The Facebook brigade - i.e. Datsun Club UK group - makes me cringe on a regular basis tbh. I occasionally stick my oar in when I can't take the misinformation and brainlessness, but I think I'd just be better off blocking the group from my feed!
On FB I gave my thoughts based on my DIY experience; 80 hours as a full-time exercise seemed high to me based on that and a previous professional quote I had before I went DIY which was 28 days for ALL the fabrication work on my project shell and panels (extent of that covered in the Project Dixie thread!). I guess I was also thinking along the lines of having done it to a Z before, being 100% familiar with the specifics of that car, and how it would be easier a second time, pre-empting issues, etc.
If I can find the quote document, it will have the hours planned for the floors itemized in it - I'll report back if I find it. This was from a specialist welding business who restore and modify everything from industrial equipment to cars; I've seen stuff in progress there from a Honda CRX to a stripped-to-the-bare-frame Ferrari Testarossa.
Would be great if you could find that! Whilst I agree that the FB Group is difficult, it's hard to get a wide range of answers except for on FB! The American groups are significantly more active, but they have a pretty different idea on what they would consider rusty!
Also relevant; how much does an hour cost? What's the rate?
An hour's work rate charged by a one-man-in-a-shed, non-VAT registered type business in one of the areas of the UK that has lower overheads is going to be fairly different to that of a company with several staff, high rent, meaty overheads, charging VAT and in a high overhead region of the UK.
Personally I would be more interested (worried...!) in the bottom line than whatever hours are quoted.
Whilst I understand that the bottom-line is the important number to me, it's not necessarily a good way of finding out what I could expect cost - someone getting a professional repair in Lithuania will have a significantly cheaper invoice than if they paid someone in central London, even if the skillset was the same. If each of these examples took 40 hours, then I'd feel comfortable believing that 40 hours is roughly how long it takes. However if the Lithuanian example cost £1000 and the London example cost £10,000 then it would be hard to tell what an appropriate figure would be. For clarity, I'm being offered a rate of approx. £56/hr including VAT. The company is approx. 2 years old and they work on a variety of cars ranging from £10 to £100k, with good reviews and personal recommendations. However, the owner has made it clear that he 'does not rush' his work and whilst I can respect that, I can't necessarily afford to be that precious myself!
What will (hopefully) be universal is the time taken to do a like-for-like repair by a professional fabricator. Of course there will be differences in skill, but that's what the idea of getting responses from several people.
Rather than looking at the time it takes, you need to consider the quality of the work that the person will do
I clearly want a
good job, but fundamentally it's a welding/fabrication job on metal that will not be visual to anyone but an MOT tester. I want it to be good, with strong and long lasting joins, but I'm not looking to pay twice as much to ensure it looks perfectly OEM - especially considering how the car is far from that anyway.
I guess part of the question is, are you ready for anything else that might get thrown up? Whats your gut feeling on the bodywork condition?
The metal appears to be fine - even the floorpans themselves aren't full of holes. They did have surface rust 4 years ago and I put some rust converter on it as a temporary measure - I'm looking to make a more permanent fix now that I am able to. The bodywork is in good condition, and the metal inside the sills appear fine through an endoscope. The only visible rust is the rear sill, extending slightly inwards at the back of the floor pan, and on the bottom of each door.
Thanks to all those who have answered. All opinions are valid and any discussion is productive.