View single post by colinw59
 Posted: 11-16-2006 01:42 pm
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colinw59



Joined: 02-14-2006
Location: Bloomfield/Hebron, Connecticut USA
Posts: 147
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 Like Mitch, I to own a Body shop and I agree with him on all points. Without seeing the car in person, so to speek, it's impossible to come up with a price. There are so many things to consider that by description only, you could be of by 50 hours or so just on a collection of what appear to be just small details. Such details make the differance between an average job and a greaty job.  Ballparking it though, expect somewhere between 6k-8k for labor & materials. If  you get quotes for significantly lower than this you are either getting a great deal or a low quality job.

When having this sort of work done Dan, it comes down to having confidence in the shop you've selected. Look at work they have in the shop now as well as work they have already completed. Stay in contact with them throught the process and go and see the car as it progresses. Make absolutely sure you are both on the same page with regards to attention to detail and what your expectations are for the finished job. You should also expect quite a few phone calls regarding the finer details. Because an estimate is just that. A shop can't be expected to quote for things that it can't see or predict. And as a rule there is always more work than appears, not less.

It's a fact of life that dark colors will cost you more. They show up every flaw in surface preperation, and dark blue might just as well be black. As a result the shop will have to spend more time on the preperation, painting and buffing. You will also have to be more carefull during re-assembly, because such a dark color will show up every small scratch or rub mark you put in it and no matter how carefull you are Dan, you, will to some degree, mark the paint. This will require you, or the shop, to maybe re-sand & buff some areas.  

Regaridng the hood kink. I would strongly suggest that you dispense with the original prop, and go for the later GT style available from Delta, as I did on 15851 (there are pics of this in the Gallery). This will avoid the problem of putting stress on the repaired area. I modified Delta's prop, and this was covered in an earlier posting relating to this subject.

Good luck, Colin

http://jhppg.com/gallery/74-Jensen-Healey-15851