Hi guys

Just wanted some opinions and argumants.

Last summer, when my buddy and I installed and " invented new holy words " my roll cage we had to do sume work on my driver side floor. I had a fist size hole..well the old rust proofing was holding the peices together in my floor. We cut it out welded sum galvanized steel and blam. Kick *** new floor. Now we inspected the rest of the car and FIEW no rust nothing! I mean everywhere, nothing. Thank ***. The cars is fine and dandy.
Now my buddy was happily sugesting that we should do a full frame off restoration on the car. Well after reasonning that,
1- I dont have the thousands in cash to do that.
2- I dont have the garage or place to do that.
3- I dont have the time to do that.

We agreed to put it off another 10-20 years.


WHat I want to know is; DID anybody ever do a full full resto or a third gen??? Or should we all wait another couple of years.?

What do you guys think?

 

Of course I'm just being a smart ***, but please don't take the "frame" off of a thirdgen

wish we had full frames

 

haha

 

10 minutes after I get a house with a garage, my IROC is getting stipped down bare and put onto a rotissery (I can't spell that) for a, um, unibody-up restoration.

 

Same here. as soon as I get the space to do it.. it's coming totally apart.. But I agree you will not find a frame on a thirdgen.. But I know what you mean.. :sillylol:

 

Frame off restorations do not pull their wieght (or the weight or lack their off, of your wallet) when done to a run of the mill car, rod or custom. Shows have been stolen from the enthusiast and gone to the profaessional, and this is the only reason to do a frame off restoration

I have heard of people strarting a resotrations of a Plymouth Hemi Belvedere from just the original motor and the vin stamps. This could pay off just because of the collectability of the car.

Now the only Thirdgens that are going to create enough attention to warrant a frame off restoration are the TTAs, 1LEs, Firehawk and maybe a rare B4C here and there.

This doesnt mean strip the car and build it up, but unserstand that it is for your personal pleasure and does not have to be factory correct. Chrome the trailing arms, shave the door handles, go hog wild! and you will have a fun car that you can be proud off!

 

I forgot to mention...

The cost! The cost of one of these ventures isnt just limited to the labour of a specailist. Media blasting can go as far as $600. A Show quality paint job could be $5-10 000. And not to metion all of the aftermarket junk you need. And this could run into thousands of man hours. How much is your time worth to you?

 

Or any idiot like me that has no problem pissing away 10x what the car is actually worth.

 

Thx guys , Ya i know i goofed up with the meaning of "frame-off" I really meant Unibody restoration.

But to hell with it, you got my point. But just for the hell of it, did anybody "restore" one of are cars?

Hahah chroming the trailering arms...man i find it sad some time when you see cars like that at shows. I can appreciate the beauty but im my opinion i'd rather drive then polish my chrome brake pads!

 

I am in the middle of completely dismantling an 87 IROC. I am looking at another min. 2 years before being back on the road.

My biggest surprise ... this takes a lot of space. I have a 3 car garage and I am already filling it up along with the attic in the house. I have parts everywhere!

One the bright side .. 3rd gen vehicles are very simple to work on and these discussions boards are a big help ... thanks to everyone!

 

I think you mean idiot like "us" there Jim...

Steve

 

That depends on what you consider to be a restoration... I consider a restoration to be any process where you return a car to original... in my case I replaced MANY parts on my 91 Formula that were missing, removed overspray, polished the wheels, detailed the engine, replaced missing decals, much of the interior, etc... I call it a restoration. I still need to get the body work done and have it repainted before its finished.

 

Lol, but true.

The interor alone has taken over the basement, in my end.

 

<<< Has no problem pissing away 10x what the car is worth to restore a 1 of 50,000 car :wavey:

Once I have the space/money to do it, my car will be gutted and restored from the sub-frame up.

 

Yeah... he DEFINATLEY meant US!