My teacher struck me with a good one this time

[Kaitsu]

I was writing my theory part of my project Aspen and then got caught on a question: how can one unassemble a unibody chassis without tearing down everything else? I mean, I gave my teacher a hypothesis that I could first buy and recondition all of my parts, such as the engine, transmission, axle, AC system, suspension.... you catch my drift. So, when all of this is found, bought and repaired/reconditioned, I could tear down my car and go for the painting booth. Is this the only way to get a unibody painted properly to get all the rust off the tough places and get the bottom rust- and rock proofed? (we salt all the major roads here in Finland at winter).

My car is horizontal two- toner, with sand for the upper part and latte brown on bottom. I guess they are the originals you see on the brochure for 1980 Aspen. Where could I find the matching paint codes to get the reconstructed feeling I need to get?

Off-topic: I´m glad I didn´t go for the official programme that I needed to be at school every day 8 to 4 and fix those new cars with computer and an ammeter.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Not sure I fully understand the.....question?
There's a lot of ways to go about restoring cars.
From a quickie job to a full rotisserie resto.
Check out Blackbird's thread "Second Chance At A Mopar"

 

[Kaitsu]

I´m sorry, I just woke up before I wrote the message. So, my teacher wanted to know when I´m going to do the painting part of my exam. I have never thought of how unibody cars are disassembled for painting. So the question is, if I want to properly repaint my body inside out, do I need to remove everything before getting hands on the exterior parts? What I understood was that unibody cars don´t have the separate frames but the body itself carries all the weight.

At night I had a dream of buying all the components needed for my dream Aspen before doing anything to it, then just got the car in atoms, repainted it and started to reassemble. There I had this brand new Aspen with 0 miles on the clock. All this was done in about 30 minutes. A good dream.

 

[Rattle Trap]

The short answer is; buy a second car to disaasemble and recondition all the pieces of, then hang on your car after you strip it down and repaint.

There isn't anything that can be rebuilt until you disassemble that segment of the vehicle unless you have spare parts that will become replacements.

So it's a series of small projects that add up over time and equal a complete vehicle. Unless you blow the whole thing into a million pieces and go after everything all at once. As far as the unibody goes, you can't disassemble that without jigging the car to replace such major pieces. Just clean and paint if they're in good shape. The unibody carries the weight, but it's just the bottom of the body. You can fix it in portions, just like a single door or fender or anything else.

 

[Kaitsu]

Okeeey, now I´m starting to get it. So, if I have small, starting rusting, mostly because poor previous paintjob, I can blast it and make a total do- over. Thanks for the relief.

I´m sorry for my first post by the way. I just re-red it and it seems like someone wrote it hungover...

 

[Rattle Trap]

I was being facetious about buying a second car. Most things on this simple platform can be disassembled rebuilt and reassembled in a day, or weekend. As long as you have the proper tools and take the multitude of projects in small bites, you never need to take the car off the road for longer than your labor takes. It's just like building a model car. Sub-assemblies can be done at your discretion, but many bits build upon each other, so theres a general sequence to follow.

I don't really encourage most people to do things like I do. I tear em apart and and just start over from the bottom. Making a big mess of everything is kinda how I roll. Lol !~!