DIY body lift and chassis refurb. How much did you spend?
DIY body lift and chassis refurb. How much did you spend?
Author
Discussion

Russell Mc

Original Poster:

573 posts

177 months

Wednesday 9th January 2013
quotequote all
Thinking of doing a body off most likely later this year. Went to see a blasters and powder coaters today to get some idea of price.
They recommended the chassis be blasted, hot zinc sprayed, etched primed then 2 pack painted in polysomething I cant remember the correct name. Just for the main chassis they said it be £400. Sounds like a lot to me being a tight arse, especially as I want the wishbones and hubs done too.
How much did other people spend having a similar process done? Can anyone recommend a place in the south east that can take this on for me?

Cheers

Russ

330p4

668 posts

256 months

Wednesday 9th January 2013
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Russ that dont sound bad to me you are a tight arse
Ian

Graham

16,380 posts

310 months

Wednesday 9th January 2013
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I had mine blasted then hot zinc and then did por15 myself for a few hundred quid. But the chassis turned out to be the cheap bit !!! Ive ended up changing all wishbones and bushes, track rod ends and ball joints, disks, rear calipers the list is endless. Jyst rewiring for an emerald. Changing a few bits ob the engine, niw im looking at carpet change and maybe paint to finish off !

pk500

1,975 posts

238 months

Wednesday 9th January 2013
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A have done my chim 500 cost about £2800 to £3000 that was cam kit clutch diff rebuild poly bushes out riggers ! The 400se I just finished was also about £3000 had repaint wheels referbed new tyre's clutch loads of bushes and some trim done that was a total rebuild mot just the chassis ! £50 for shot blast !

Edited by pk500 on Wednesday 9th January 20:07

pk500

1,975 posts

238 months

Wednesday 9th January 2013
quotequote all
pk500 said:
A have done my chim 500 cost about £2800 to £3000 that was cam kit clutch diff rebuild poly bushes out riggers ! The 400se I just finished was also about £3000 had repaint wheels referbed new tyre's clutch loads of bushes and some trim done that was a total rebuild mot just the chassis ! £50 for shot blast !

Edited by pk500 on Wednesday 9th January 20:07

dnb

3,330 posts

268 months

Wednesday 9th January 2013
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Shot blasting all the chassis, wishbones, brackets etc, plus immediate zinc phosphate coating cost me £120. I then spent several days with POR15 and epoxy pitch. Material cost was getting on for another £100.

These were, as everyone is saying, the cheap bits. You then need to factor in a completely new set of bushes, brake discs, pads etc, new fuel lines, new suspension? Costs soon mount up. I think I spent at least £1.5k on just the chassis related items - with me providing all the labour apart from the blasting.

Didn't look too bad 5 years ago...

m3coupe

1,126 posts

230 months

Thursday 10th January 2013
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Slightly off topic it how easy, or should I say difficult, is it to remove the body?

pk500

1,975 posts

238 months

Thursday 10th January 2013
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Depends on what model the chimaera was easyer than the 400 to lift ! It took a day to strip the chim to a bare chassis !

Twistygit

800 posts

179 months

Friday 10th October 2014
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I rang two company's today for an estimate, one was to blast hot zinc spray and powder coat which he said £700 which I thought was expensive then a different guy just to blast he said worst case £300 both winged about powder coat being a pain to remove
Is this the going rate? Judging from previous posts it seems high

phazed

22,457 posts

230 months

Friday 10th October 2014
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Russ, just to add, you are a tight arse.

That sounds cheap to me.

SonicHedgeHog

2,769 posts

208 months

Friday 10th October 2014
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Just goes to show that unless you're really keen and own all the tools already you may as well do overtime and get the pros to do the work for you. This is especially true if you're a mechanical numpty like me.

phillpot

17,489 posts

209 months

Friday 10th October 2014
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.....and if the chassis needs any repairs/welding once blasted clean scratchchin

Quinny

15,899 posts

292 months

Friday 10th October 2014
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phillpot said:
.....and if the chassis needs any repairs/welding once blasted clean scratchchin
Shouldn't cost much.....it's only steel tube.... And a bit of weldingsmile

kris450

723 posts

220 months

Friday 10th October 2014
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Having just come to end of this process I'd say those prices sound very reasonable. Working at my own pace as and when I could looks like my total bill is going to be around £6.5k ... yikes

But then that cost includes everything, from the most expensive part (new outriggers) all the way down to the cheap/consumable stuff (e.g. a can of Plusgas). I have every receipt and its quite an eye opener when you add it all up. It depends on how far you want to go seeing as you have such great access to everything. For example there are now probably more new components on under the body than original,every bolt I could get my hands on has been changed etc. So its really up to you on how much to spend and how you want to approach the project.

Best of luck on how you decide to proceed smile




Byker28i

87,409 posts

243 months

Friday 10th October 2014
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£4.5k at Neil Garners to do my Cerbera. Then another £3k on replacing every possible part whilst it was apart. Drive in, wait a bit, drive out...

tvrboy55

185 posts

196 months

Friday 10th October 2014
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Hi all. Has anyone considered galvanizing the chassis, I've been told that it's last at least 30+ years.

m60ddy

631 posts

238 months

Friday 10th October 2014
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tvrboy55 said:
Hi all. Has anyone considered galvanizing the chassis, I've been told that it's last at least 30+ years.
I believe people have but I have also herd that on some occasions the heat required to melt the Galv has also warped the chassis.

tvrboy55

185 posts

196 months

Friday 10th October 2014
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m60ddy said:
I believe people have but I have also herd that on some occasions the heat required to melt the Galv has also warped the chassis.
I did not know that. Perhaps you could powder coat it on top, to prevent it from warping, it would make it double protection.

SonicHedgeHog

2,769 posts

208 months

Friday 10th October 2014
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tvrboy55 said:
I did not know that. Perhaps you could powder coat it on top, to prevent it from warping, it would make it double protection.
Frankly you should get 20 years out of a properly powder coated chassis. In 20 years everything else will need replacing so if you had to do the chassis again it wouldn't be a disaster. Don't risk the galvanising as you have to drill holes in the chassis and very careful about warping. I've looked into this a bit and the upsides aren't worth the potential grief.

portzi

2,329 posts

201 months

Friday 10th October 2014
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Byker28i said:
£4.5k at Neil Garners to do my Cerbera. Then another £3k on replacing every possible part whilst it was apart. Drive in, wait a bit, drive out...
That's a very good rate for a cerb as they are considered as the hardest car to rebuild. Was that with or without the dreaded VAT?