Body first, always.

 

yeah look at any TV show, article, or just pro-job in general....the body is always the first thing....then comes everything else....

 

on a unibody the body is first since theres no frame and its easyer to paint parts like the firewall with the engine out

 

I dont know how much i like that you are all agreeing with my father[&:]

i guess i was thinking more about getting power and fun out of it, rather than actually thinking about what had to be done.

so it seems i need to start with fixing the cowl and the floors, everyone seemed to agree to that. i dont have any welding experience yet, but plan to have taken at least one class before the completetion of my project. how difficult is it to do a patch job or complete replacement of the floor plans? its not going to be a show car, but i dont know how precise the welds need to be

 

patches are easier than a full floor, but if its seriously rusted, the full floor can work well. its all depends on how bad it is. mine was REALLY bad... so its gettin a ful floor, while the Cougar just needs front pans. So its not getting a full floor.

 

Just to expand on Thumpin's post. If you think about the geometry of it, you will need to remove the rear window or front windshield in order to get a full (both sides and tunnel) floor pan in the car. Whereas, you can get patches, even if it is a full length patch on one side, into the car without removing a windshield. Of course if you need to remove the cowl because it is so bad it needs to be replaced, you will be removing the front windshield anyway.[:@]
Generally though if the tunnel is okay you don't need to do a full pan. This is especially true if the rusted out portions are confined to one section of the car, e.g. front driver's side, which wouldn't be all that uncommon if the cause is a leaking cowl.

 

Give us some pics so we have a better idea of the damage you are talking about.

 

not to say don't do performance stuff....just do the body first, then engine and all that crap....

 

Pending your end result...

The best thing about owning one of these cars is driving it. If it's just gonna sit in a garage for 2 years while you and pops argue about what's going to be done, then wtf is the point?

If you can drive it while you do the work on it, then you both will be alot happier with the progress. That said...

Find a budget you both can agree on.

Sit down and create 2 lists. 1 Actual and one Wish. ( you'll be crossing off alot of your wish list as you do the actual as alot of that will be the same ).

Come to an agreement that driving the car is 1/2 the fun of owning one. You can build a motor and transmission w/out pulling the current 6 cyl out ( unless you're going back with the same type motor and not converting to an 8 )

You could even do the suspension upgrades for a V8 while the 6 is in the car.

See where I am going?

Make it fun and where you can see your progress sooner than later.

IMo, of course.

 

that makes total sense but they have to pull the engine to repair the cowl properly. so if they pull the engine why put the old one back in?