DIY restoration becoming too much work

[rob07]

I have owned my fiat dino coupe for over 20 years and decided to start a body restoration in my small shed. I know it would be much easier if I had a rotisserie,an industrial compressor /sand blaster and every other workshop equipment needed. The reality is that I have just the rudimentary tools and so little space that I can barely squeeze around the car. My real problem is that I am trying to work around the car doing a section by section without fully dismantling the car to a a bare shell, and in doing it this way its making the whole job so much more work. I now need to fabricate and weld metal to some of the cars innards and floor pan and cant see a way of doing it with dash /steering wheel /pedals centre consul in the way,(which I do not really want to remove). I would like to ask if any one else attempted a similar job under similar conditions, and how did they resolve these problems.

[steveo3002]

suck it up and remove the parts , sometimes its harder to do a work around bodge than to do it right

[Mark A S]

I built my Mk 2 Escort rally car in 2010 /11 using one side of my double garage [ 17’ x 17’ total] along with partial rebuild in 2013/14 to freshen up etc.
TBH without a rotisserie especially for welding, painting, fabrication work etc not something I would have taken on as I started just from a mostly prepped shell. I made up my rotisserie using two 4 wheel trolleys and a frame work linking them together via bolts so as I could wheel the shell outside weather permitting, hence lots of space and Light. Carpet on the garage floor is essential

P.S.. the shell would only go in the garage upside down, you can imagine the comments

[droopsnoot]

Is the dash and stuff preventing access, or just making it difficult, or do you just want to make sure you don't get burn marks on it all? If the latter, there are several ways of covering it all up to prevent that kind of thing. If they're in the way, then I suspect you already know that you're going to have to bit the bullet and remove some stuff. Sometimes the time taken to remove and replace items is nothing compared to how much more quickly you can do a job when you can see and access the area more easily.

I have read about quite a lot of people doing restorations in small lock-ups with great results. While I did strip and rebuild my car in one - with no power - I did send it out to have all the welding and painting done.

[TooMany2cvs]

You've got two choices, really.

steveo3002 said:

suck it up and remove the parts , sometimes its harder to do a work around bodge than to do it right

This is certainly one of them.

The other is getting the shell to somebody who can do the stuff that's beyond your realistic capabilities in the space/with the tools you have available, then doing the rest of it back at home when they've finished.

[steveo3002]

dash and pedals should be doable in a day with lots of breaks , take pictures of everything as it comes out , bag up the screws and label wires etc , take pics of how the wires are routed

i put off a heater problem for a couple of years in one of my cars , ended up having the dash and it wasnt a big deal just scary looking , took the opportunity to tidy up lots of bodged wiring and deep clean the dash while it was apart

[rob07]

droopsnoot said:

Is the dash and stuff preventing access, or just making it difficult, or do you just want to make sure you don't get burn marks on it all? If the latter, there are several ways of covering it all up to prevent that kind of thing. If they're in the way, then I suspect you already know that you're going to have to bit the bullet and remove some stuff. Sometimes the time taken to remove and replace items is nothing compared to how much more quickly you can do a job when you can see and access the area more easily.

I have read about quite a lot of people doing restorations in small lock-ups with great results. While I did strip and rebuild my car in one - with no power - I did send it out to have all the welding and painting done.

The dash and stuff is making access a bit more difficult but mainly I do not want welding splatter on them. How would you suggest covering them up.
I actually want to do the work myself and am quite capable.I dont like to let someone else do it because firstly it is very hard to find someone good and then to do it well would end up costing me a small fortune. I have done about half the metal work so far. I knew a lot of the work was in the lower outer edges,but I was never expecting to need to work inside the car.
steveo , to remove the dash etc just seems like a big job but I agree Its probably better.

[droopsnoot]

I'm not that familiar with the layout of the dash, but I'd just be going for maybe a single coat of decorators dust-sheet as a first layer to cut down on marks from the more heavy-duty stuff, and then something thicker like these tarpaulins off the market. Cheap enough you can cut them up to not be all over the place, and tape them in place making sure everything is covered. Has to be something that won't just go up the moment a spark lands on it, and you need to make sure there aren't loads of folds where stuff like that can land, smoulder, and then ignite just after you've left for the weekend.

Presumably you're also covering stuff like the headlining if it's still there, and glass? Grinding anywhere near glass can cause trouble, I've got some little fragments in some glass on my car because I didn't cover it up soon enough.

I'm with you on wanting to do as much as possible myself. I'm not that happy with the paint on my project, but I can do it again and again and again if I have to, learn something from it, and it'll still have cost less than getting someone else involved.