Who else has done it this way???

[cudadave72]

The Cuda is going on about 15 years on its current refresh(repaint, etc...). Needless to say she has a few flaws but has held up very nicely. My dilema is that I dont want to tear it completely apart for a complete redo. The last car I did that with sat in boxes for years and I never finished it. Recently I posted in the body shop section that the biggest concern I have is that there is rust around the hood hinges that drives me nuts every time I open the hood. Other than that the car is an awesome looking 10 footer. My plan was to carefully pull the sheet metal off the front, remove the engine and completely restore the engine bay which includes fixing the rust. From there I would reinstall the engine, fenders, etc...  and be happy with the car for a few more years before restoring the rest of it. Has anyone else approched their project this way??

[R/T hedkace]

 Hmmmmm?
You already started a thread on this exact subject asking for help.
Many responded with different ways to help..........my self included
You decide you no longer are interested in the opinions offered there so you stop responding and start a new thread 
Makes sense to me 

 Isla and Jack still keeping you up at night or what big guy 

J/K............you know what I would do if you read your other thread   

http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=68581.msg703346#msg703346

[R/T hedkace]

And not to scare you Dave, but this actually started off as a lower quarter panel patch fix.






Fix it the easiest way possible way for now dude and ENJOY IT as you have been.
Next thing you know 16 years have passed and you forgot what it was like to drive an E body.
Don't let this happen to you 

[Hopalong]

Next thing you know 16 years have passed and you forgot what it was like to drive an E body.
Don't let this happen to you 




I know exactly what you mean.  I think you should fix it the way you want it.  Just get it back together as quickly as possable.

[cudadave72]

And not to scare you Dave, but this actually started off as a lower quarter panel patch fix.






Fix it the easiest way possible way for now dude and ENJOY IT as you have been.
Next thing you know 16 years have passed and you forgot what it was like to drive an E body.
Don't let this happen to you 

That is exactly what I'm scared of!!!! I am a perfectionist when it comes to my cars and I can very easily see this happening!!! I did read the responces in the body shop section but thought I would post it here to see what others think. I greatly appreciate everyones opinion!!!

[Cooter]

Well, Don't know you personally, but All I can offer you is one of my buddies experience..After watching him and his perfectionist routine, I decided that I would rather DRIVE and ENJOY my junk, rather than work on my car for 20 years like he has....Long story short, he buys a 1970 Challenger R/T 4 spd, in 1986. Takes car home begins what he thought was a simple "Fix it and drive it" campaign...Well, after being painted and repainted 8 times, body work REdone about the same, numerous engines, he finally gets it in semi-drivable condition. Fast forward to around 2004. We all get together and go to the track. He brings the Car and makes a few "Friendly" passes. Well, after seeing my Dart running in the high 6's (8th mile), he decideds to "Build" his 440 yet again to try and be "King sh*t on turd mtn."........From 2006-present, he has spent another $6000.00 on this engine and while all the "Damn Dude, why didn't you just get the damn thing to hook", Here we are again.... not running and needing yet another repaint...Fix and repair only what needs to be, and screw the rest...Cause after all, you are DRIVING your Cuda and my buddy hasn't driven his over 20 miles in over 20 years.....

[R/T hedkace]

That is exactly what I'm scared of!!!! I am a perfectionist when it comes to my cars and I can very easily see this happening!!! I did read the responces in the body shop section but thought I would post it here to see what others think. I greatly appreciate everyones opinion!!!

Dave, you are talking to a fellow "perfectionist"
And that is the exact f'n reason that it is so ghad damn hard to progress when "everything" has got to be "perfect" even though we know they were never perfect, even from the factory.

 A "perfectionist" definitely has their place in this hobby, but as far as the backyard guy that doesn't have quite the amount of knowledge......or I should say experience it's a VERY tough road to go down.
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying you don't have this or that.
For all I know you could restore a total wreck within a weeks time, I'm just try to get the point across of how friggin easy things can spiral out of control.

 Unless your hood is going to tear off diving down the road due to the rust, I say once again to DRIVE it and ENJOY it 


By the way can you maybe post a pic so we could get a better idea of what is going on? 

[R/T hedkace]

Next thing you know 16 years have passed and you forgot what it was like to drive an E body.
Don't let this happen to you 




I know exactly what you mean. 

Sucks.....doesn't it 

 It's comforting in a sad sort of way to know that others are going through the same sh!t though 

[cudadave72]

Thats a great point. When I say I'm a perfectionist pertains to the fact if I'm going to redo it I tend to go overboard. The fact that I bought my car as an older restoration I'm fine with the flaws it has (aside from the rusty inner fenders). As it stands now I dont get all uptight when I find a new chip in the paint and can burn the tires knowing I'm chipping up the lower quarters while grinning ear to ear.

[Cuda_Kevin]

I"m kind of the same way and in similar situation right now.  Without going crazy, I realistically wrote down a list of what I wanted to get accomplished with the car.  Now I have the list of what I want to do, i'm making a list of parts that i'm going to need, so before i get started, I have everything on hand to get the job done.  My 70 is a great drivable car right now and I do enjoy driving it once a week, but I don't want it sitting in dust in my garage for years.  So a also put a timeline together of when and would shouuld be done at each interval.  Stick to your list and stay on top of things and you should be fine....  well that seems to work for me...  but above all have fun doing everything and don't go too crazy  : )

Kevin

[AARCUDADEN]

I too can relate to what your saying Dave as i myself have some issues with my Cuda body work wise. Problem is money is tite for me and i just know i'm gonna want to go farther and repaint the whole car. This paint job on my car has lasted about 15 years or so i can't complain about that but thats when i had the finances to do it but it really needs help now before it gets out of hand. So hopefully this winter i plan to do some spot repair only and hope for the best 

[whitesatinmopar]

Many times I've wished I had the space, tools, and skills like Dennis, Chris and many others here to do body and paint. I envy that in one regard, but on the other hand like has been said, when you do your own work either time or money usually kicks your arse. Or, you get the "mentality" of "I just need to go one step farther." And the car sits around and the frustration grows and grows and sometimes guys get so discouraged they end up selling an unfinished project and get maybe half of what they have invested. I guess from and old farts point of view don't turn a to do list into a bucket list, seeing progress during body restoration is rewarding for sure, but driving, tweeking, and such is more fun.  I guess idealy having a completed car to drive and working on a project too evens out the emotions, you see progress and at the same time experience the fun of the hobby. 

[GreenFish]

Fella's i feel your pain.

My cuda has some issues on the firewall and i dont like the way my engine bay looks. To many drilled holes over the years and it just doesnt look "clean"

sooner or later i'm going to pull the motor and do an engine bay clean up.  Hopefully this winter. The nice thing about doing it this way is

1. you can paint an engine bay yourself and it will turn out just fine.
2. If/when you do have the rest of the car painted it will be cheaper because they wont have to pull the motor to do the engine bay (its already done)

[Tonefiend]

I am doing a rolling resto and tackling the car in a few major steps hoping the car is not down for too long.  Later this year I will build the new motor.  When thats done I'll detail the engine bay painting it plum crazy.  Sometime before after or during that process I will rebuild and detail the front end, rear springs and undercarraige. When all that is done I plan on detailing out the trunk including shooting it plum crazy.  Then it's on to the interior where I will strip the carpet, have the seats rebuilt, weld in the floor pan for the manual trans.  All along the process I will be tackling the small details and fixing or restoring all the small parts and pieces I can get to without major work.  The final job will be to repaint the exterior and jambs.

[71chmark]

It all boils down to which do you like more?  Working on it or driving it.  I think you have a good plan.  Minimize the down time and enjoy the ride.