I was reading the thread about changing colors and the expensive cost that this would be. I am planning on doing a full restoration on my truck and was wondering a few things. If I strip all the old paint, do the body work/repairs and disassemble the truck and bring it door detached, panels off will all of this take the cost down significantly? Since I want a full paint job would the shop rather have the truck off the frame and me bring everything in on a trailer? I am trying to get the best paint job I can but also keeping the cost down.

 

If you find a trust worthy shop you'd want to talk to them, get their ideas on how to give the best job at a budget.

When I owned a body shop I'd have been VERY hesitant to paint anything with extensive work not done by my shop---it would be a COD job with no guarantees it would hold up under that pre-existing body work.

 

Oh ok, I thought they would want me to do the work. I will definitely talk to them before I start anything now.

 

As a complete overall paint job tends to pretty costly a customers expectations are very high... as they should be! So,if the body work fails/cracks/bubbles etc. 1-2-10 years from now who do you think will get questioned on "what happened?" Stripping everything will save quite a bit but let a qualified shop do the bodywork. Other than that I have MANY times just painted a vehicle after the customer did everything else; body work and all. A written understanding that any problems down the line is not my shops responsibility. Good luck!

 

It's way better to strip it yourself and give them a rolling shell.

 

A friend and I did a similar bolt by bolt body off restoration on my old CJ-2A. With the exemption of the body it's self, I replaced everything else with new parts. Doing so required each piece to be either hung or supported, taking up the majority of room in the booth. Painting the body separately was (very) time consuming. If I had it done elsewhere, and not be involved, I'm know the results wouldn't have been the same. Afterwards, I completed the jeep on my own, in my spare time. A Buick V6, 4 Speed, 9 " Brakes, P/S, ...ext..ext..ext.. It was a fun and great project. Then a guy wanted it $$ .. I've regretted it every since.