Being an 'old guy' (wow, hard to phathom) now, I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you how it is, and from my experience, etc. In my professional opinion I would get the car, complete car media blasted. the more you take off, the more you will have to put on, and, trust me, Media Blasting is the best money you can spend. Removing the amount of metal you have be it bad metal will be a PITA to put back on, be they new or reconditioned parts. If you take the inner wheelhouses off, you may have jumped in the deep end of the pool.
I see guys come to me with their projects they got in over their heads on, mainly b/c the plethora of TV shows showing how easy it is to restore, rebuild a car, hell they do it in one week and compress it into 30 minutes. The costs you think it will take, well, triple them. However, tearing into it is FUN, I know, I've been there, and, done that myself, and, admittedly made LOTS of mistakes.
I aim (and I think most of us here share this) to help and assist you in this, tempered with a dose of reality. Have you read my thread Media Blasting? If not, go do so. I did recently, and, I used too much flowery and fluff language in the early parts. But, I've done a few cars now, and some things are always the same; that is these old piles of **** need media blasting before ANY other plans are set into motion; frame straightening, parts replacement, etc. This way you have a clean canvas to start with. I can not stress to you how important this is to do in projects like these. I can also understand the desire to make the insides of the frame rails clean and Por15/Rust Bullet/Epoxy, whatever...but, the frame has lasted 40+ yrs so far, a cursory media blast, some epoxy primer in there, and its 100% better than the factory ever was! And, it will NEVER be seen.
Full qtrs is the way to go, there is no honest way you can truly assess the condition of you car outside of media blasting. Skins will likely be a waste of cash. Read my Satellite thread, as I said earlier, I've been there, and done that! I put my qtrs on one time, hung the doors, screwed 'em down, barring any issues with the trunk lid and strut support webbing (that was rotted and removed) they won't come off again -- I've already prepped 'em for final welding. This could ONLY happen by having the bare canvas to work on, clean parts, and all rotted crap gone, and sent to the scrap pile (don't throw any metal out, prices for scrap are good). Full qtrs have far less welding than skins do. I'm a school-trained welder 4 months, 5 days a week, 8 hrs a day just to pass all disciplines, and I would not even try to Tig weld today b/c I don't have a Tig machine, and if I did, I would not pass my skills of as being good, or even good enough, although I did master it in school on Stainless, Mild Steel, and Aluminum in all positions and types of joints.
Have you ever heard of Muscle Car Restorations? If not, spend some time devouring his project pictures on his site. in 1998 I corresponded with him, since then a few times we've had correspondence. Some cogent advice he gave me to my face when I went there to visit in 2008 was to hire the best in their field. Don't send for a Plumber when you need an Electrician. Don't hire family. Charge what your services are worth, and do the best job you can for your customer. He also said that Hobby and Profession need to be separate. If you're going to make your hobby a profession, you must remember this, and not think of it as a hobby -- if you do, then your buddies with fill your head with crap, and you'll end up doing their work for them for free, and you'll go out of business. Read my thread called The Thief or something akin to that...case in point, he's out of business now, and I'm still going -- and MADE money last year, 2nd year in a row I've been in the black.
If your budget is an issue, whereas it is for me, and most of us, do a fender first, then hood, etc. Then, put these completed parts aside. I've been doing this for 3 or 4 yrs now, and, I have a room full of newly done, freshly blasted and epoxy primed Fenders, Hoods, Deck Lids, Doors, K Members, Rear Ends (8.75), Valve covers, motor mounts, suspension parts, leaf springs, and some new AMD stuff I've been stashing away too. So, when the time arrives (as it recently did for me on my Satellite) it will go together quickly!
Currently, I am NOT doing my Satellite, I am finishing up the W250 truck, and getting final welding done on the 66 Mustang for an old feller' that admittedly has watched too many TV shows...do I have a thread here about this car...??? I can't recall, it's a non-MOPAR, so, I keep them on the down low if you know what I mean.
If I had sage advice say 15 yrs ago, both my cars, actually all three of them would be done, or, curtailed to a reality based level. One bit of advice I received, and DIDN'T want to hear was the crusty old SOB that sold me my complete media blasting equipment set up, he told me it will take me 15 thousand dollars to get it all set up and running wherever I ended up at, he was almost right, I think it came in at around 9 grand!
Not that my suggestions are 'right' or more right than others' cogent advice, only that this is what I'd have done vs. what I have done, and, I'd be remiss in not telling you this as you're a Young Gun guy coming up into it -- which is most awesome as most of these kids today wait for their parents to take them everywhere and pick them up.
Good Luck!
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Being an 'old guy' (wow, hard to phathom) now, I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you how it is, and from my experience, etc. In my professional opinion I would get the car, complete car media blasted. the more you take off, the more you will have to put on, and, trust me, Media Blasting is the best money you can spend. Removing the amount of metal you have be it bad metal will be a PITA to put back on, be they new or reconditioned parts. If you take the inner wheelhouses off, you may have jumped in the deep end of the pool.
I see guys come to me with their projects they got in over their heads on, mainly b/c the plethora of TV shows showing how easy it is to restore, rebuild a car, hell they do it in one week and compress it into 30 minutes. The costs you think it will take, well, triple them. However, tearing into it is FUN, I know, I've been there, and, done that myself, and, admittedly made LOTS of mistakes.
I aim (and I think most of us here share this) to help and assist you in this, tempered with a dose of reality. Have you read my thread Media Blasting? If not, go do so. I did recently, and, I used too much flowery and fluff language in the early parts. But, I've done a few cars now, and some things are always the same; that is these old piles of **** need media blasting before ANY other plans are set into motion; frame straightening, parts replacement, etc. This way you have a clean canvas to start with. I can not stress to you how important this is to do in projects like these. I can also understand the desire to make the insides of the frame rails clean and Por15/Rust Bullet/Epoxy, whatever...but, the frame has lasted 40+ yrs so far, a cursory media blast, some epoxy primer in there, and its 100% better than the factory ever was! And, it will NEVER be seen.
Full qtrs is the way to go, there is no honest way you can truly assess the condition of you car outside of media blasting. Skins will likely be a waste of cash. Read my Satellite thread, as I said earlier, I've been there, and done that! I put my qtrs on one time, hung the doors, screwed 'em down, barring any issues with the trunk lid and strut support webbing (that was rotted and removed) they won't come off again -- I've already prepped 'em for final welding. This could ONLY happen by having the bare canvas to work on, clean parts, and all rotted crap gone, and sent to the scrap pile (don't throw any metal out, prices for scrap are good). Full qtrs have far less welding than skins do. I'm a school-trained welder 4 months, 5 days a week, 8 hrs a day just to pass all disciplines, and I would not even try to Tig weld today b/c I don't have a Tig machine, and if I did, I would not pass my skills of as being good, or even good enough, although I did master it in school on Stainless, Mild Steel, and Aluminum in all positions and types of joints.
Have you ever heard of Muscle Car Restorations? If not, spend some time devouring his project pictures on his site. in 1998 I corresponded with him, since then a few times we've had correspondence. Some cogent advice he gave me to my face when I went there to visit in 2008 was to hire the best in their field. Don't send for a Plumber when you need an Electrician. Don't hire family. Charge what your services are worth, and do the best job you can for your customer. He also said that Hobby and Profession need to be separate. If you're going to make your hobby a profession, you must remember this, and not think of it as a hobby -- if you do, then your buddies with fill your head with crap, and you'll end up doing their work for them for free, and you'll go out of business. Read my thread called The Thief or something akin to that...case in point, he's out of business now, and I'm still going -- and MADE money last year, 2nd year in a row I've been in the black.
If your budget is an issue, whereas it is for me, and most of us, do a fender first, then hood, etc. Then, put these completed parts aside. I've been doing this for 3 or 4 yrs now, and, I have a room full of newly done, freshly blasted and epoxy primed Fenders, Hoods, Deck Lids, Doors, K Members, Rear Ends (8.75), Valve covers, motor mounts, suspension parts, leaf springs, and some new AMD stuff I've been stashing away too. So, when the time arrives (as it recently did for me on my Satellite) it will go together quickly!
Currently, I am NOT doing my Satellite, I am finishing up the W250 truck, and getting final welding done on the 66 Mustang for an old feller' that admittedly has watched too many TV shows...do I have a thread here about this car...??? I can't recall, it's a non-MOPAR, so, I keep them on the down low if you know what I mean.
If I had sage advice say 15 yrs ago, both my cars, actually all three of them would be done, or, curtailed to a reality based level. One bit of advice I received, and DIDN'T want to hear was the crusty old SOB that sold me my complete media blasting equipment set up, he told me it will take me 15 thousand dollars to get it all set up and running wherever I ended up at, he was almost right, I think it came in at around 9 grand!
Not that my suggestions are 'right' or more right than others' cogent advice, only that this is what I'd have done vs. what I have done, and, I'd be remiss in not telling you this as you're a Young Gun guy coming up into it -- which is most awesome as most of these kids today wait for their parents to take them everywhere and pick them up.
Good Luck!
