odonian

been looking at a 67 vert, guy wants 5500 for it. i'm trying to get a grip on what it'll need just to become a daily during the summer for me. from the description, the car needs new floors, and probably some frame work as well. i expect rockers and cowl will need to go. the trunk appears to be fine and the engine compartment looks livable for the time being.

the question: what can I expect to pay for new floors, rockers, etc.from a professional body shop, and/or, for guy who has never even held a welding torch, would anyone in their right mind tell me to go buy a mig welder and figure it out myself?

cprstreetmachines

It takes me about 35 hrs to do a set of floors on a convert. THat's if it comes in, no interior and just the driver seat. Converts are a real pain if you do them right. Coupes on the other hand only take 15 in the same ready to go state. *75 bucks and hour can get pricy. But it's done right with good welds. I've seen done by first timers and did it once when I was 16. You can do it yourself, but to make it NICE, takes more than a little practice 10 minutes before jumping into it.

silverblue66

+1 on doing it yourself, but it does take practice. here is what i learned from my first time. practice a lot on scrap metal. measure once, then again and again. cut 1 inch less than you think then trim to fit. cut only what you have to out rather than do the whole pan, its a pain in the @$$!!! butt weld but dont overlap it creates a nice hidingplace for rust. try to leave the seat platforms alone. patch what you have to. mig makes the job go by faster than a torch but you can do it with a torch if you want. ive done both and like the mig better. I am not a body guy, i just learned to weld for my project, it cost me $60 bucks at a comunity college. if you want to get in touch with me pm me and ill give you my contact for more specific info on what works for floorpans. i've never done a vert tho. heard its harder. good luck!
Kip

john721

This is my first project...and with it needing complete floors, no way couldI afford to pay someone to install them, so I did it myself. I thinkI spent 25-30 hours doing it. Although it was a pain at the time, I would do it again... I didn't butt weld them, knowing that they were lapped from the factory, and that the sealer I was using would be far superior to the seam sealer used 40 years ago...Here are a few pics... All in all, it cost me about 500 bucks..

[IMG]local://upfiles/54210/509BDC8FAC004B4488ED202F0B018091.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/54210/45891BB15C5248B993614559D45BE288.jpg[/IMG]

69thunder

If the car is in that bad of shape why bother? Take a little more time to find one that is not a mess. The time put in to repair it is not worth it unless you are doing it yourself as a project or hobby. I mean your time is worth something too not just what a shop charges. Find a different car.

palerider

All a question of money and time. I had my front and back pans both sides and trunk done by dealer body shop as filler. $1700 not including parts. Took awhile and they told me they were not going to do that type of work anymore. Finding someone to do rust repair can be tough.

In the mean I bought a mig welder and a big *** compressor and plan on doing the rest myself (Cowl, Battery tray, rad support). Should do some research on cowl - pretty big job and not for the faint of heart. I got mine out - little nervous about putting in the donor. Also take a look at the shock towers, theycan be another big project. If you need to replacethem or patch them will most likely need to pull the engine.

At first I got pretty stressed abut everytime I would uncover something I needed to address - most I did on my own. Not I've gotten to point that it's just again a question of time and money. Good luck

odonian

thanks for all the advice guys! john721, i am seriously impressed with your work dude! it seems i need to do a little soul searching about whether i want to spend the money to buy a car that doesn't have the problems or if i want to take all of this on as a project for myself. to be honest, i really do want to buy a project car, but i know absolutely nothing about cars. i just got done finishing my basement (built a kickass bar and everything) and taught myself to run electrical, frame, drywall etc. it was the most rewarding thing i've ever done. thus, i need a new project. i had a 67 coupe when i was a kid and have wanted a vert ever since. i don't know what i'm going to do, but i definitely appreciate the input. thanks again guys, hopefully in either case i'll be sending pictures of my classic mustang convertible in the next few months.

cprstreetmachines

John721 YOU CHEATED lol. It looks good. I wish my customers would buy the whole pan. I usually have to cut down the trans tunnel on both sides and weld it back up. I do overlap. But I make a flange for it to recess into. Then whe it's done I cut it on the backside and get rid of the over lap. Then I seal it all. Butt welding takes SO Long, most will not pay for it. This for us is a compromise on price and doing it correctly.
If you get a full pan, I would then say go ahead for a beginner. It's easier to weld to the rockers and the thicker metal. The sheetmetal to sheetmetal is what I'd worried about for a beginner.