My Red '70 Chevy Stepside

[green72s]

Your situation sounds very familiar. A couple of years ago I went ahead and turned my truck over to a restoration shop that quoted me about the same cost to do all the body work on my cab. My plan was to do the cab, then the front clip, then the bed, and finally the paint. Once the shop disassembled the entire truck to have the cab media blasted, they discovered much more work that needed to be done and the cost began creeping up. By the time they were done and had the truck back together, the budget was WAY OVER the original quoted amount. To this day that’s still the only body work that has been completed, and I’m super skeptical of having any body work and paint done. If I could do it again, I would have disassembled the truck, had the cab media blasted, then taken the cab to different shops to get estimates and to hear their approach on how the cab can be fixed. That’s what I’ll do with my hood and fenders, and then my bed and tailgate.

JRANGERS approach is another alternative that I would highly consider.

[dmw319]

Originally Posted by JRANGER

My truck isnt as pretty but i took a slow route but fun....I decided to do it myself.... Im not a mechanic, Never replaced metal before, and just bought a Angle Grinder, Grinder Blade, Diamond Blade, and Wire Wheel. I cut out and installed replacement panels from TABCO and GoodMark...Its a nice learning experience..Jsut need to take your time and wear protective goggles. You will need a welder or friend to weld them in eventually... The key is bending the points of the cuts to get them flush....Thats the hard part, you can buy a hand flange tool to do that....Its still hard though, especially on rockers

If I had the time to research the tools and learn how to weld by practicing and tear it all down myself for a nice project in the garage I would do it but most of my mechanical knowledge/skillset is for basic maintenance and upgrades. I've replaced motors, transmissions, done brake jobs, fluid changes, rear end swaps, etc. but body and paint work is pretty foreign to me and is very time consuming. It sounds like fun to learn but I don't know if I'd have the time and patience for it.

Originally Posted by green72s

Your situation sounds very familiar. A couple of years ago I went ahead and turned my truck over to a restoration shop that quoted me about the same cost to do all the body work on my cab. My plan was to do the cab, then the front clip, then the bed, and finally the paint. Once the shop disassembled the entire truck to have the cab media blasted, they discovered much more work that needed to be done and the cost began creeping up. By the time they were done and had the truck back together, the budget was WAY OVER the original quoted amount. To this day that’s still the only body work that has been completed, and I’m super skeptical of having any body work and paint done. If I could do it again, I would have disassembled the truck, had the cab media blasted, then taken the cab to different shops to get estimates and to hear their approach on how the cab can be fixed. That’s what I’ll do with my hood and fenders, and then my bed and tailgate.

JRANGERS approach is another alternative that I would highly consider.

Yea and I trust the shop. I don't think they would intentionally charge me more or anything. They are a great shop that has done some really quality work but it's just pricey stuff. Hmm