TheSamba.com :: View topic

Wed Dec 24, 2003 1:32 pm

Hey all.
Got my 69 square, and now that the engine is all taken care of, I'm ready to try to keep the thing from decaying! I've read the various messages for the 'how to' part, but one thing I'm wondering is:

Can I *use* the car while taking care of interior and exterior spots, slowly over time? The car is my main transpo, but I still would like to save it, and eventually make it uber-pretty. I'm in the currently-rainy NOR-CAL SF-Bay area, so I may even have to take it to a body shop, but will they ley me fix the spots piece by piece, and then finally paint it?

If nickel and dime-ing it is not an option, I suppose I can always just save to have it done in one go, but that takes patience (which always is a hard one for me) and money.

Anyone in the Bay-Area, is welcome to walk me through one or two spots, in person, in exchange for many a free entry to one of the world's most popular nightclubs! Worth a try, anyway. (I'm a bouncer at the EndUP in SF.)

Thanks for listening! -Ed

Fri Dec 26, 2003 10:44 am

Ed,
It's gonna be kinda difficult w/ the car as your primary transpo. But if the body work isn't serious, like requires major welding/straightening, then maybe.

As long as you get all the mechanical/electrical/safety stuff done, then it is possible.

I'll be doing the same this summer.

Fri Dec 26, 2003 10:50 am

Ed,
It's gonna be kinda difficult w/ the car as your primary transpo. But if the body work isn't serious, like requires major welding/straightening, then maybe.

As long as you get all the mechanical/electrical/safety stuff done, then it is possible.

I'll be doing the same this summer.

Sat Dec 27, 2003 10:09 am

I agree,
It's not easy.

If it's rust spots or bubling paint, I recommend that you sand, grind, strip the paint off of these spots and see how bad things are beneath. Then get yourself a rust converter (i.e. Metal Ready from POR-15, or something like that. After that you can paint the spot with POR-15 or some kind of cheap primer and top coat (rattle can). Once you've done that you bought yourself some time. Now you can attack each spot one at a time. You'll have to sand off the cheap primer and topcoat and do it right. But that's an option for you.

Just remember that this way you'll be doing it twice, so It will cost you more in time and money than if you did it right the first time.

Cheers

Sun Dec 28, 2003 7:42 pm

I'm thinking I want to do it right, but it sounds like doing it right is right around 1500-2000 at the body-shops around here. There's a bug specialty shop (Bug Stop / Martinez) that said that 2200 would cover sanding filling and painting. Does that sound about right?

I am willing to pay that much, I just don't want to find a pile of orangy-dust in the driveway before I can save the money!

Thanks for giving me options, in either case. Samba is now my most visited site! (Replacing random e-bay and swimsuit sites)

=Ed