rebuild after Willow Springs bump, engine rebuild too... Options

[siverson]

I've been slowly sorting through the mess I made for myself about a month ago at Willow Springs, and have 1 quote to fix the dent.

I'm trying to decide between (A) repairing my chassis, and (B) getting a new chassis and moving all my parts over.

I feel ridiculous even considering scrapping my chassis when I see some of the crazy "rustoration" threads here, but the fact is it's probably going to be about the same cost to straighten this chassis versus buying a donor chassis/car and building it back up.

I'm going to take this "opportunity" to fix/improve some other things on the car while I have it all apart, but I need to figure out my chassis plan first. Here are my options:

A: If I repair my current chassis ($10k - $12k):

- Find front clip
- Remove Brad Meyeur kit (to be replaced with Engman kit)
- Remove/cut existing reinforcing tubes
- Celette bench, weld new clip
- Fix front right fender/flare (it was also damaged, that strut broke)
- Add Engman kit
- Add back reinforcement

B: Build up a donor car/chassis and move over all my parts ($10k - $15k):

- Find a donor car/chassis
- Remove all rust/prep chassis. Rust repairs.
- Add 4 steel GT flares
- Maybe also put this one on a Celette bench first too to make sure it's straight.
- Add Engman kit
- Add chassis reinforcement
- Lots of small modifications I had already made: lower drivers floor/seat, close up a bunch of unused holes/make it cleaner, lots of seam welding, dash modifications, etc, etc

... plus full R&R on the front suspension/etc, but I need to do that regardless of my chassis plan.

With A it "my" original car, but with B I actually think I might end up with a nicer end result because I'm going through almost everything again, but it's probably a little more money and A LOT more work for me (versus 95% of A is just me writing a check). Am I off on my prices?

So, what do you think? A or B?

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

-Steve

p.s. And... the other strange factor is that this car/chassis was my first car and I've had it for almost 20 years. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) But, given how much I've already modified the car, most of those "original" parts aren't there anyways. I think if I got a new chassis and moved over all my parts, it would still feel pretty much like "my" car... I'm not super attached to that specific VIN... Or am I? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)