on a perfect car around here. Thats with no body work

[msgross]

they also have a full replacement floor out now, check out gmcpuals.com It's a low hump but you can fix that.

[70cst]

Originally Posted by RamAirZ

^ what he said, but sometimes the cheapest guy may even be the best but do you research before dropping any money. I have seen a TON of cars come in that had been butchered by a previous shop and the owner lost alot of money on

and You get what you pay for. Be sure the guy who works on your truck appreciates old cars and trucks. If it's just another job to him...he won't put in that extra care. JMHO!!

[Classic Heartbeat]

Did you talk to Cobweb? If you are inclined to do the job yourself, we have all of the parts in stock to fix the rust. We even have new sections of the bed floor that actualy have the right pattern somewhere around 25th. Good luck with what ever you decide. WES

[DJZ]

I have been in contact with Cobweb. I just sent them the same pictures to see what they think. I kinda want to do all the work at once because this is going to be my daily driver and I won't have time to gradually work on it as I'm starting a new full time job in a week and a half. I will have to talk with Cobweb to see what is needed as far as replacement panels/components and what will be the cheapest route. Thanks for all your help guys!

[72BlckButy]

That is one slick little truck! Around here you could probably get everything (bodywork) done for $4,000-6,000, maybe a little more.

[LockDoc]

-
Try and get a time frame when the work will be completed. It would probably be cheaper if you told the body man "whenever you can get to it" but there have been some horror stories on here about so called body shops having guys' trucks for a year or more.....

LockDoc

[shifty]

Spend $1,000 on a bare but restored, rust-free cab. Swap everything out from your new one. Sell your old one for $300. Go to the body shop and drop $3,300-$5,300 on paint.

Seriously. I know I'm a little jaded because we don't live in the rust belt and don't usually see rust like that, but I gaurantee you when you get into that, someone painted over the rust, and you're probably going to find a buttload of bondo and possibly fiberglass and other crap in there. You'll be spending over $2k to pay someone to fix the problems with that cab. It's just not worth it.

[teeitup]

I got a bid to replace corners, rockers, and 2 rear cab mounts and paint whole outside for $3750

[arkracing]

Originally Posted by shifty

Spend $1,000 on a bare but restored, rust-free cab. Swap everything out from your new one. Sell your old one for $300. Go to the body shop and drop $3,300-$5,300 on paint.

Seriously. I know I'm a little jaded because we don't live in the rust belt and don't usually see rust like that, but I gaurantee you when you get into that, someone painted over the rust, and you're probably going to find a buttload of bondo and possibly fiberglass and other crap in there. You'll be spending over $2k to pay someone to fix the problems with that cab. It's just not worth it.

I agree with shifty on this one. Looks like it would be a good candidate for the new full floor replacments, plus you'll need outer rockers, cab corners, kick panels.

Which would would be very costly.

[knsmodels]

I would try and find all the replacement parts you can and try to avoid having rust "fixed"......If you can find rust free parts for replacement buy them and then have all the work done at once....I would try and find a rust free cab and replace yours.....I redid my truck 3yrs ago and did all the work myself with the help of my Dad....I went the extra mile on all parts with rustproofing and used allot of repro parts (doors, fenders, chrome) spraying everything inside and out.....I also bought rustfree bed to replace mine.....after 3yrs of daily use I am very unhappy with how the repro stuff is holding up....I put allot of $$ and sweat into my truck and to see parts fail do to no wrong doing of my own is disheartening.......the original GM parts are holding up as they should....take this into consideration as you take on your own project.....JMHO....and good luck with your truck......it will be a fine ride.....

[nyncompute]

That is a great looking color combination. Will make a great restoration.I have a real soft spot for a short bed K-10

[68350]

my dad does all the paint on our vehicles, and we do the bodywork ourselves, too. If you really are inclined, too, which I recommend to anyone, you can buy all the stuff needed to restore that truck(tools and paint) for what it would cost for a bodyshop to do it. As far as the doors and stuff go, i would be really nice oem ones instead of having them fixed. if you can, find oem parts, better fit from my own experience. good luck with whatever route you take, it's a very nice truck!

[jerry moss]

i would definitly look for rustfree OEM parts-they are out there, i just passed up a set of rustfree, original paint doors at stockton pick-n-pull, they were on a '70 customcamper/20. i didn't buy them for 2 reasons,#1-the prices are stupid high for complete doors and #2- both my trucks are 72s. body shops around here are at least $100-$120 per hour. i had a really nice cab with some roof damage so i called one of the better local body shops and it was 16 hours laber to swap it. needless to say, i junked it.

[Yukon Jack]

Good looking truck and sounds like the guys above have given great advice. Whatever you do, keep us posted.

[toomanytoyz]

Originally Posted by knsmodels

after 3yrs of daily use I am very unhappy with how the repro stuff is holding up....I put allot of $$ and sweat into my truck and to see parts fail do to no wrong doing of my own is disheartening.......the original GM parts are holding up as they should....take this into consideration as you take on your own project.....JMHO....and good luck with your truck......it will be a fine ride.....

What Problems did you encounter, I think this Info would be Helpful to a Lot of us that are Currently re-doing Trucks...............

Thanks, Rick