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Typically shops have a minimum of 250-300 hrs just for prep and paint on the exterior body, you're talking about doing the complete underside as well.
You've done restoration work in the past so you should have an idea of how much time it will take to dismantle and strip the shell...

I personally think you're robbing yourself if you quote anything less then 500 hrs...

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....and if Alan says 500, you should probably plan on 600!
mine took 600 and I had taken the car apart and got it back as a rolling shell.

Dave

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Unless a car needs a lot of panel replacement, I just don't see how I could possibly have double the hours into it. And I do all the body work by hand. No air file, don't use a da and so on... just a hand grinding for welds and a larger angle grinder and stripping discs for the paint.

Maybe I'm too critical of the time, I go in the house and grab a can of pepsi, that's 5 mins I'm not charging for

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Typically shops have a minimum of 250-300 hrs just for prep and paint on the exterior body, you're talking about doing the complete underside as well.
You've done restoration work in the past so you should have an idea of how much time it will take to dismantle and strip the shell...

I personally think you're robbing yourself if you quote anything less then 500 hrs...

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....and if Alan says 500, you should probably plan on 600!
mine took 600 and I had taken the car apart and got it back as a rolling shell.

Dave

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My paint job on my 71 car took exactly 210 hours, that did not include the bottem, inside or motor compartment or stripping. Then I put the car togeather.

There was NO rust repair and very minor dolly and hammer work. Thanks to Marz528, he came by and showed me the finer ways to hammer metal.

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I think the pressure washer I would need to use to do that would cost more than it would be worth. Still the problem is, even if you could use that, it's not going to remove the rust. I had to blast the excess, scrape with a razor blade then reblast parts... believe me if there was an easier way I'd love to be able to do it.

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Gawd I'd love to show you some time, Nope not gonna do a thing for rust repair except make it very easy to lightly media blast it clean after pressure washing and in some cases make it unneccasary to media blast at all before rust repair. Media blast once after all metal work is done.


Pressure washer cost $5800. bucks. It get's used almost everyday for everything one would need to clean. We're on our second one at work and I bought one for myself that I keep at home. The first one at work lasted 21 years.

Most valuable tool I own even though I have stuff that cost more, like machine tools.

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I don't do body work, never have, probably never will.

However I've had dozens of cars painted by several body shops over the years...

This is how it was explained to me...

It takes approximately 3 days to take one panel from bare metal to finished paint...
That includes prepping the metal, epoxy prime, filler work, sanding, priming, block sanding, final prime, guide coat, final blocking, paint, clear coat, denibbing, polishing.
That is approximatey 24 hrs labour.

NOW: Most cars have 8-10 panels...2 fenders, 2 doors, 2 quarters, hood, trunk, roof, valances.

Simple math: 8 X 24 = 192 / 10 X 24 = 240

In other words the average car takes 200hrs - 250hrs

Now, if you're thinking that I'm still high...notice I didn't count the engine compartment, door and trunk jambs, trunk floor, any special attention to sound deadener, etc...etc...AND I haven't even considered doing anything to the bottom of the car....

I stand by my estimate of 500 hrs

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What I'd be interested in from some of the participants on this thread is how long do you think a total restoration goes? EVERY nut, bolt, bodywork, paint, mechanical systems, machine work, sub-assembly restoration: EVERYTHING.....1000 hours? 1500?

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The other stuff is way more subjective. Bolts for instance. If you by the correct bolts new from your favorite supply house and just replace upon assembly that saves time.

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Good point; sorta where I was going with the whole "scope" comment I made earlier. I know I'll have well over 1000 hours of time between my bodyshop, myself and a few friends that have helped me. What I wasn't sure of is how much time the machine shop spent, the sub assy's that Jules did for me, the instruments that were sent out, etc. etc.

I've spend untold amounts of time researching and trying to figure stuff out; that's where the pros have a HUGE advantage.


Dave

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Does 350 hours sound realistic? I read a site from a member here that said a typical top side resto will take about 300 hours.

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Only if you let Maaco do it.

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I lol'd at this.

A rotisserie will make that undercoating much easier. I had to do it from laying under the car and scraping.

Seems like heating the metal up from the backside with some form of heat and then scrape it off with a puddy knife/gasket scrapter/ect will make it easier. Whatever is left can be easily blasted off. Just my

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To clarify, I was comparing to the 678 hours you mentioned above. For $18k, we do the metal, body, paint, polish and body assembly and you do the final reassembly.

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$26.55 per hour...

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To clarify, I was comparing to the 678 hours you mentioned above. For $18k, we do the metal, body, paint, polish and body assembly and you do the final reassembly.

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$26.55 per hour...

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That'd be a raise for me

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To clarify, I was comparing to the 678 hours you mentioned above. For $18k, we do the metal, body, paint, polish and body assembly and you do the final reassembly.

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$26.55 per hour...

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