Ground Up Restoration, Who's done it? Feedback & Pitfalls? Options

[ptravnic]

I've really wanted to take a teener down to the tub, have it properly sprayed & built back up w/each piece getting its own dose of tlc...

I'll not be working this coming spring (going back to school for MBA in the fall) and have a great chassis to work with.

I'm dreaming of flares, 5 bolt conversion, etc... I want to know what types of pitfalls & potential problems to sort of "expect".

[jwalters]

I did something very, very close to a resto - While I am a well educated wrench, I am not a body man and lay no claim as such.

I took BlackSabbath down to the tub. I then had it baking soda blasted in a local ship yard. ( cost -$600 bucks and environmentally clean were two objectives I sought and found)

After I brought the car home and examined every square inch. Made about 25 general repairs to the basic tub alone. Bought specialty equipment I needed (mig welder, tooling, etc) and searched high and low for best possible deals.

I added fiberglass fender flares and rockers, worked tirelessly on them, but it only seemed more time than actually was.

Took every single hard part removed from tub and meticuosly cleaned, inpsected, repaired /modified, and painted. This was the real time consumer!

Rebuilt my engine for all of 600 bucks total - found many, many good deals. Local VW shop had some T4 HP stuff laying on shelves for years, dude hooked me up! Also hooked me up with head work and case prep.

ALL of this was done in my front yard! No garage, no cover, exposed to all the elements. I began in Sept and finished in March. (figure what I went through with weather)

If it were not for the fact I lost my job, the final bodywork and paint would have been A+. But as such, I just took it to Maaco and had them "Smooth it over".

Good thing is, I can always take it to a professional anytime for the real deal-

All told, Seven months and 7 grand. This included original purchase price, parts, and maaco - if you were to add my labor at shop rate of 65 an hour it is around $109,200 dollars. 7 Months, or - 210 days @ 8 hours a day X $65.00 an hour for 1680 hours invested -

Brings new meaning that I will never, and my grandchildren X 5 down the line, would still not see a return on investment -

BUT I DON'T CARE - It runs and drives like a rabid go-kart -grinning all the way!