This is part 3 of 4 articles on how to restore you ride. We can’t get into too much detail on restorations—that would take several volumes for us to do. What we can do is give the basic order and steps for restoring your vehicle. All of this is assuming you already have your ride disassembled (refer to February 2007 issue of Shop Talk for this).

Now that your ride is disassembled, you need to make a decision on whether you’re going to do the body work yourself or if you’re going to farm this part out. This decision is the largest part of your budget. Good paint and body work will run you in the neighborhood of fifteen to twenty thousand in labor and materials. This is on top of what new body parts will cost you. I know it may seem like a lot of money, but it costs a lot to produce a top quality vehicle. You can get it done for less money at a cut-rate or economy body shop, but the thing to remember is that you get what you pay for. It’s also very important to do your homework the body shop. Take the time to go and look at their facility and make sure to get an estimate from them.

For the purpose of this article, we’re going to assume that you are going to farm out the body and paint work. Once you have found a good restoration/body shop to do the work, you will need to sit down with this person and discuss what you want done with the vehicle. If you want to go back to all original then your discussion will be easy. If you want to build a custom ride, it can sometimes be difficult to convey your ideas and thoughts of how you want it to look and make the other person understand what you want. My idea is to find a graphic artist that can take a picture of your vehicle and start laying out your color ideas or you can try to do a sketch yourself. This procedure will help you make the body man understand what you are looking for. If you are doing an original vehicle, then all you need to do is find an old picture of the vehicle to show him.

The big thing to worry about when doing body work, whether doing it yourself or having it done, is to dry fit the sheet metal. By this I mean installing the fenders, hood, doors, etc before you have painted anything. This step is very important. Even if you have bought all new sheet metal, you still have to do this.

Another critical step you need to do before the vehicle goes to the body shop is installing the front seats. You need to do this if you’re building a custom ride, because more than likely you will have to build or modify the seat mounts because the maker of whatever vehicle you pulled the seats out of probably never thought of someone putting them into a 1969 Chevelle or a 1957 Chevy.

The second phase of restoration is the frame and drive train. You should have already decided what kind of theme and budget you are going with (see January 2007 issue). You should try to do this phase of the restoration while the body is being restored at the restoration/body shop. If you are doing the body yourself then you are going to have to do this part of the build at the same time. The frame should already be disassembled and ready to start repairing. If you have a place that needs to be re-welded or section that might be rusted through, you should repair these areas. Once that is done, take your frame and all parts associated with it—A-arms, crossmembers, rear end housing, steering linkage, etc to the sandblaster and have it cleaned. If you’re going to powder coat the frame and its parts, some powder coaters offer a sand blasting service and will do this as part of the price. Once you get the frame back, reassemble the parts. You should also install the brake systems parts, fuel and brake lines, engine & transmission, steering linkage, rear end, and wheels and tires.

The next project to tackle is putting the body back on the frame. Make sure to select a good quality body mount kit. The original style rubber mounts will work fine, but for a really great set you should use urethane. These will last forever and look really good on a custom ride. Once the body is mounted back on the frame, make sure the front sheet metal is reinstalled and the gaps are uniform. Your body man should have dry fitted all this before it was painted (see paragraph 2 in this issue). If he didn’t take the time to do this, then you will end up with a vehicle that has poor fitting fenders, hood, and doors.

Once you have the sheet metal reinstalled then you need to put the exterior trim back on. This needs to be done now because, for most vehicles, you will have to go through the doors and quarter window to install the clips. If you wait to do this later either the windows or part of your interior will be in your way. Once your outside trim is on, you need to move on to putting the weatherstriping and windows back in the vehicle. You can either farm out this step to a professional glass man or do it yourself. If you’re doing it yourself, it’s a good idea to have a friend help you install the glass.

After finishing the body assembly, you need to start laying out the wiring, installing any windshield wiper systems, and AC systems. After this, you can start assembling the dash (gauges, switches, etc). Then you can start finishing up any under-hood projects you may have left. After that, you can move on to finishing any outside trim work, such as the grille, bumpers, taillights, etc. A good idea at this point is to start making lists of things to finish. Even if it seems silly to list things such as shocks, you should always list whatever it is. This will help you remember to do those little things that you might forget.

By now you have the outside of the vehicle, the under- hood area, and the dash finished. At this time, you need to be thinking about what kind of interior you want to go with. If you are building an original vehicle this is easy. For most vehicles you can buy a reproduction interior kit from your parts supplier. If you’re building a custom ride, this can get tricky. You need to find an interior shop at about the time you are putting the body back on the frame and get your place in line. Most upholstery shops book several months out. For custom interior, you should decide on interior when you are laying out your theme. Again, you need to sit down with your upholstery man and try to convey your ideas to him. The picture or sketch idea is a great way to go.

The only other thing I can suggest to you is to select a good quality car or truck cover. When you get your ride done, make sure to put a cover over it. This will help to protect it from dust or any animals that might make their way into your garage or storage area.

Next month we will discuss common mistakes that people make when rebuilding their vehicle. Thanks for reading and see you next month! Feel free to give us your comments, good or bad, about the newsletter.