I can do the mechanical part of it but I'd prefer a professional to do it, that way if it gets messed up its on them and not me. I put the new engine and tranny, disk brake kit and stuff like that in my truck but I take it to napa here in town and have them go over it to make sure shes good to go. The only reason I can do this is because I will do all of my own body work and paint...

 

My problem is I don't trust most repair shops. Like the one local shop did an alignment on one of my dad's vans. He had to take it back 3 times before it was done right! The only stuff I won't do myself are machine work on engine parts & alignments ( just because I don't have the equipment ) .

 

Thats why I love living in small town America, this napa is owned by a guy who lives just a couple blocks from me and the same with his mechanic...

 

The population of the town I live in is only 1,700.

 

Wow ok you got me beat there, the population here is 4400. I take it the mechanic there is no good then?

 

Gee, a booming megalopolis!! Just over 1200 here, but a LOT of them, are outlying farms, so in-town, I'm sure, is a lot lower. Heck, we just got indoor plumbing, and someday soon, electricity will be coming to town!



I also trust NO one to do my mechanical work. Not a problem with them being good, or bad - just don't think anyone does the same, conscientious work that I do, on my vehicles.

 

Actually there are 5 or 6 repair shops, a big truck repair place, a transmission rebuilder and a guy that does nothing but diesel repairs.

There are some good ones. I'm going to have the diesel guy rebuild the injector pump out of my diesel truck. But I'm going to remove and re-install it.




Roger I hope that indoor plumbing works out for you!


I feel the same way. Who is going to care more for your vehicle? You or just some guy collecting a pay check.

 

I think you will find a show type body make over will run well over $10,000 if you hire a pro shop and have very much body work to do.
A fairly good paint job with a fair amount of body work will be well over $2,000.
Depending on what you want, you can figure out how much work you have to do at your job to earn enough extra money to pay for that. Or you can do it yourself.
I have been doing body work for over 50 years and I still enjoy doing it. I love watching a bent piece of metal take on a life of it's own as it's worked and made like new again.
If you want a nice looking truck and don't want to do the work, start saving your penny's and pay someone like me to do it.
One nice thing about doing body work is it's not stone. If you do it and don't like the results, simply grind it all off and start over.
Things that take a guy like me 30 mins to do may take you 10 hours, but eventually it will get easier. I have pounded on dents thousands of hours, so have a better idea of where and how hard to hit. You will just have to spend time learning.
Just ask, and someone will be around to answer questions about what material to use and how to use it.
The bottom line is it's your truck and make it what you want it to be, and most of all enjoy the experience.
Larry

 

My town is a ghost town. The county seat is less than 1500 population. Body shops around here have absolutely no interest in working on anything except a quick late-model insurance job. You'd think they wouldn't have much business, but the pillheads, idiots, and drunks keep them rolling. My brother used to work in one shop. People would bring in their antique truck or car occasionally, and they'd promise them the moon. Then he said the owner would push the thing into the corner and openly comment that they MIGHT get around to it in 6 months after the customer left. I don't tolerate people like that. To be honest, I'd rather go buy a bucket of drywall mud and slather it on my truck than kiss those people's a$$. After all I've been through in my life, I will not accept somebody telling me that I can't do something. I have a buddy who is a school teacher, but always a wrench head since we were tiny kids. He started a project and somebody smarted off to him about how he couldn't do it. He went and took a 2 week welding class at the community college. Now those same people ask him to do their stuff. As far as my body work, I'm gonna do it myself. If it turns out bad, so be it. But I won't be at somebody else's mercy.

 

Hey Shane, are you going to the Louisville Swap Meet the end of the month, let me know, a few of the FTE group are meeting at HOT RODS TRUCK PARTS booth around noon, Garry

 

Yeah I really want/need to go. I've got a stupid meeting that morning, so I'm not sure I'll make it by noon. I'm assuming you're talking about that saturday.

 

Go lurk here

Metalshaper Professionals

You don't need all the fancy equipment
You need to learn how to talk to/listen to the metal

 

I used to hate doing drywall mud. But after doing it around the house on a few reno projects I got petty good.And thats makes you fill better about the hole thing.The more you do a job the better you get and the bigger your chest can stick out when you can say I did that!Just take it slow.Dont take on a big job to start.Get to know how to smooth it out and when and where to sand.After awhile youll wonder why you thought it was so hard.When I started making patch panels for my fenders I thought I would never get this to work.After I did the rear fenders the floor just went as slick as you know what.

 

I don't care who you are, that there is funny, intentional, or not...

R

 

7 or 8 years ago, I was in exactly the same place as you. I put off the body work because I had never done any but knew I would be doing it on my truck because my budget was too small to pay a pro.

I read some articles and talked to some folks and got a few pointers. I got info on the best products and what tools I would really need. The first few areas I did were tough and took forever. As I learned, I got better and faster at it. I didn't care for the work. It was messy and very tiring on my old bones. Once i settled on the idea that it would take whatever time it needed to be right, and focused on the quality of the finished product, it went a lot faster...and a lot better. I eventually got good enough that I went back and redid some areas that weren't "good enough".

I can now say that while it isn't my favorite kind of work, I am skilled at it. The end result fills me with great pride and gets positive comments from the pros I know.

It was, in fact, the most rewarding part of the build.

1956 Ford F100 4x2 - Bodywork

Good luck. Take your time.