Hey there, I'm living in Clackamas, and soon will be wanting ( after the 2 million things to do to this car is over with, hehe) to get the body preped for paint. its a bit rough, and needs some minor rust spots and small to med. dents fixed. I need a shop that will not charge me an arm and a leg to get it done. ( i'm a workin class guy with slim to none budget) as well as good work. HELL, I'LL EVEN HELP WITH THE WORK IF IT WILL KEEP THE COST DOWN!!!!! Any help would be appreciated! I want to eventually join the Oregon club here when its finally done, but doesnt make much sense when the cars dead in the water at this point.My ride is in the pics here. its the nasty old lookin blue one.hehe :cool:

oops!!!!!!!!! 8O

can't help with locating a shop- but i will tell you joining the Oregon Club NOW when you are trying to get the work done is the best move you could make.

Those guys DO have all the local contacts and know how to get the work done for a good prices. Hook up with them now while your building it and borrow the experience from the group!!!

They are a bunch of good guys and i know they will be more than willing to help point you in the right directions.

Dont let the fact that your car is a work in progress stop you from joining our club. I have taken mine to shows and club functions for 3 years now and it is finally in the paint shop now. We have members that have been here since the begining and still cannot drive the cars that they are working on. I know of a couple of members that dont even have a chevelle or an elcamino. Besides getting alot of info and meeting great people, members also get discounts at places. Please take a look at our website and consider joining before you elky is finished. This forum is great but for first hand person to person help a local club is the way to go. Our web address is www.chevelles.net/oregon Hope to meet you in person soon.

Douglas Hart
Vice President
Chevelle & Elcamino
Club Of Oregon

Thanks guys! i will get to joining this month! I really apreciate the info and help, i'll see ya soon guys. by the way, my elky is in the members cars area, its blue. see ya!!!!! 8)

You will want to buy patch panels if you aren't an exprienced thin gage welder. The larger the replacement panel the thin it tends to be. I don't know why this is. Once getting the panels and trimmed to fit and so on use GMAW(MIG) process using .029 solid core wire. Use a copper backing plate to prevent melt through. Remember heat creates distortion. I would go to a Harbor Freight and buy a HVLP paint gun and line drier. You will need to use a sealer / primer. You will want to lay two even coats using 500watt lights to let cure. Spray a guide coat and sand until guide coat is gone. use a polyester primer for filling small imperfections. Spray guide coats once each layer is cured then sand. You will have saved yourself about $1200 then you can take it to a body shop to have the basecoat and color sprayed for $600 - $1000 sanded and buffed. you will come out spending roughly $1600 to $2000. Good luck