Does this price sound reasonable?

[bobscott]

So I think I found a shop to help me with my restoration. The 5 items below are things that I feel I have a high chance of messing up so I am sending them out of house.

Does $12k sound reasonable for the following items:
1. Rebuild 302
2. Rebuild D20
3. Rebuild D44
4. Rebuild 9"
5. Body work & paint except floor pans.

The body is in pretty decent shape. I am replacing all the floor pans myself. The body has some dings and dents. The only real amount of rust is in the bottom of the passenger door (front corner). I am painting it grabber blue with wimbleton white grill, fender flares, dash.

I am stripping the body of all emblems, glass, weather stripping etc. I am re-installing all emblems, glass, weather stripping etc.

The shop is supplying all parts for the rebuilds.

I am going to go up in person and meet with them today.

 

[Chief Master Sergeant]

You trying to build a show pony? I guess that's reasonable, but man, I just hate paying that much money to do something I can gather advice on here for and tackle myself. I'm just cheap!

 

[TwoDalesDad]

Me Three....To Spend $12000. On work that can be done on the cheap....does need more consideration......$12000...CHA CHING! !

 

[NYLES]

Id call it outragously high!!!!!!

 

[.94 OR]

For me, body work and paint I will hire out next time.

As for the rest, buy some nice tools and do the mechanicals yourself. You should save enough to add lockers and what not and still have money left over.

 

[bknbronco]

I thought you were getting ripped off until I read body work and paint. A paint job alone could run you 12 grand.... plus body work. The dana 20 probably don't need a rebuild since there pretty much industrictable. There really ant anything they can do to it that you cant do yourself in a hour or less. Pretty much change lube and maybe do a few seals. I figure about a grand for the 44 if you need new everything from seals, to bearings, to brakes, to ujoints, and ball joints. If you need gears then another 500 to a grand. Rear axle maybe 500 or so in parts for new bearings, new brakes, etc. Not sure what a motor rebuild is but I know guys that have spent 12 grand just on heads....I rebuilt my 289 for less than 500 bucks.

You say you have a high chance of messing these things up???? well in my opinion the shop has a higher chance of messing things up than you might. I haven't found a good shop anyware that can do a better job than I can do myself. I have spent thousands at shops and they don't fix the problem. Your question isn't really a good one because we don't know what issues your having or how much body work is or how good of painters they are.

Again the 12 grand in question cold be a deal youll never see again or you could be getting ripped off. Too many variables for me to say for sure. I know muscle cars guys that would spend 4 times that just on a motor and paint. But I also know for 12 grand you can buy a pretty cherry turn key bronco.

To put it into perspective....I got a little over 12 grand into my frame off rebuild and that's new everything...every seal, bearing, part, nut and bolt....on everything....trannie, tcase, both axles, motor, EVERYTHING! and every part is brand new. Oh and did I mention that includes the $5000 I spent on a new glass tub and the $1000 on a viewfinder windshield frame. Sure I need another 10grand to dial it all in, add power steering and power disk brakes, softop, and paint it someday, etc, etc.....but I rather spend 12G's on a frame off glass body build than a hack paint job and a few seals and bearings in the drivetrain.

That's just me.....I haven't worked in two years and 12 grand is more than I made in the last 3 years, so I have become a cheep bastard.

 

[rjrobin2002]

So I think I found a shop to help me with my restoration. The 5 items below are things that I feel I have a high chance of messing up so I am sending them out of house.

Does $12k sound reasonable for the following items:
1. Rebuild 302
2. Rebuild D20
3. Rebuild D44
4. Rebuild 9"
5. Body work & paint except floor pans.

The body is in pretty decent shape. I am replacing all the floor pans myself. The body has some dings and dents. The only real amount of rust is in the bottom of the passenger door (front corner). I am painting it grabber blue with wimbleton white grill, fender flares, dash.

302 crate motor: 2500, labor 1000
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hpe-hp79

dana 44 rebuild: 1000

9" rebuild: 500

paint: 3000

dana 20 rebuild: 500

That would be my quote, but I do not have the overhead at my shop since I am a 1 man show. what is wrong with your dana 20, dana 44, and 9". They probably just need some seals and a bearing or 2. Are you changing gear ratios?
If it was me, I would get the axles sealed up and drop a crate motor in it, that is easy and fun with minimal tools required and get a shop to quote a paint job.

 

[lowbush]

Id call it outragously high!!!!!!

Depends on what they are doing for the paint job, I have seen some paint jobs run north of 10K, but that's show truck stuff. The quote sounds reasonable to me depending on what kind of performance mods are going into each component and what they are doing paint-wise. There really is not enough info to know if it is outrageous or a good deal. What are they doing as far as the paint process? and what are they doing as part of those rebuilds are there any mods going into those rebuilds?

 

[NYLES]

I agree with ya but the original question says "rebuild" that to me me means take apart clean replace seals gakets and what ever bearings and races need replacing on axles and T cases.

But you are very correct if we say and add here and add this here.......there is really no way to answer the question.

 

[rjrobin2002]

Yes, lockers front and rear can be $2-3000, upgraded front and rear quality axle shafts $2000, a 400hp 302 $4000, and paint could be a show $10000 job. The fact that you say it will be a stripped body with no rot should keep the paint from being any more than $5000 for a really nice job and that you do not want any interior panels replaced and floor work done will save alot of money.

 

[cldonley]

You can paint an entire Beech King Air twin Turbo prop Airplane for $50k, including strip, refinish with stripes and lettering, less than 10% of the aircraft's value. What percentage of the value of your truck are you willing to put into paint? I'm thinking that price is outrageous unless it includes a ton of bodybwork

 

[lowbush]

I agree with ya but the original question says "rebuild" that to me me means take apart clean replace seals gakets and what ever bearings and races need replacing on axles and T cases.

But you are very correct if we say and add here and add this here.......there is really no way to answer the question.

Agreed I was not busting your chops, it's just some people say rebuild and what they are meaning is upgraded rebuilt. Two totally different stories, a little clarity on what those "rebuilds" entail will help to see if it's over the top. My gut from experiences says it's over the top because most shops are going to seal and paint. But if it really is a good shop and they are doing it right 12k may be on the mark.

 

[Timmy390]

Does $12k sound reasonable for the following items:
1. Rebuild 302
2. Rebuild D20
3. Rebuild D44
4. Rebuild 9"
5. Body work & paint except floor pans..

All depends on what your getting and the parts being used and the quality of the job.

The body is in pretty decent shape. I am replacing all the floor pans myself. The body has some dings and dents. The only real amount of rust is in the bottom of the passenger door (front corner). .

I will put money on it....you have more rust than that you just haven't found it. Likely spots are under the front finder, tail gate and behind the door posts.

The shop is supplying all parts for the rebuilds.

HUGE RED FLAG......what parts are they supplying? New? Used? NOS? Cheapest they can get their hands on? What parts are being replaced and who determines that?

1. Rebuild 302
2. Rebuild D20
3. Rebuild D44
4. Rebuild 9"

Do these need rebuilding? Heck, I've had my rig for 16 plus years and only rebuild the 9 and 44 cause I wanted lower gears. The D20 is original never been cracked open and the 302 is what was in it when I bought it and it looks old....The 3 speed had not been rebuild.

Tim

 

[jim3326]

Generally speaking I would say that's a decent price. You might ask them to itemize the list and see where the most is allocated. If the engine is smoking then a crate motor would be the way to go and you could knock that off the number, if not then a refresh would do and they could do that for 8-1000 I would think. The paint and body kind of depends on what your looking for. I just had mine done and it ran 10k but it was a high end paint and a custom color with 2 toning. I did a lot of the body work but they had some specialized equipment that would do a better job than what I had so I had them do some of it and they are a little better versed in doing the bondo than I am.

The axles can be tricky if your changing gears or putting in lockers and it's better to leave that to them as long as they are qualified, if your only replacing the seals, you could do that without any issues. Just my $0.02

Jim W.

 

[N747JB]

You can paint an entire Beech King Air twin Turbo prop Airplane for $50k, including strip, refinish with stripes and lettering, less than 10% of the aircraft's value. What percentage of the value of your truck are you willing to put into paint? I'm thinking that price is outrageous unless it includes a ton of bodybwork

And a good airplane paint job doesn't look any better than a good Bronco paint job, just a LOT more money. I just had my 421 painted and it was close to $30K But, man it looked good!

 

[bobscott]

Sorry a bit more clarity here. The price I recieved is from pictures so there is a bit of sand bagging. I met with the guy at his shop and he is going to come look at it in person. I will get a detailed price breakdown.

The body work I need to let someone else do, I would do a hack job. Already tested myself with body work once, I suck at it. The mechanical items I am not ruling out doing myself. I am a bit concerned about the front and rear end and the transfer case because I have never messed with either. The motor is not as big a concern for me ability wise.

The other thing on my mind is to not have this take 5 years to get to a reasonable state of completion. I get that a Bronco is never finished, but if this thing takes up the garage for 5 years in pieces I will have a pissed wife to deal with. A pissed wife is not a good thing, I have one addiction and one supplier I get somewhere around 5 - 10 hours a week to work on the Bronco, if I can spend some $$ in the right places and speed the process up it is worth it to me. My thinking was the front and rear end and the transfer case I don't know what I am doing and would have to spend a good bit of time figuring it out. The motor I was just trying to cut out the time of running around to machine shops etc. as I travel a good bit for work.

There is nothing wrong with the motor, D-20, D-44 or 9" (that I know of). I bought the truck about 3 hours away and would have drove it home if I had someone with me to drive my tow rig home. I wanted to replace bearings and seals in the D-20, D-44 and 9" just because I have it completely torn down. The 9" does leak a bit but nothing else does. The motor I want to machine the heads to run on pump gas so I figured at 82k miles I might as well rebuild it while I am at it. Based on the responses I am more and more thinking of doing these items myself as it seems like every thinks they are all pretty easy to do.

The body is indeed pretty solid. I have it completely torn down and floor pans all cut out. I am replacing all the pans, bed panel, upper platform and patching a small spot on each kick panel. It is crazy cause the floors are junk but the body is fine. I think it is the astro-turf that was on the floor, looks like they rotted from the inside out.

D20, D44 and 9" rebuild means new bearing, new seals. I asked for Timken bearings as it seems these are the ones I see most highly spoken of.

The motor rebuild means completely town down, vatted, bored, machine heads, new valves & springs, new rods and pistons, Edelbrock higher performance cams, new water pump, new fuel pump. The shop guys said he included all the above but if the block looks good he would bother with boring or replacing pistons. I stipulated all new components.

Body work would be done on a rotisserie. It would consist of filling any extra holes, fixing the dings and dents, seam sealing, blocking, 2 stage paint. The only rust that he would fix would be the bottom front of the passenger door and some pin hoes on the leading edge of the hood. I am 2 stage painting it. The main color would be grabber blue with wimbleton white in; door inserts, grill, tailgate lettering, fender flares, dash.

 

[lowbush]

Body work would be done on a rotisserie. It would consist of filling any extra holes, fixing the dings and dents, seam sealing, blocking, 2 stage paint. The only rust that he would fix would be the bottom front of the passenger door and some pin hoes on the leading edge of the hood. I am 2 stage painting it. The main color would be grabber blue with wimbleton white in; door inserts, grill, tailgate lettering, fender flares, dash.

For 12K going into the job I would expect that any and all rust would be dealt with (you are going to find more) and possibly having the body dipped and e-coated. Also if you are taking it down to the frame you may want to consider having the frame galvanized.

 

[bobscott]

I talked with one of my coworkers in another office that was a paint and body guy in a previous life. I sent him pictures and explained what I was looking for. His thoughts are the body work should be 4k to 6k depending on what is uncovered after media blasting. He is going to send the stuff along to the shop he use to work at and see what they would do the work for.

Seems like the 12k price I was quoted is high. I am going to look at other options.

Thanks for everyone's input, probably saved me some considerable $$.

 

[lowbush]

I talked with one of my coworkers in another office that was a paint and body guy in a previous life. I sent him pictures and explained what I was looking for. His thoughts are the body work should be 4k to 6k depending on what is uncovered after media blasting. He is going to send the stuff along to the shop he use to work at and see what they would do the work for.

Seems like the 12k price I was quoted is high. I am going to look at other options.

Thanks for everyone's input, probably saved me some considerable $$.

12k buys a lot of body work and paint given what you said about the other items I am assuming that this is where the bulk of the money is going. Assuming 2k goes into freshening up the other stuff, I would absolutely expect a 10k body job to include a chemical dip over just blasting it as well as e-coating and 2 stage urethane and high quality clear on-top of that. For 10k you should be looking at a near show quality body and paint.