Motivation dwindling on would be project!!!

[MUDKICKR]

You mentioned paint the chassis, but are you also planning on painting the body as well? The reason that I ask is that a top notch paint job on a CC LB truck can easily cost in the neighborhood of $10,000 plus (especially if you are changing colors). This is if the tuck is in pretty good shape to begin with. A good "driver" level paint job will easily cost between $3K to $5K. This is something that has to be factored in because it will cost at least as much and the mechanical restoration if not more (lots more time and material cost involved).

As someone who does paint and body work on the side and does restorations from time to time, I think you may be on the right track with looking at an "already done" truck. An even better option would be to find someone who has done the type of restoration to their truck that you are wanting to do and buy it for pennies on the dollar. You will NEVER get your money back on a project like this if you decide down the road that you would rather have something else. Don't get me wrong, when it comes to restoring your truck I say GO FOR IT! With that said, it would not be the best financial decision (but vehicles seldom are). Just something to think about...

wow, just wow on that price. ive done a few paint jobs in my time and i wish i could have got that much out of them. few months back i needed my race bike painted and really didnt have a place to do it, and it seemed everyone wanted to charge me a grand to paint it. a grand to paint brand new body work for a 2009 Yamaha R6. i ended up finding a place to paint it and the total cost for me was less then 1 days work, and 132 bucks for materials. i would have paid 500 to 600 bucks for someone to do it but not a grand.
on a side note, tell us your total plan to build and if it sounds good i will do it for 25 grand.

 

[towcat]

a $10k job done professionally is not unheard of in my neck of the woods.
the truck in the pics below billed out at $8k body and paint.

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

Ok I've got to weigh in here
I've acquired 2 trucks and have restored both for less than what ya are willing to spend. And my total cost on both trucks includes acquisition costs as well.

If you have some time and patients and are willing to do the work, you can make It happen for much less than buying that new truck and as some have said have a far more reliable truck in the long run.

Browse through the pics in my signature links primarily operation gold digger. That truck has in excess of 350 man hours in it and with the purchase, restoration and upgrades I've just now reached the 11k total cost mark and will enjoy its longevity any day over the newer trucks.

So if motivation what you need to keep it rolling than all I can say is get to It. Time's a wasting.

 

[greg_a_morton]

When I first started with my truck I put a $8000 budget and then went to $12000 and then $15000 if you get where I am going. I will say that there is nothing more satisfying than getting in a truck that you built and can say Yea I did it!!

 

[junk]

I've got my truck down to a chassis at the moment. Been that way too long now. I've debated buying a newer truck several times and quit messing with this one, but I really do like the simplicity of my truck. I'm also a believer that just because something is new it isn't better. I can't justify spending 30K Plus in payments over the next 5-6 years for a truck. I can justify having spent 10K over the last 10 years of owning my truck to get it mechanically sound and purchased. I probably have 5K to go to get it where I want it, but everything will have been rebuilt, inspected or touched up. Should last 10-20 years with minimal maintenance is my hope. I doubt a 2008 will go 10 years with minimal maintenance and you will have 30K in it. I am going to do the paint and body myself though which saves time.

Good luck what ever you decide.

 

[Chevyboy_0]

a $10k job done professionally is not unheard of in my neck of the woods.
the truck in the pics below billed out at $8k body and paint.

I gotta agree with Towcat on this one.

But then again when I did my '70 Chevelle I did 95% of the body work and bought materials for the paint and that helped on the cost. OTOH a CC LB is alot more real estate to cover then a 1970 Chevelle.

 

[flareside_thun]

The new trucks are no where near built as well these older trucks...Not to mention the drivetrain is STUPID simple. If you do go the other direction....Lemme know, I'm local to ya and could probably find someone to pick it up from ya......if not myself. Good luck in whatever choice you make.....If it were mine, I'd keep it and to hell with a new truck.

 

[gonecrazyi]

Id be interested in the truck as well if you want to sell it. If yyou ever need any parts or help just shoot me a pm. Im north of you in Deltona.

 

[tenlug]

A few things to think about here. You can't count your time, if you do the total cost is huge. For me building a truck is a fun hobby. The new trucks are nice inside and have lots of power, but with this comes repair issues(I would not own a 6.0, to many design deficienciens), computer controls, added cost(registration and insurance),smog inspection here in ca. on 98 and later non commercial trucks, and the fact I don't want to have what everybody else has. On the other side it's a lot of work to do a ground up. My buddies and I build our own older trucks. But on the other hand the wives get new cars and a AAA card, that way if her ride goes down it gets towed to the dealer and fixed under warranty. Paint jobs are expensive. One way around this is to strip the truck your self and take it to One Day or Macco(won't be the quality on a custom job but lots cheaper). Your choice. Steve

 

[redneckaggie]

there is nothing hard about turning a wrench or ratchet. diagnostics is the hard part of mechanics and this site pretty much has that covered

 

[coletrain777]

Sounds like someone is good at robbery. Wow. Never heard of one costing that much unless you are paying for the shop name.

Not tying to start a fight, but a couple of things...

1. WHAT! You're kidding me right? You don't know me or my character, but you feel the need to say that I am a robber??? I am sorry that you aren't up to date on what "quality" paint and body work cost, but that is no reason to attack my character.

2. When I am talking about a quality job I am not talking about how much you could do it yourself for, or what you buddy down the street quoted you. I see this all the time, people are shocked by the price of good work using top of the line materials, and they say "my friend said he would do it for X amount of dollars". What they don't tell you is that their friend is out of work and is OK with doing something for almost nothing. Their friend also doesn't have a portfolio showing his work, or dozens of references, or blah blah blah. Now I am not saying this specifically about me, I am saying this in a general sense. In life you pay for experience, warranty, and good work. Sure you can take it to MAACO and have it shot in Acrylic Enamel (they buy it in 55 gallon drums) which is identical in formulation to Van Sickle tractor paint. I am just saying you get what you pay for. If you want the truck to look like a work truck then why get it repainted at all, dents and rust make it look like what it is... A WORK TRUCK.

3. Lets look at this practically: A Crew Cab Long Bed truck is HUGE. If we just go off of general bodywork estimation criteria, to do a complete tear down, respray, cut and buff CORRECT job it will take around 160-180 hours to complete. This means that we are removing; bumpers, doors, all glass, all seals, all trim... you get the idea. This time estimate is also if the body work needed is minimal to average. If the truck is rusty than this time estimate is no where near what it will take.

IF the job took 165 hours, and the low average hourly rate for bodywork in Mid Missouri is $40 an hour, the cost for just labor alone would be $6600. This is if the truck is fairly straight, and there are no "hidden secrets". The materials for a quality respray of a vehicle this size just based on square footage alone would be around $2200. Now we are a $8800 and this is with everything going smoothly, and no replacement of seals, chrome, etc... It's not robbery, it's what it cost to do a job right. Now if we are respraying a Honda Civic, sure $3000 bucks would do it. But we are spraying a land yacht here, lots of long flat areas that have to be made "laser straight" and that takes lots of time with the long board.

It cost's good money to do good work. This is why people that do good work and don't do "cheapie" jobs stay in business, and people that cut corners to save a few bucks... usually don't. Good bodyshops don't do things on the cheap, and they aren't desperate for business. It's not wrong to earn a good wage for good work. Please don't call them robbers, it's just not right!

Please don't consider this a personal attack or "fighting words". I am not upset in the slightest by what you said, I just wanted to clarify my opinion so that others don't think it is "Robbery". You definitely have a right to your opinion, and I respect that, just please don't imply that I or anyone else is "robbing" someone because we are charging a price that they agree to.

Towcat - that's an $8000 job on a truck that's not the size of a small ship, I would have said that was around a $6500 job

 

[NapaBavarian]

What condition is the truck in now? Any photos? Will this be a daily driver or a weekend toy?

 

[towcat]

Towcat - that's an $8000 job on a truck that's not the size of a small ship, I would have said that was around a $6500 job

coletrain-
the color is one of those new 3-stage micas. it's not a metalic or a pearl. the paint cost on this job was ungodly and was passed through to the customer.
I'm on pace with turning out one complete restoration every three to five years. I've been doing this since I was 18 and have a very loyal customer base to show for it. there's cheaper out there, I'm not it and not afraid to say it either.

 

[94F350Fred]

Thank you all for weighing in… it is highly appreciated and I don’t feel as down as I did about my project. I couldn’t agree more, there is a level of satisfaction, knowledge and pride in completing such a project and I will continue on with my plan to rebuild my own very custom truck! I think doing the majority of the work myself is key as many have suggested. Besides, in the end it will be a truck that I know I will enjoy to drive and talk about. I do talk a lot about it now but I guess I will have a lot more to talk about once it’s done

Once I have taken care of a few things I have going on, I will begin this project and of course will post pics if not have a little page for it. No set start time as of yet!

I’m very impressed by many of the oilburners.net members who undertake such difficult projects and are great at it like BIG DAVE or Dsl_Dog_Catcher (Ron). Ron managed to do a rebuild “Operation Gold Digger” for about $11K! WOW good job and good looking truck. That’s a little over what a show level paint job alone costs.

Any other thoughts are also welcome. I wish there was a do it yourself manual that would help me cut down on the research time. Info on here is priceless fyi.

 

[94F350Fred]

What condition is the truck in now? Any photos? Will this be a daily driver or a weekend toy?

The truck is in overall good condition in my opinion and I will get pics up ASAP. The paint is faded; however, there is no rust other than very light surface rust on the chassis. Very minor dents and the interior is in great shape with no tears or missing parts. Mechanically the truck is in good shape. The transmission was recently professionally rebuilt and the front end need some work but nothing major. All in all a great truck (even now) and makes for an ideal rebuild candidate in my opinion.

I can’t say it will be a daily driver but a weekend toy it will not be. I drive it a lot now and I can imagine driving it a lot more once its rebuilt.