VH SLX respray.

[Holty78]

Hi there. New to this forum. I want to get my old girl a full respray. Engine bay inside doors ect. It has surface rust on the roof and bonnet and a but of rust in rear right quarter panel and a bit of rust on the rear window right corner. Has anyone had a full respray on there old girls and how much am I looking at for a good quality paint job? I have about $20k to play with.

 

[Deuce]

It really depends on how long and in depth the panel work is.
Will you remove the engine before respray?
What colour? Simple colours are cheaper than crazy pearl mixes.

 

[Holty78]

Yes engine will be removed. I will go with a standard colour. Maybe ve gts blue or something similar. Its currently silver. The body is perfectly straight with no dents.

 

[losh1971]

$20k should take care of the respray and rust. You might find it takes a fair chunk of the $20k getting it done though.

 

[Holty78]

$20k should take care of the respray and rust. You might find it takes a fair chunk of the $20k getting it done though.

Im ok with that. Do you recommend any places? THe problem I have is I live in WA and my car in in SA. Its hard to get back to SA to get things sorted with the border restrictions in place atm. Thats why Ive jumped on this forum

 

[losh1971]

I'm in Tas now, so can't recommend anyone anymore.

 

[Holty78]

I'm in Tas now, so can't recommend anyone anymore.

Thanks anyway mate

 

[Vin999]

$20k wow thats a lot, with what you described about body being quite good, you should get a good price below that amount, though depends what is actually done ???
Apart from any body work, Bear in mind your car was done in factory acrylic paint if its still the original paint. Nobody really wants to do acrylic anymore, you might be lucky to find someone but main body shops are set up for 2 Pac and water paint/basecoat.

So that means a full back to bare metal body strip, then epoxy primer, then hifill primer then base colour and then clear coat then polish, so a hell of a lot of work.
It might pay to get a quote from a reputable established body/spray shop, plenty around that do old restorations.

Of course there is a cheaper way to do it by sanding back old colour/clear and applying 2k sealer to hold back old paint/primer and then 2 pac base and clear over it, but you can't guarranty that it will last and you have issues, lots of people do this in engine bay to keep price down overall.

 

[Holty78]

Thanks for the info mate. Ive been doing a lot of reserch. I have a coupleof people in mind who said they can do a full respray between 7 and 12k which Im happy with. Most places have been quoting me above the 20k mark and one place quoted me 38k for a bare metal respray which nearly made my jaw drop out. Once painted Id never recoup that money if I sold it. At this stage I should be able to get a full body respray, engine rebuilt to a 355 stroker, and interior fully rehopolsted for my 20k budget. My old girls gonna look and sound amazing once finished. Cant wait

 

[Vin999]

hey sounds like you know the way to go, I was going to say $6k should get you a respray, but its the body work/full bare metal body thats the killer..... The shops that quote you stupidly, are really saying no thanks we dont want the job, like I said especially acrylic stuff/sheet.

Also a lot of fulltime company painters will do a cash job around the $6k in their own time and even use the crash shop paint booth, ask around, ring the car clubs like smasa or cache and for sure a member of theirs would want some spare spending money. I know some good painters but they are to busy and kinda do jobs for people they know and relatives.

If you are looking for an engine builder, try lewis engines/machinists or tony knght engines both good with carbi builds and/or efi

And don't worry a good VH 355 rebuild/resto would definitely sell for well over $20K especially the 2tone like the sle's