How to tackle this?

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scamperly

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So I have my '72 Scamp that needs to go under the knife for some 1/4 panel and fender surgery, as well as possibly rockers. It's gold with a black vinyl top. I love the car and will never get rid of it, but currently it's starting to look like a very daunting task.

Here's the problem:

I'm 21, probably won't have a house until I'm about 24. The car has a vinyl top with some bubbling underneath that scares me. I'll take some really good pictures of all the problem areas tomorrow or Thursday.

If I'm going to be paying for paint, I've decided I want to paint it the colour I want, which is limelight green with a black bumblebee style stripe. I don't know how to body work so I will be getting someone else to do it. I also don't have a garage in which I can tear the car down.

I'm dead set on these points:

Car will be green
I will be keeping it

I don't care about:
whether or not it has a vinyl top

So, should I:
Keep the vinyl top on and pretend there's nothing under it
Take it off and leave it off
Take it off and replace it

Thanks!

(ps: pictures will be posted tomorrow or thursday)
 
IMHO, strip the top, do the bodywork right the first time, paint it & enjoy. The roof cancer will just get worse.
 
If there is bubbling under the vinyl top it has rust, So, if you want to keep the car remove it and have the rust repaired. I'm not a big fan of vinyl tops myself. I would leave it off and repaint the entire car. I don't know what you budget is for the car. repair as much rust as you can and shoot some paint on it to keep it from re-rusting. Find a car buddy or car club and get a place to work on it. Learn to do as much as you can your self and you can save some $$.
 
I personally like the limelight enough to not want the vinyl top. I just spent some time talking to ifitsgotwheels and I know what I plan to do. Plus I found a garage I can rent (too small for the car but more than enough space for the engine and other tiddly bits). It's alarmed too!

So the teardown begins as soon as I can get an appointment to have the insurance claim for the scrape on the passenger side repaired (they'll be giving me a free bumper and trim in addition to doing some work on that fender).
 
I would def. get rid of all the rust!
DO IT ONCE AND DO IT RIGHT!
I would talk to a body shop and see if you can clean or wash cars or do small favors in exchange for help with it. thats how i got started inbody work when i was 14, then i just started picking up on it and worked my way up
 
Vic will never steer you wrong. Just one word of advice. Things will take longer than you planned, will cost more than you budgeted, and make you wonder why you ever started. But it will all be worth it in the end.

Ok, that's more than one word.


Grant
 
OneOfMany said:
Vic will never steer you wrong. Just one word of advice. Things will take longer than you planned, will cost more than you budgeted, and make you wonder why you ever started. But it will all be worth it in the end.

Ok, that's more than one word.


Grant
Click to expand...


Of course, as Vic said, it's not about being practical or saving money when you're restoring a car.

I have too much history with this car to let it go though. I'd like to spend $5k on it but we'll see what happens.
 
OK you are correct you have posted quite a few threads asking for help with your car
and you have gotten more than a few good reply's, here is one more that I hope will help

it is important to keep a project like this under control, it is very easy for a small project that you CAN handle to very quickly turn into one huge nightmare that will make you wonder if it can ever be done, or if it is even worth it.

so it is important to START with a GOOD plan, no plan or a bad unrealistic plan will doom the best intentions to failure, this is the #1 reason good cars never get finished, the owner get's in over his head and the car just sits,

that said a GOOD plan needs several things, most important of which is "REALISTIC GOALS WITHIN YOUR ABILITY AND BUDGET" what you "want" and what you "need" are often at odds making this very difficult, you must be objective and weigh every decision carefully in order to come up with a GOOD plan

the next thing you need is a workable time frame, this usually means an open ended time frame, if you say it must be finished by "X" you are setting your self up for disappointment because you are not allowing for all life's little problems the WILL crop up at the worst time, AND (this is a BIG and) when you are constantly looking for the finish line it is easy to loose track of the progress you are making causing one to get discouraged, it is more important to look at the progress you are making and to keep that momentum going than to worry about when it will be done

last but not least is to do things in a logical order, mechanical things first,
safety, EG brakes, suspension, tires, lights,
reliability EG ignition, fuel system, fluids and filters, tune up
performance EG after market intake, cam, carb, sway bars,

cosmetic things second EG paint, carpet, seat covers, trim

by tackling these things one at a time you get the satisfaction of completing something every time you finish one, making the next project much less daunting, and keeping the whole process from spiraling out of control

finally never under estimate your own ability, none of this is hard to do and tools are not that expensive, sometimes it may take more than one try to get it right but a little patience goes a long way,
and dont hesitate to ask for help, there is plenty of it here if your willing to try
 
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