Hours (of Pain)

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<50miles

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Hello Everybody,

Being that my car (1972 3.0csa) is in the middle of an in depth restoration, I was thinking that it might be interesting (and painful) to get an overview of how many hours people have spent (literally and figuratively) having just the body of their cars completely restored. So that apples can be compared to apples, this should be for all the hours it has taken to have the car stripped down to bare metal (including the removal of engine, interior and the rest of it) repaired and ready for paint.

This might also be a very helpful piece of information for anybody contemplating such an exercise. I have read from time to time postings where people mention how much they have spent on an comprehensive restoration of their E9, but since this information might be biased based on the hourly shop rate and other things that the owner did to their cars (other than body work), I think it is better to just compare hours it has taken to get the body to the current state of magnificence.

Andrew
 
Oh jeez, while I'd like to see how this shakes out, I don't know that I am ready to accept the numbers. I haven't been tracking the hours to date - as I consider the work on the car my "fun time". And I'd planned on tracking the overall progress in years rather than hours. My goal is to be finished in 12 years from when the car rolled off the trailer. I am two years in, so I have a 10 years to go. 10 years of, ...fun :D
 
I can only shoot from the hip as I didn't keep any record. I'd say 700+- hours from when I got it home until the body was ready for the first coat of paint.
Lot's of work on the body, and none of us had any e9 knowledge from before. You could call us amateurs with a foolish will;)
I'm sure a pro could have done it much faster and better.

DSC_067611.jpg
 
Not so long ago i talked with body shop guy - who is making whole body renovation, so all body parts are repaired/new & ready for painting & he told me that he is spending about 150-200 hours each month for about 1 year.
In 2016 i talked to fellow e9'er & he told me his body shop guy spent about 1,5 year, but wasn't only doing e9 project & not all parts where repaired.
 
I plan to log my hours in my restoration thread once it becomes a real restoration thread.
 
I'll throw out a figure for the numbers of hours I took to do the tear down: I stripped a coupe to its bare shell minus the suspension (rolling chassis); it took me three weekends of +/- 8 hour work days (48 hours). I didn't really know what I was doing, so I wasn't being careful to label everything as I was taking it apart, but I did have access to all the tools I needed including engine hoists, power tools, and car lifts. Life got in the way of completing that coupe, so I sold it as a roller and boxes of parts. I plan on tearing my coupe down for restoration at some point in the future, but will take my sweet time, be meticulous and label every nut and bolt as it comes off because I want to build it back after paint. It tickles me every time I watch one of the Velocity Channel shows and they completely disassemble a car in a matter of hours (must be nice to have a crew that knows what they are doing).
 
I'm about a quarter info fixing the full body, and spend somewhere between 750 and a 1000 hours. I've done all layers of one rocker, front and rear floor on right side, and fully rebuild the rear axle. Didn't open the hood yet, not even looked thoroughly at the front clip yet.

I am a techical guy, but a restoration novice, including also time to learn to use (spot) welding equipment, beating panels and researching how all should look like originally.

Less attention to detail will save 1/3. Experience another 1/3?

Mind you my wife calls me 'a bit' obsessive when it comes to details that I want to be correct. I don't really see the problem with that...

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-A520F met Tapatalk
 
eriknetherlands said:
I'm about a quarter info fixing the full body, and spend somewhere between 750 and a 1000 hours. I've done all layers of one rocker, front and rear floor on right side, and fully rebuild the rear axle. Didn't open the hood yet, not even looked thoroughly at the front clip yet.

I am a techical guy, but a restoration novice, including also time to learn to use (spot) welding equipment, beating panels and researching how all should look like originally.

Less attention to detail will save 1/3. Experience another 1/3?

Mind you my wife calls me 'a bit' obsessive when it comes to details that I want to be correct. I don't really see the problem with that...

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-A520F met Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Like gas mileage, I don't want to know, don't need to know. Don't really care. It is what it is. An existential part of the car. Whatever that means.
Steve
 
I know it's not completely answering your question but it may be relevant -
My car body, once everything was removed, spent 400 hours in the body shop plus prep for painting and then paint.
Add to this parts removal, media blasting, transport, searching for needed parts ( a new roof in my case ), and it soon goes on to 500+ hours.
Then there's mechanical and trim!
That's actually a fair bit of my life right there....hmmm.
 
What's the average hourly rate for a shop to do the teardown and body prep? $50/Hr? Hopefully not $100/hr like mechanical work, that could get pretty spendy. Or is that correct?
 
Hello All,

Thank you for your information so far. And yes, it does hurt to think of how much it takes to do it right. According to my figures, and the guesstimates from the company doing the restoration, it will take 500 hours to bring the body to the necessary condition for it to be painted. As for the hourly rate, which is in Canadian dollars, the body work has ranged from $90 to 105. The lower end being what they, and the mechanic that took out the drivetrain and removed the outer sill plate, charged me for teardown/strip down.

Suddenly, I am having trouble sitting down. Oh, well, it could be worse.

Andrew
 
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