Body work and paint price

[DoubleADuster]

I am a college student and dont have the money to do the complete restoration on my Duster that I wish I could, but the rust that is on the car now is slowly getting worse. I want to get some of it taken care of where its worst and atleast put a decent paint on it to try and preserve it till I can do the restoration I want. How much, just as an estimate should I anticipate to spend on something like that? I live in MD if that makes any difference int eh price of labor and work. What else could I do to help curb the cars decay? I dont have a means to get it out of the weather.

 

[howco4]

A short term fix might be to buy some rust converter, usually in a can, that can be applied with a brush, then primer it. Do as much grinding and sanding as you can on rusted areas. Those areas that you cannot reach, (like lower qtrs), really need to be cut out, and new sheet metal welded in. Good luck
Howard

 

[Tarr]

That I've seen advertised that says they STOP rust where it is. You can find it in many part stores.
As for replacing some parts? I'm in TN and found several body shops that won't touch the classic cars. Say it takes too long and the owners are too particular so they can't make money except by charging by the hour and they don't get in a hurry. Most want to stay with the fender bender market as it is a quick turn over and more profit.
Good luck on your search if you can't do it yourself. Most shops said a starting price for the complete body re-do and paint will start about $10,000. My Dart has been in the shop for over 7 months and they aren't half done. I've only paid them $1800 so far but I'm sure I owe more by now. They like to get paid every few months so they don't get too much of their time and money invested. Too many people want the work done but not the cash to pay it off in one lump sum.

 

[highwayhooligan]

Just an idea:

If you're at a school with a decent technology program, why don't you try posting an ad on a bullentin board for someone with some welding/body work experience.

If that doesn't work/help, spend some time researching how to do body some body work. A lot of people don't know how until they actually do it.

Something I did when I was a teenager was ask a body shop to help me fix the rust on my car. I told them I would like to do the actual labor to learn, but I need direction. I would work in the body shop after school cleaning and running parts for free and the owner spent 3 hours every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday night teaching me and letting me use his shop & materials for free. I ended up working (on the payroll) there for 3 years after graduation.

 

[a68postcar]

i think hooligan is pretty close. and the por-15 is a gift from the muscke car godz.i've been doing the resto thing for many years and you can get lost and screwed and not really even know it. don't forget the local vo-tech shops. sometimes they take cars in to teach the high school kids on, and it is usually free or very inexpensive. good luck man. let us know how you do.

 

[DoubleADuster]

thanks a bunch there is actually a votech program at my old high school I might check out after I try to fix a couple spots myself thanks.

 

[Small Block]

Wish you were close by. I like helping young people that have limited funds. Do this stuff all the time. The VoTech thing looks like a good bet. Good luck. What are you going to be when you grow up?

 

[DoubleADuster]

I'm studying to become a psychology professor and individual/group counseling.

 

[Small Block]

That's great. Sounds like we will be able to swap out on help. We'll supply the help on the car stuff and you supply the help for all of us psychos. We're all Mopar nuts.

 

[65barracudadude]

Cool, I just dived right in to my body work. I already paint cars so I figured I'd do my own body work being I have all of the tools needed. Now I'm on my interior. Wich I've never done either. But it is working out good so far. Keep it up.

 

[rp23g7]

I have had really good luck with Rust Bullet, i cant afford body and paint work either yet.

I sanded and put this stuff on the places i could reach, about a yr or so ago, and havent had to do anything else to them yet. My lower rear quarters suck too, so i will just cut them out.

 

[2 Darts]

The Vo-Tech recommendation is the best. I did most of my own body work on the 73, missed a few dings in the process and turned it over to MAACO for a $500 paint job. That got me a sanded body, fully covered with primer, and a single stage polyurethane paint job. There was one area where there were runs and another they had not sanded adequately. I took the car back, pointed out the problems, and they fixed at no additional charge.