Calling all body guys

[Travis77]

I have pretty much decided to try doing some of the body work on my car. (67 fastback) What need to be repaired isn't going to be a cake walk though.
Lower portion of firewall
Both full front frame rails
Drivers side torque box
Drain openings on both sides of cowl
One body guy suggested replacing the whole front clip. Another shop suggested to go back with new metal. What do some of you guys suggest. Going back with new metal and trying to piece everything back together, or replace the whole front clip at one time? Although I have no experience welding on sheetmetal, I've got about everything I need to tackle the job. Everything but confidence

 

[bigcat]

its gonna be a lot harder than you think, you have to measure 100 times, weld once. a whole front clip may be easier overall, but without experience and the proper measuring tools, i would be very cautious. either way, its gonna be a big job, so brace for it. once you get into it, you are gonna ask yourself: why?!? get some frame spec sheets from where ever you can. you will need the to position the front clip on properly. also, welding sheetmetal is A LOT HARDER than thicker metals, practice, practice, practice. you can blow holes in the metal real quick. i know certified welders that cant weld sheetmetal with out a few days practice to get used to it again. i hope you have a 22 welder, as you should be welding stuctural pieces together and it will probably be more than one layer of metal. if you can, talk to everybody you can and get some more ideas from them. also, be sure to fit all the sheetmetal up before trying to weld. if you weld it in the wrong spot, you just shot yourself in the foot....i dont mean to scare you. but it is lots of work, and many body guys would cry about having to do it in a shop. for a good experienced, competent guy, it should be ok. hope you have lots of time and space to tackle this project. this is not body work, it is structural repairs. and if not done right, can kill you in and accident. do as much research as possible before getting started. another tip is to take pics of everything before you take it apart, so in a few weeks when you are done, you will have a visual reference as to where all those left over parts go....good luck

 

[Travis77]

mustang repair

Thanks for the reply. I do have the space for it and torches, cut offs, welders, grinders, ets.. The reason I'm considering this is that I got Billy Jacked on a mini tub on my car. I'm getting very tired of being taken advantage of in this society. I had a body shop quote me $2500 dollars to reclip my car. He kind of explained where he would be cutting and welding. I realize I am going to have to do some more research.

 

[allcarfan]

$2500 isnt a bad price really. Most shops charge just under $2000 to replace the cowl.

Thats an awful lot of work.

Travis, have you considered picking up a cheap V8 mustang that needs less work and swapping whatever you have on your car over to it? You could probably pick up a v8 coupe that needs work for under $4000