Is the "body shop" tryna rob me

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Rusty Nail

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Omg this thread is so full of /win it's disgusting!
Kay bruh?

Lookit wut I learnt jus now!

Origin of OK
initials of a facetious folk phonetic spelling, e.g., oll or orl korrect
representing all correct, first attested in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1839, thenused in 1840 by Democrat partisans of Martin Van Buren during his election campaign, who allegedly named their organization, the O.K. Club, in allusion to the initials of Old Kinderhook, VanBuren's nickname, derived from his birthplace Kinderhook, New York
 
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sdewolfe

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OP,

You have a lot on your plate starting a new family, maintaining a home, a full time job, college and whatever other obligations you might have. I think the estimate you got is totally in line. But, I would think that a full restoration with modifications is something you cannot afford even if you had the time to do most of the work, which you have indicated that you would do. My recommendation, as an official old fart, don't spend the money on this project at this time. There are three paths open to you at this point.

1. Sell the heap of parts. It cost you a wrecked GSXR, I know you could get the investment back plus some.

2. Learn new skills and build a driver. Brace the cab, cut out the rust, weld in patches, seal, prime and paint with the cheapest single stage you can find. Put it all together and drive it or sell it for whatever the market will bear in your area. If you decide to do this, watch Gibson63 on YouTube to see what you can do in your garage with only a few hours to devote at a time. He is a building contractor with multiple jobs going at any one time. He still manages to do amazing (to me) work in small blocks of time in his garage. Even doing everything yourself won't be cheap so make sure you have the resources to get it done. The frame mods can come later, after you have the confidence to tackle that job.

3. Look at the project sitting in the garage for several years until someone takes it all away for $500.
 

K5ride

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If it were me, I'd just swap out the cab. Not sure of the prices in Florida but here in So Cal I see rust free square body cabs for sale on craigslist regularly for about $500. That would save quite a bit of your rust repair cost. As for the "C" notch, that is very easy to do yourself. I just helped a friend do his 69 c10. The kit even came with a template. You might also try a community college that has an auto body class. You could either take the class yourself and use their equipment and supplies or offer the truck as a class project. I teach auto at the local community college near me and most of our projects come from people living in the area. We charge a $20 lab fee plus parts. Good luck with your project .
 

peats

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i know Brothers offers a simple fool proof kit to shorten frames for '67 - '72, i don't know about squares. as for the body work, it's not rocket science and i'm sure you can do it yourself. if you don't weld now, buy a mig and learn. take a class if necessary but when you are done you will have the knowledge, experience, and still have $ left over from the first estimate. one other option is maybe there is a high school vo-tec near you that would work on your truck for minimal $. as for the c-notch, that work is best left to a professional. if you are intent on subbing out all of the body work, i would put an ad on craigslist seeking a qualified moonlighter and get a few estimates,seek a fair hourly wage and help and learn as much as possible. good luck with your project.
 

deve05

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OP,

You have a lot on your plate starting a new family, maintaining a home, a full time job, college and whatever other obligations you might have. I think the estimate you got is totally in line. But, I would think that a full restoration with modifications is something you cannot afford even if you had the time to do most of the work, which you have indicated that you would do. My recommendation, as an official old fart, don't spend the money on this project at this time. There are three paths open to you at this point.

1. Sell the heap of parts. It cost you a wrecked GSXR, I know you could get the investment back plus some.

2. Learn new skills and build a driver. Brace the cab, cut out the rust, weld in patches, seal, prime and paint with the cheapest single stage you can find. Put it all together and drive it or sell it for whatever the market will bear in your area. If you decide to do this, watch Gibson63 on YouTube to see what you can do in your garage with only a few hours to devote at a time. He is a building contractor with multiple jobs going at any one time. He still manages to do amazing (to me) work in small blocks of time in his garage. Even doing everything yourself won't be cheap so make sure you have the resources to get it done. The frame mods can come later, after you have the confidence to tackle that job.

3. Look at the project sitting in the garage for several years until someone takes it all away for $500.
I know it's been a long time since you replied to my post. I'm just reading over your advice now. I've been busy with school and work but it's getting easier now.

However, I wanted to thank you for your advice. Everyone that has given me advice is great and I'm grateful, even though some have smacked me over the head with advice and been really grouchy about it.

I'm new to this old car stuff and out of my depth, but I like learning and I like working on cars, so I've decided I'm gonna go slow with this even if it takes me years to finish and I'm gonna use it as an opportunity to learn things I don't know. So thank you, and thanks to everyone else who's advice was for me to learn to do these things.

Even if I haven't been able to reply to all of you, I do appreciate you're advice, even if you've been harsh in giving it lol. I know that with the help of this forum I can get my truck to how I want it, even if it'll mean you old farts telling me every second of the way I don't know what I'm doing(I don't lol) Now I also know resale value will never resemble how much I put into it. So to make it all worthwhile I guess I'll just have to keep the truck.

Sent from my moto g(6) plus using Tapatalk
 

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