Bodywork and painting question (reasonable cost)

[chinarider]

Hey all,

I'm getting ready to take on the next step in restoring my Thing, by having a little bodywork done, and getting her painted. Bodywork is limited to replacing the outer rockers (both sides), filling a small hole in one of my fenders, and replacing about 6 square inches of fiberglass with metal behind my back seat - maybe a couple of rust bubbles here and there, but all told, very little.

My main question, really, is more about what a decent paintjob should cost for a Thing. I've had other cars painted in the past, but the Thing is different, since it requires blasting and painting over all surfaces - inside and out. Right now, my interior is original white and exterior is red - I'm gonna go with a uniform coat of yellow (a few of the parts were originally yellow), so it'll need to be painted everywhere (dash, doors, under the hood, interior, exterior). The car will definitely need blasting and priming, since one of the previous owners used some kind of spary paint in places, and it's flaking away under the hood. Also, I hear it's difficult to paint a lighter color over a darker color (i.e., yellow over red) without proper surface prep. Definitely want to have a clearcoat put on top of the paint. Anyway, if anyone's done this - and wouldn't mind disclosing what they paid, of course - I'd certainly appreciate the info. It would certainly help to know this when I start visiting body shops here in Northern California.

Thanks again.

[Big Luni]

I've been waiting for an answer on this one too. I need the exact same work done. I'm going to get the rust bubbles taken care of regardless, but whether or not I blast off my Maaco green exterior and Rattle-can beige interior and get a real inside & outside yellow paint job (incl. engine bay & trunk) depends on cost...

[nobrakes]

To strip and paint a Thing inside and out with a good quality job I am betting is going to cost at least 6-7 thousand, I was quoted $9500.00 to strip and paint my campmobile, and that was 8 years ago. I am painting my thing now, I have the body work done and the second coat of primer on and it's a hell of a lot of work, labor alone is going to be several thousand.
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[Big Luni]

That's what I was afraid of. A guy I knew a few years back spent 12 grand, but he got all new rubber, interior, semigloss white paint, stock engine rebuild, everything completely NOS and as authentic as possible. Driving in that was incredible- it was like right out of a showroom. He even had the stock '74 reproduction exhaust custom made before you could get those from GMW. All that would prolly cost 20 grand now. I guess I'll have to put off my paint job for a couple years, and rattle-can some PPG over my bodywork repairs until I win the lottery or marry one of the Olson twins...

[181freak]

just an fyi... I am paying $3500 to have the rear end fixed, all the dents and dings taken out and a color change to lime green. plus i spent quite a bit on parts.. But the car went to the body w/ out much on the car ..

find a local guy that'll do it on the side.. thats the best way.. itll take a little longer but it'll be worth it!!

9000 better be a show car/ like factory new...

and as you all know parts for these suckas are not cheap.. take a look at the rubber itself!!

good luck!! if you are in AZ let me know i know a great guy!!

[Paul19]

If you strip the car (take the parts off) and if it's not too rusty to start with nor requiring a lot of dings/dents to fix, and you really help them with and/or spend a lot of time yourself on the prep (it's all about the prep-grinding out that surface rust). Then you can definitely get a nice job for under $1500 (this is of course starting with a fairly clean car.) And that can still end up being a show car.

$9000... that's just being excessive. Although that 9k should be one hell of a kick ass paint job (you hope anyway.) I've seen guys charge $4k and when done couldn't really see the difference between a $1500 job. They just wanted to price themselves into that echilon to gain some sort of respect...or because they could, there was someone who'd pay it...

[nthang]

Nine Thousand. Dang. I don't see it costing anything like that unless you are going far, far exotic with the artwork. But just a good one color paint job?

You can do most of the expensive stuff yourself with a socket set and a buddy.....air tools will help. Start taking the body apart. Bumpers, fenders, yada yada. Take the seats out, back and all, then, the wiring harness to the rear and the gauges (tag the wiring so your can reassemble with ease). Remove the body (that's where the buddy(s) come in. Set it all on a 14'-18' flatbed trailor and haul it to a sandblaster nearby. A perfect sandblast with sugar sand should cost not more than $500. The sandblaster will have trouble removing the white (gypsum based???) protective coating on the inside of the wheel wells......I instructed him to "knock any loose stuff off and leave the rest in tack). Make sure the work is done on a sunny day, dry, and that you haul it home the same day. Don't touch the blasted metal with bare hands (contamination will result that causes the new coating to not stick) It must be primed the same day, if possible. If not, it should be garaged.

Prime the bare metal. Most (I beleive) pros use an etch primer. I used Dupont with good results. Just spray the etch primer with any kind of gun that you can borrow. WARE A CHEMICAL MASK! Hell, they may sell good primers in rattle cans. But don't buy the wrong stuff (hardware store paint will NOT work under urethane auto finishes)....go to an auto paint store and ask questions. The idea is to coat the metal to stop oxidation as soon as you blast the metal. Then, you have as long as you need for the body work and paint job. Most fillers and high-build, leveler coatings are made to stick to primer, but ask before you buy. They are also made to accept primer on top of them, in case you decide to re-prime after the filler work and before the finish coat(s)....a good idea.....dust the metal with primer just prior to the base coat......that will show you how your body work will look with color on it and may help you see imperfections that you want to rework prior to the color ($$$) coat. You can learn the basic filler, patching, dent removal, etc. by buying a few cheap tools (you may already have them) and talking to the paint store). After you get it looking as good as you can, you can haul the body and parts to a professional auto painter for the final stage: a beautiful paint job.

This way you have taken all of the arduous and expensive labor out of the equation.....the dissassembly, coating removal, primer, and body work and sanding. At $50 an hour, you have just saved thousands on an old car. You can do this as well has the pro with a bit of self-study and elbow grease. I would guess that an awesome color coat with 3 or more clears, all buffed for color, would cost not more than a grand for the best shop in town. They are not doing that much work, if you do all the basics.

Also, with your frame and engine sitting around for a few days, you'll have time to study what you've got, and maybe fix some things (front end steering and suspension work is easy with the body off). You can also paint the frame with POR-15 or so. Hope this helps.
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[nobrakes]

9 grand is not even close to a show car finish, a show car finish is 15-20K easy. I do all my own painting and I have several friends who paid way more than 10K for decent jobs. Sure you can get a 1500 paint job but your going to get what you pay for. Heck good paint is $500.00 + a gallon. Paint jobs have gotten real expensive in the last few years partially because of the EPA. If it seems to good to be true it is.
I had no real rust on my Thing and I spent at least 150 hours prepping it.
I agree the prep work is all the cost, squirting on the color is the easy part and if you do it yourself you will save a lot of $ but if your going to do all the prep why not just finish the job, your 99% the way there then.
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