I'm restoring a '67 coupe and it's currently almost a shell on a frame (just side glass left on the body, engine transmission removed). This is my first restoration so I'm wondering what order to do it in. Is it ok to do all of the floor, undercarriage and subframe rebuilding and painting before the rest of the body work and painting?


Right now I'm thinking about this order (pretty high level):

put in some patch panels in floor
replace trunk center section
remove front subframe
remove rear suspension
por15 floor/trunk and undercarriage
sand/paint firewall
paint and/or upgrade rearend and reinstall
paint and upgrade (disc brakes,power steering) the subframe and reinstall
body work and final paint
engine/transmission install
interior

I'm a newbie at this so I appreciate your help
thanks

Not sure if this came accross, but my main concern is all of the upper body work being done working around all of the finished and painted parts.

Pretty good list ,I would do all the paint work before installing everything though.Also alot of people want to paint the firewall,and the bottom of the car before working on the outside .wetsanding ,blocking ,and buffing all cause a great mess so I usually do them last..Try it in this order and youll save yourself alot of work.
1.Gut the body down to a bare shell,no doors ,fenders or trunk,or subframe
2.do all your paint work on the body and parts if you desire
3.tape out the body and black out,firewall,undercarriage and dash.
4.Install subframe,preassembled or not
5.Install rear suspension
6.Install engine/tranny and wire harness
7.Install doors,align,then front sheetmetal,align,then hood.
This is the way I usually do it,other wise you end up spending countless hours cleaning or taping up to keep your undercarriage and or firewall clean.Hope this helps.

Mine's a bit more involved, but probably because most of the sheetmetal has been replaced. Basically you need to pre assemble most of the panels twice:


1. Gut the car down to a rolling shell
2. Weld in new panels/patches as needed
3. Assemble front clip and doors onto shell to check for correct gaps. Fill with steel as needed to get it right. Make all door, trunk,hood and fender adjustments at this point. Note the numbers of shims and position of hinges for all.
4. Pre-drill any and all emblem holes. Make them slightly larger so that your new paint is less likely to flake off during assembly.
5. Install door latches in new doors- pull them tight. Make sure that door jamb u channels and jamb vents grilles fit correctly. This step prevents your new paint job from being goofed up, since the door's new steel has been "pre-stretched" by tightening, so your new paint won't flake. Same with the U channels. Make sure it all fits PRIOR to laying down the first drop of primer. Its much easier to make corrections now, as opposed to after the car is painted.

6. Now disassemble the panels. Prime and block the door jambs,trunk jambs and all edges.
7. Restore the subframe and install, along with drivetrain/rear diff.
8. Finish paint the areas in step six.
9. Reinstall the panels on the body, being careful to align back correctly.
10. Mask jambs, paint entire car. Next day, cut and buff.
11. Install all wiring
12. Install glass,door mechanisms,emblems and bumpers
13. Install interior and all fuzzies and weatherstrips
14. Drink a cold one...you'll need it at this point...:beers:

Thanks for your response paintdaddy.

Unfortunately, I'm not able to do all of the work at my shop. Mainly any blasting or serious body/paint work, but I figured I could handle the floors and undercarriage. With your approach (which I think is good) I would probably have to haul around the shell of my car to a blaster and then a body shop. What's the best way to do that? I do have access to a trailer that has a winch.

I was hoping with my ordering I could do all of the things I could without having to haul the car around off its wheels. But you pointed out what I was worried about, that the other work could make a mess of mine.

So, is there a trick to hauling around the shell? Maybe some type of wooden frame with casters would work?

Thanks to you too BelAirBob. We must have been posting at the same time. Maybe this would be better since I'm farming out the blasting and body work.

Get down to rolling chassis
patch floor/trunk
go to media blaster (blast whatever they can get to)
assemble front sheet metal for alignment
go to body shop for prime and block
bring home
disassemble front sheet metal
remove subframe and rearend
por15 floor/trunk and undercarriage
paint firewall
install subframe (reconditioned)
install rear (reconditioned)
go to body shop for final paint (would have paint jambs at this time too?)
install rest of engine drivetrain
wiring, glass and mechanisms, bumpers, interior

definitely drink a cold one (what year will this be?)

Yes I would also keep it pretty much the same but leave the suspension on it .Have the body shop do the bod and paint work,when you get it back,remove suspension and you do the cleaning and paint on the undercarriage and firewall and dash.

Here's a shot of the jig I made under my car while it was on a trailer:

http://community.webshots.com/photo/328498439/1328499723060464735tgynVd

It's real basic but got the job done. With hindsight being 20/20 on that I will next time have air tires on it and have the center ot center maybe a little wider to work with that trailer. The jig I built is two seperate pieces and I have a third one in the garage from when I have the subframe off and it bolts into the firewall base and I can use the casters off of the front one to put into that one. The casters are from some scafolding and have pins above the swivel portion to slid and bolt into the tubular jigs I made. I originally had all four casters swivel but it made it hard to steer when I rolled it out or into the garage so I tack welded one of the casters to make it fixed. That made it more steerable when just I was around to move it.

I have seen jigs or carts made out of wood and steel but you need to make it beefy enough to where it supports the car and does not twist the shell you have bolted to it. I've also seen jigs that are beefy enough to where additional supports can be welded between it and the car to keep it from twisting if large panels like the quarters are removed.

I don't know how far you need to go on yours but on my 74 Nova hatchback I put on 2 full quarters, a taillight panel, 2 rear outer wheel housings and what remained after removing the old metal twisted. Below is a drawing of what I did to keep an eye on that problem:

http://hometown.aol.com/krystaldesigns/pageA27.html

Personally I would get all the parts off to blast the underneath if not you are either going to have to do it later when the parts are out of the way or paint over what is there.

Things I've learned is if you don't do the best you can it will probably show up later and then it might be more work to correct a problem.

When you go to take it apart, bag and tag eveything. You will never remember what bolt or nut went where later on down the road if you have to pick them out of a 5 gallon bucket.

On the restoration I'm doing I'm taking it back down to a point and then reassembling more like what the factory did. I am not going to finish the underneath until I'm confident the rest of the metal will fit and work and have it to a point to where it is ready to be spray with color. Overspray is a pain to remove if the area is not masked off good.

Jim