I'm trying to plan my restoration. Trying to get my mind around the steps involved in the reassembly process. This would be starting with having an empty shell with an assembled sub frame attached. the rear end would be on or off, depending on what I find out here. The goal is to not put something on the car then come along with something else to install and realize I need to remove the last thing to get it on there. Not looking for every detail. Just thinking about what goes first, like...rear end, gas tank, fuel and brake lines, interior, glass, wiring harness, engine, transmission, etc.

Common sense should dictate some of it, but I'm just looking for the general order of things and even maybe some tips on what to do or not do to avoid as much frustration as possible. I want to be able to write down a timeline and some goals to keep things moving along and to see some real progress. I do have an assembly manual when needed

I hope that makes sense.

 

Electrical in the shell, engine transmission on sub frame, then install sub frame, oh wait... Interior fan and heater box or AC on before fender, inner fender before outer fender, doors before fenders, electrical in engine compartment after sheet metal, floor prep before electrical ( like to treat the floor before I do any thing)
Heater and AC box and fan
Brake lines fuel lines under car stuff emergency brake cable just hang first cable
Hang all sheet metal doors then fenders its easier to do the engine before fenders etc.
I like to install the engine before sub-frame but not absolute
Rear end can be done independently as you want to hang it, its remote so until you get to brakes and lines it can go anytime
Treat floor boards with sound deadener, linex, bed liner, etc. do not use under coating
Electrical could be next and start the basic routing of it
Glass
Hood I remove after fitting sheet metal and save for last
You can save the fuel tank for last or anytime after the rear end is in place

 

In most builds, there will likely be some repetitive assembly/disassembly. I hate that part, but often test fitting is a necessity before the car can go to final assembly. Especially if you've replaced any body panels, as reproduction parts will need to be test fitted, and the trim test fitted to them also.
If you avoid a pre assembly, and test fit, you might find yourself drilling holes, or filing out holes and adjusting panels with fresh paint. Nothing worse than assembling pieces and finding they don't fit right, and then scratching brand new paint.
We just finished test fitting doors, complete front sheet metal, and all the lights, and trim on my buddy's '68 Camaro. He has stock fenders and doors, but two new rear quarter panels, new tail panel, new upper and lower valances, and new core support. I'm so glad we assembled it before paint, as it took a lot of fitting, and modifying to make the mixture of old and new parts fit. I'm sure we'd have scratched new paint if we waited until after to fit things. It takes extra time, but it's a necessity, or risk botching the restoration.

 

Wow! Thank you both. That's exactly the kind of stuff I'm looking for. We did replace almost all the metal and have done some test fitting. I think we're gonna leave the fine tuninh for the body man since he'll be working on the massaging we've done to some spots.

 

Hope you've got the money to let a body man fine tune the pieces! It's extremely time consuming, but it's something a hobbyist can do, and save a lot of money! I've got several days fitting and tuning pieces, and making sure it will all go together. Would have cost in the area of about $2500 more if left for the body shop to do.
I also try to get panels and dings as smooth as possible, and then shoot epoxy primer. That way the body shop just has maybe a day or less to finish getting it ready to shoot.

 

I'm guessing dad will want to do more fit and finish before we send it off. Maybe I'm naive but I don't feel like there's gonna be a a ton of body work to do. Basically all the metal is new. I know even new stuff has imperfections and all, but the only real specific thing that sticks out otherwise is the curvature of the deck lid where dad altered it to make the gap correct. But, I know very little about the body prep side of things, so I could be totally off base. We're still looking for someone anyway. We went to a big indoor classic car show over the weekend, so I picked up a business card for a shop and we saw lots of nice paint jobs..lol