Restoration sequence suggestions needed
 

OK, as I have previously commented, I am restoring a 77 for my daughter's 30th birthday (surprise). I have it about completely torn down. Engine out, doors off, bumpers etc. It will go to a media stripper before going to the painter. Here is my dilemna....

It will need an engine rebuild, brake overhaul, suspension bushings....virtually everything. I don't want to overhaul all the suspension, engine and tranny just to have sand get into everything that I just rebuilt. I am planning on doing most of this when I get it back from the painter as all the pieces will still be off the car. I will probably pull the brake calipers off before I send it in and overhaul them while the car is gone.

The question.....How did you sequence your restoration and what went good and what sequence would you have changed?

Thanks!

First step... buy one that someone else already restored! Don't ask me how I know...

Second that! But if you really must restore it yourself I'd suggest doing the body last. Have the engine rebuilt and the interior redone before taking on the body. It's been my experience that if you do the bodywork and paint first you end up with a year old paint job by the time you get everything else finished.

So I can surmise your daughter is only 14 y.o. now?

j/k:D

What a great dad!!!

Look here: http://www.sayegh.org/Paul/77.htm
Hey you guys don't know how anal I get when I start a project. It NEVER sits around once started. I do ALL the work myself (except paint). Too late to back out now and I am semi-retired so I have lot's of time as well as a shop with lathe and mill. Project target finish is 6 months. While the car is at the painter, I'll overhaul everything else and have it ready to install. I just really worry about dinging it doing some major mechanical work once it's painted. I guess it won't be too bad if I leave all the bumpers and doors off until I am finished mechanically.

Come on, some of you guys must have a few comments about your experiences

umm.. prepare for a lot of time. I restored my previous car, a classic Z, much easier than a P. Took me a year of a lot of time. Finally I had to sell it. All those time and money and effort and it's just less than $2k more if I didn't restore it.
Lathe and mill and etc... wow.. Can I come and work on my P too? :lol:

84toy,
I'm doing something similar (unintentionally!) with my '72 but I started 5 years ago. :D The engine was the first thing I did, and now it's back in the car and running pretty well. I didn't cut corners either, so, while it may have taken me a while, I know it was done right and looks pretty good as well.

The next step will be suspension and brakes; in fact, I'm gathering parts as we speak. Hope to have it on jackstands in a couple of weeks.

That being said, I've done a bit with the interior as well, such as shifter/pedal cluster rebuilds, E30 sport seats, door panels/dash, etc. I'm a bit leery of replacing the carpet before paint, maybe Kevin can expound on that. I figured that the interior would largely be stripped before paint, hence my reluctance to glue the carpet down.

The last thing I'll do is paint. I hope to have it done before GAF in September, but, at the rate I'm going, it might be just a bit longer. ;)

BTW, I think it's a neat thing that you're restoring the car for your daughter. I'm semi local, so feel free to PM me if you need help or (bad) advice. I'm also pretty handy with a lathe and a mill.

Good luck and have fun,
Jim

Paul,

What some people do is remove everything from the tub and send it to the painter. This is particularly useful if there is rust repair to be done, or a complete color change. While there, it's placed on a rotisserie, if needed, or rolled around on a cart. While the paint work is getting done, you rebuild the suspension, which gets re-installed after the paint is complete, so you can roll it around. I'd finish the rest of the mechanicals before doing the interior. Glass is close to last.

If you send it to the paint shop with anything left in the tub, you'll have to deal with the residue from the blasting, as well as the sanding and compound residue from the painting process. You'll never get it all clean again.

JR

Based on my unhappy experiences with painters, you should get it over there right away - and turn it into a roller first. Be sure there is an iron-clad final finish date in the contract with an amt. the painter must pay for each day past that...

I don't know how you can strip the suspension w/o preventing it from being a roller - that would make it just a bare tub.

But put some old wheel & tires on it while you send the best ones out to Harvey or Al for refinishing.

I'd take the ventilation system out too - mine was full of paint & bondo dust ...

Hey 84toy, I'm no expert but I did the motor first because that is what I bought first, the body I bought as a partial roller & sent it to the body shop while I have been collecting and storing parts in the meantime. B4 the body was completed(most of it put in sealer, body guy in an accident on quad out for 6months) I put the car on body dollys and removed suspension & brakes and sent them out for powder coating. I'm close to putting everything back together but my wife wanted the targa painted first! One recomendation I would make is getting in touch with widebody911 about his hardtop conversion kit! It looks awesome and you'll probably have a lot less problems w/fit and leaks with that top over the oem targa top.
Good luck...great project...even better reason!
Nikita

I'm doing body, interior, motor, suspension in that order. It allows you to do some things simultaneously and compress the the timeframe. I've got lots of stuff at different "outsource" places and the real hard part is making sure everyone hits their deadlines on what they are supposed to do.

If the tub is good, you have options. If my 2.2 MFI is dead, well I have a 2.7 w/carbs ready to take its place.

The P-restoration is nothing compared to my last project....a house build.

I'm doing 1) body and suspension (major structural repairs now and replating/p-coating suspension) to get a roller, 2) brakes, linkages and steering, 3) interior. The engine rebuild overlaps all of the above steps. Machining went out when body work was started.

Thanks for the input. After reading this and thinking about it, the thought of having sand blast media and paint sanding dust, and overspray all over freshly overhauled engines, seals, sound mats, etc, after all that work just does not sit well with me. I decided to go ahead and just get it painted and assemble the mechanical areas with the car painted but as stripped as possible to avoid unnecessary dings and scrapes. For instance, it will be really easy to install the interior carpet and seats, peddles, etc with the doors and windows off. The front suspension will be much easier with the front fenders off. The engine will be easier with the bumper and lower fenders pieces off.

So, here will be the order:
1)Paint components 2) Suspension and Brakes 3)Engine installation 4)Interior 5) Bolt up painted parts and install accessories

I am not so naive to think that it will get completely together without a mishap........

The good news.....The painter has a small shop. He can not tie it up with a long term project so I should get it back relatively fast. (I'm not in a huge hurry since I have plenty of overhaul work to do including the engine) It will go directly from the stripper to the painter. Being pre-stripped will speed the process.

Good idea Nikita on the hard top. Targa top is shot and although I want to give my daughter a mint car, sacrifices have to (and are) be made.

I tore apart my '80 targa. After that, I re-built the motor.
I then sent it in for paint and body work. After the paint, I had the engine installed and all the mechanicals done. After that, I sent the car back for final color sanding and detaiing. A good body/ paint shop will wait a week or so for the paint to harden before final delivery. I used that time to get the mechanicals done. If there was a scratch or problem during the mechanicals, the paint shop will take care of it when they get it back.
After all that, do the interior. Just be REAL carefull. I like to do the interior after paint as I like to have the interior painted as well. I am just a bit anal about it.
Al

You might want to check out this thread. The author has gotten himself in deep with another 77. You guys can exchange notes!

See what 10 months can do!
 

This photo makes it look good, but this '72 roller had rust holes big enough to stick your fist through in the back shelf. It was (bad) red over metallic green.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1145306470.jpg


10 months later, it's a respectable RS (Touring) clone. The picture does not do it justice. It's immaculate.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1145306491.jpg

It can be done.

Generally, you do the 'heavy lifting' first, then paint with the engine out if it's a color change. Otherwise, have the engine in and all mechanical systems brought up to snuff before painting so you don't risk damaging the paint. Interior is last.