Interior vs Body Work

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J

Joeycurl

‘72 Demon 440
Joined
Oct 28, 2019
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Location
Bay Area,CA
Hey Mopar Heads!
I'm debating on which sequence to do next on the car. Have a 72 Demon with an RB440 and is running well. The body needs some work to clean up rust around the typical places (rear qtr, truck seal, etc.) And can't really tell they are there at first glance. Paint is chipped in lots of places too. Then there's the interior where the front bench needs to be redone completely and fairly minor dash work. Headliner and sail boards need replacing and metal work is needed to clean up surface rust below the carpet nothing big but it's there and needs to be painted.

Question is which order is it better to do? Should I focused on the body/paint/metal and then interior? Or visa versa?

Thanks for the help
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You can spruce up the interior a whole lot quicker than paint and body. It's really up to you. I always like a nice interior so that's my preference.

JW
 
SLOPAR72 said:
You can spruce up the interior a whole lot quicker than paint and body. It's really up to you. I always like a nice interior so that's my preference.

JW
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On the flip side, if you do the interior first all that nice new interior has to get ripped out and stored somewhere to do the bodywork. Especially if there’s rust repair and welding to do.
 
Both good points. If you are for sure going to do the body work, I would do it first. If it's a "someday" and you would like to drive/enjoy it first, do the interior first.
 
Pull the interior, do the body and paint, including the floors and jambs. Then when the paint work is done, put the new interior in. Otherwise you’ll be pulling fresh interior to fix and finish the floors. If it was me, I’d also drop the driveline out the bottom and do the engine bay properly at the same time.
 
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You need to have the front and back glass out to install a new headliner. I'd do the body and paint first, put the new headliner in, then put the glass back in with new gaskets....and then finish the interior. If you really want to do it up right, I'd do like @moper suggested and pull the motor and trans and paint the engine bay at the same time.
 
Legendary upholstery is going to take a minimum of 120 days to get to you from the date of purchase due to covid.

I say order seat covers now, do the body work and hopefully everything will line up right when they come in.
 
Budget is probably the deciding factor. The interior can be redone for cheaper and more quickly. Body work will likely cost a good bit more and take more time. The point about eventually having to remove the interior to do the body right is on the money. If you can afford it, do the body first. Seats can be redone fairly cheap and easy if you do it yourself. Rust will destroy the car, cracks in the seat or dash will not.
 
My opinion. And this is me. My car is going to need the same deal, so I am going in this order. 1) Mechanical, 2) Interior, 3) Body work. Important thing to know about me is I usually get 2 out of 3 items on a project’s to do list completed, and in this order I get a decent looking car that is reliable and a joy to drive that I do not have to worry about a scratch, and isn’t sitting in a million pieces unenjoyable.
 
Thank you everyone for all the advice and insights. Looks like I'll need to shop around for a good body shop to take care of the rust bubbles and prep for interior. Anyone know of one in the Bay Area, CA ?
 
Joeycurl said:
How do you know?
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Been working on a '71 Demon for 3 years now. Every time I think I'm almost done with the metal, the next little job turns out to be way more work than I figured. Luckily I am doing it myself so it's just my time. Once a shop starts digging, it's hard to avoid the spiral......
 
Which one can you tolerate more as-is? Do that one first, more motivation to do the other.

If there is going to be any welding anywhere near the headliner or door panels you might want to wait on the interior till after the body.

I'm on my third project, body first.


Alan
 
If my car looked as good as the one pictured i wouldn't do nothing but drive it. Lol. Im saving my body work for last. But I don't have alot of major panel replacement just sanding blocking prime and paint. If I had to do major metal work I'd probably do that first so I didn't mess up the new interior with welding and sanding dust.
 
My routine is get the interior floors good. Easy if you can do and have some tools (tools like welder,cut off tools!). The I will do an interior paint work and JAMS! Then seats and all back in so I can drive it!
Usually interior is you or someone doing the seats, anyone can do carpet, I still struggle with headliners.
Most bodywork, even if car is pretty decent takes lots of time!!
Everything takes $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!!!!!!! ha
At least you are having a plan!!!
 
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