I was thinking last night that I my replace the entire shell on my 80 with sunroof. However I have a few questions. How much should I expect to pay for one? Where would I look beside here? What years could I use as an exact fit (my guess would be 80 only due to the sunroof) How easy will it be to find one that has not been wrecked and no to low rust? Not sure if I'll do it yet but having these answers would help.

 

i suggest looking for a new shell at the junk yards. you can usually get them fairly cheap (especially if the internals are gone or almost gone). I found 8 good shells at my local pick n pull and 2 at the local import only boneyard. expect to pay about 3 or 4 hundred for it if you do it that way. you might be able to barter and negotiate with the yard owner/operator or even buy off one of the employees

 

i forgot to add this also, but look for people selling their fb in your town. i know that here there are a few and people are letting them go for damn near nothing because they need serious work. if you see one ask the guy what his plans for it are.

 

I've seen one fb in town.. In 3 years.. never one for sell.. Seen one in the junk yard and I put that rust bucket there after cleaning it out for parts.

 

theres still plenty in the junk yards here, ive seen some nice ones too! an 80rx7 with 67k miles on it, perfect interior, decent paint, engine looked rough, but thats the easy part...

 

Free '82 shell in kansas.

Nearly rust free IIRC.

 

the ones in my junk yards all had the original glass, in most cases all the body panels, and there were like 2 that still had the majority of the interior. engines on all looked rough and there were no carbs or rat's nests (i think that since im in norcal people are getting all the emissions stuff they can from them)

 

Thanks Alex-7 but I want to stink close as I can to a 80.. Think the bumper parts are different.

Wow it seems California is the place to look for one.. Shipping would kill me!! I'm still thinking shell ves. welding!!

 

Damn, I just sent a decent shell to the scrapyard last week.... Could have had that for free.

 

i have a shell that has a sun roof if you want i could cut the top off it and send you that for a price.............it really might be ez'er to just weld in a sun roof than swaping everthing out

 

Kentetsu,damn your killing me! Anyway Thanks for the thought!

81gsl12a, don't need the sunroof area alone I need the whole thing.. I found some front end damage that leaves me a bit uncomfortable. I was thinking of replacing the whole shell.. because I'm in the process of a restoration, anyway replacing the shell would not be to bad. I like the sunroofs on the cars and I think it makes the experience so much better. However if I get a shell I want it unaltered so the sunroof will have to be stock. What I would like to do is clean it then paint it. Little body work. a tumor here and there no big deal but cancer is a no go!