i'm starting to work on a good running rust bucket. everything works. body: i am in need of floor pans, rockers, and some rusty spots fixed. just rust, no collision damage. drivetrain: disc brake conversion, some wiring, a/c install, maybe a tranny, u joints, heavier clutch, run some new exhaust, radio, etc. weigh in, please. i've heard that engine before body makes you never get to the body; and body before engine means that i might mess-up my slick new rattle can job. i don't have a garage and plan on working on it at a friend's place on weekends. there's a lot of work to get to, and i've done a few projects in the past, and have always started with drivetrain. just thought i'd see what you fellas think before jumping into this one.
If you fall through the floor...you can't drive the car. Make sure the bodywork is safe and then do the engine.
Second the guy above who said make it safe, then do the mechanics, THEN do the bodywork. Another good reason is that you don't wanna be rushing through the bodywork so you can get to making it loud and fast. Signed, A guy with a very rusty '58 Olds that's about to get a tripower and duals
I am a firm believer in having a daily driver so you can take your time with the rod. start with the frame working up and out with the body next to last then the upholstery the icing on the cake
2 cars aint in the budget. instead, i have 3 motorcycles and live in atlanta. i figured if i got stuck waiting on an unforseen part, i'd ride my little triumph to work and back.
As a fellow who has burned out on a couple projects over the years... If it runs and is safe, keep it where you can drive and enjoy it. A promise I made myself on my old Pontiac is that I wouldn't get carried away and have it setting around disassembled for a couple years with nothing to drive. It's my driver and fun car. New M/C, front shoes, rebuilt the front end. It is a pleasure to drive even though it won't win any awards yet. Gives me a nice ride while I'm working on my Model A. Gatherings are just more fun if YOU have YOUR car there. Enjoy! GV
Drivetrain before body. Period. Nothing destroys good body work more than crawling in and out of an engine compartment. Get your power plant situated, and mocked up. Do the body work on the firewall, paint that and inner fender wells. Then move to the outside. This is the long way, but good work ain't quick, and quick work ain't good
I definitely agree, BUT, after you paint the firewall and such, hang a blanket over it or somehting to protect it when you ram the tailshaft into it as you put the motor in. Or dump the motor and hump the trans seperately. A bonus is that when you do your running gear first, that usually takes up most of the money. At least it does for me. The bodywork just takes time. This isn't gonna take you 2 days either to do it right. I did the same thing on my daily, Joe will tell ya. Took over a month to swap motor/trans, working wknds mostly at Joe's house. Oh ya, I was on a huge budget too. The broke kind.
I think this is some cat with a decent runner that wants to make it nicer. Not a future Ridler award winner. We arent even working within the parameters of having any kind of garage. Besides...we are talking "rattle can" job. Id say make it as nice as you can. If you are going to drive it and work on it in a friends driveway when you can, and it has to be mobile during the process, you are already starting backward. I do most of my stuff in a driveway. That said...pull the front clip off....then motor trans out. Clean/paint...whatever you want to do to the firewall, install motor trans, then body back on. Then bodywork etc. I dont need to have a car running or moving around, so Im afforded this. If you have it running already, Id say make it as nice as you can with the body stuff first, keep it in primer till you can yank the drivetrain, clean up the area, do your discs and finish that....THEN put it back together and finish all angles.
#1- metalwork. If you're gonna abandon the project, it's due to more extensive rust than you anticipated. Get the metalwork out of the way before spending any time upgrading mechanicals. #2- drivetrain. Now that you've decided it's not too far gone cuz the metalwork was followed thru, time to hot rod. #3- paint. Make it look like all the work you put into it. I didn't pick that sequence out of the sky. It's the result of doing drivetrain first, then realizing how truly rusted the car was and getting rid of it. Happened a couple times before I wised up. Fix the rust first good luck
I think that depends on what you're gonna do. If you got into the car cheap enough, it'll be worth the parts even if you do have to scrap the body. If our car ever got totalled, I'd pull the running gear, wheels/tires, dash, column, seat, etc in order to build a hotrod with what's left. I'd never send a decent drivetrain to scrap...
Yeah, but in the meanwhile you'll waste a huge amount of time and money getting the driveline right before realizing the rust is beyond your desire/ability. At that point, the work you've done has some value, and suddenly it's time to evaluate dumping it as-is for maximum cash, or taking it apart and wasting even more time. Lots of guys choose to sell. Other folks choose to spend their life removing and installing the same driveline into multiple cars. I got a buddy who's built 3 trucks with the same parts and has yet to finish one of em. Always gets to rust and body repair once the driveline is in, gets dejected, blows it apart, and starts over. (Yep, some folks don't learn) If it runs now, take advantage of it and do your metalwork. Doesn't have to be pretty, just done. Don't start by undoing the best feature of your car good luck
#1 Make it whoa #2 Make it go #3 Make it show You start enjoying the fruits of your labor right after #2. Their just as much fun to drive if their not pretty.
thankx for weighing in, guys. i think that i'm going to do a brake rebuild (disc conversion later), first. then work on the body.
do the rust first. I have bought more cars for pennys on the dollar cause they can not do the rust repairs and take a beating for what they spent on it
OK its a driver, and your working in a buddy's driveway. Do the brakes first. Do the rust repair next, then if you get that far, make it a hot rod. Then finish the body work. That way you can safely drive the thing while your improvenig it. Gene
do the part that you can afford to do, and have some knowledge of how to do it, and feel like doing....then it might stay on the road and not get stuck in garage hell (like a few of mine are right now)