Dynacorn Body Shell

[Blake129]

Hi all. I managed to get my hands on one of the Dynacorn body shells for a 70 challenger. It did cost a pretty penny but I weighed my options between this and gutting a rotted body and this was lesser of two evils. I took delivery of it today and it looks as good as expected...rust free. I've got some subframe connectors and a spring relocation kit that needs to be installed and am relying on a shop to do the metal work. However, the shop quoted me 100 hours of labor that they think is necessary for panel gapping and other tweaking in addition to the aftermarket work I requested. Does this seem extreme? I didn't expect the panels to be hung and perfectly aligned from Dynacorn, but this is growing into a monstrosity. (FYI I'm doing the body work and paint myself...so that's not included in the 100 hour quote).


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[750-h2]

There is quit a bit of work involved if you want a laser straight body and perfect body gaps. A fellow I know bought a 1967 Mustang Dynacorn shell. He shopped around and was quoted $50,000 cdn to 75,000 cdn just to dial in the shell to perfection. Keep in mind these prices were from high end resto shops.

[Blake129]

Granted I started with an entire shell, I'm not trying to build a SEMA car, I just want a good looking car to go racing


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[Cuda Cody]

That looks like a great way to start!!!!  So much easier to work with non rusted panels.     What engine and trans do you have planned?

[7212Mopar]

Perfect body car to take it to racing?

[Blake129]

Perfect body car to take it to racing?

I said good looking, not perfect


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[Blake129]

That looks like a great way to start!!!!  So much easier to work with non rusted panels.     What engine and trans do you have planned?

440 stroked to 512, solid roller cam, Edelbrock victor heads and intake, 2 step setup with some nitrous. 727 with full manual valve body and transbrake.


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[70 Challenger Lover]

100 hours doesn't seem like all that much when it comes to work like that. It would be wonderful if they could just loosen things and shift it around until it lines up perfectly but it never works like that. It will take hours to get the front clip on right just to see how it all lines up. They might have said 100 knowing it will probably be less rather than chance quoting low and upsetting you when they hit snags.

[anlauto]

I'm a little confused....You're building a "good looking race car", and you're capable of doing your own body work and paint, but you feel it necessary to pay someone for "panel alignment" ?  Why couldn't you just do this yourself ?

What could be so bad that in would take one person two and a half weeks to align ?  12.5 days, working 8 hours a day to align panels on a race car is a little excessive in my opinion

My metal guy would charge 100 hours to INSTALL two quarter panels, trunk floor trunk extensions etc...

[Blake129]

I believe there's a little misunderstanding. This is going to be a street car that I take to car meets and occasionally take to the strip.


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[70 Challenger Lover]

I'm a little confused....You're building a "good looking race car", and you're capable of doing your own body work and paint, but you feel it necessary to pay someone for "panel alignment" ?  Why couldn't you just do this yourself ?

What could be so bad that in would take one person two and a half weeks to align ?  12.5 days, working 8 hours a day to align panels on a race car is a little excessive in my opinion

My metal guy would charge 100 hours to INSTALL two quarter panels, trunk floor trunk extensions etc...

I think it would depend on the level of quality that shop wants. Many shops are trying to build or maintain a high end name and wouldn't touch something unless they were allowed to take it to a certain level or beyond.

The husband of my wife's best friend owns one of those shops. I was hoping for a buddy price paint job but that was a no go. When I inquired about prices, that's when he explained all that for me. His shop charges between $20k and $50k for a paint job after the body is finished and ready for final blocking. And they won't paint over someone else's work. At $100 an hour, some of his customers have paid over $50k just to get their cars fixed and ready for final blocking. His shop did nice work though and many of their cars went to SEMA over the years but I guess 100k of body work gets you there. I used to go in his shop and drool. I always saw employees carefully taking their time on something like they were crafting faberge eggs. Doesn't surprise me a bit that certain shops might want 100 hours of labor to go over a car like that.

[anlauto]

I think it would depend on the level of quality that shop wants. Many shops are trying to build or maintain a high end name and wouldn't touch something unless they were allowed to take it to a certain level or beyond.

I agree, but the owner of this car said he was going to do the body and paint himself ? So why would a metal shop care ?

[70 Challenger Lover]

Good point. I suppose welding in the spring relocation and sub frame connectors adds some hours, especially if they are the US Car Tools type that have to be painstakingly fitted to the floors first.

By the way, your metal guy is giving you a great deal by only charging 100 hours for two quarters and an entire trunk floor. He must be really good at it to bang it out so quickly.

[Rich G.]

His shop charges between $20k and $50k for a paint job after the body is finished and ready for final blocking. !!!!! I'd pull that car out of there as fast as I could! Either I'm reading this wrong or you misunderstood something. I don't get it, I know it takes time to block and paint but that's after the hard work is done. I'd hate to have the whole car done there. Wow!

[70 Challenger Lover]

His shop charges between $20k and $50k for a paint job after the body is finished and ready for final blocking. !!!!! I'd pull that car out of there as fast as I could! Either I'm reading this wrong or you misunderstood something. I don't get it, I know it takes time to block and paint but that's after the hard work is done. I'd hate to have the whole car done there. Wow!

Me too! There was no misunderstanding, trust me. I was floored when he told me that but he had no shortage of customer cars in there. I knew one guy who took a car there and kept dolling at 2-3k every month. Car was making progress but very slowly. After 9 months, the guy started adding it up and realized he had spent 26k and still didn't have a car ready for primer. That was just a handful of repairs and overall fitting.

He can't be the only shop like that either. There was a shop in Tennessee and another in Chicago that would pay him to fly and just to squirt paint. Imagine what that shop must be charging their customer to hire someone to fly across country just for that. I only saw the inside of that madness simply because his wife and mine were friends since childhood.