Just posting some pictures of my project. I'm not exactly rich so I'm doing it all myself except for spraying the car. This is the progress I've made in the last three years. I had owned it for about 2 years at this point. Here's how it looked just before I took it apart, with the clear chipping off and several dents/dings Started with new carpet and sound deadener. Found some rust as a result of bad weatherstrip.

Decided to cut it out and replace it with another panel from a donor car.

Rust turned out to be worse than I thought...

Grinding + POR 15


Sectioning donor roof


Started bodywork

Found a freebee hood complete with bullet hole.


3 Coats of paint was too much for me. So I decided to strip the car completely.




Started welding in patch panel.


Back in it's cocoon for now, up next is install the new goodmark hood (freebee hood turned out to be junk), replace hinge pins with TDS kit, finish bodywork on doors, And media blast ground effects. Hopefully get more done this weekend.


Thanks for looking, any constructive criticism welcome.

Looking great wish I was able to do good body work haveing a garage might help first LOL. Its nice to see people fix rust the right way

Reminds me of my 87 before I started. Just got to love that cheeeeeaaaapp azz clear-coat from GM. My Z, my silverado,my bird, my 1500WT, all had the clear popping off like dandruff from a hippie. Looks good my man, let's see more.

OMG IS THAT A BUICK GRAND NATIONAL!!!?

dont have a heart atack there LOL J/k

Yeah its an 87 Grand National. Its a nasty car, front mount huge turbo roller cam. Its sweet, but unfortunately always broken....and not mine

still a dope a** car though :P haha..camaros lookin good too

I don't see a Camaro in that picture. Only see one car and what appears to be a floating car cover next to it. hehe

Didn't get much done this weekend. I got the left door straight, and ready for primer. I started working on the right door, still needs a few hours of work. Also installed another fuel pump, the Walbro that ran for a total of 15 min I installed last year was toast. Still have to do the hinge pins, hood, and right fender this week.

I need a little input, I'm going shopping for primer tonight. I've read conflicting stuff on putting etching primer down, or putting 2K down over the bare sheet metal and filler. The whole car has been sanded with 80 and 120 to remove all old paint. Opinions?

I got a "new" hood for cheap, only problem is it has shipping damage. It took a couple of hours but it cleaned up nicely. Sorry for the weak cell phone pics.
Got the hood on and started playing with a high spot in the left fender, then it started to rain. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.




Let my son burn some energy with a dead blow on the old hood.

I replaced the upper and lower hinge pins on the left door. I had planned to do both doors, but the upper hinge was badly bent on the left and it took me hours to get it done. I'd say the upper hinges were shot, note the wear on the pin on the right.

Had to make a contraption to hold the door while I did the hinges by myself.

thats a slick idea usin a cherry picker to hold that heavy a$$ door....lol....keep up the good work man and keep us all updated with pics bro....

I finally found the time to get back to work. I lined up a guy to paint the car in two weeks, so I gotta get moving. I started stripping the ground effects last week using a soda blaster. It worked well, but I couldn't get the technique down. As soon as I got it close to the fiberglass it started pitting it. So I used it to get the clear and a majority of the repaints off, then finished with a DA. I also discovered the main section of the rear wing is from another car, and had red metallic paint under the 3 layers of black.




I would blast till I got to this point, then sand.

This represents 10 hours of work.


Hopefully in another week it will be ready to get sprayed.

I didn't get too much done this weekend. Got the roof welding finished, but still have to do some grinding. I went over the whole car with the DA to get some of the flash rust off. Also got the hood and fenders adjusted thats about it...
Tonight I'll finish some grinding and finish sanding the ground effects. Hopefully some more interesting pictures of the car in the paint booth, maybe getting wet sanded soon.

Little update.
I finished the roof, (pics are from before I finished filling the holes) I started installing the exhaust, and blew all the sanding dust off the car. I still have to remove the hatch glass and separate the decklid from it. I filled some nicks and scratches in the ground effects, and got them as flat as I can.
The painter is going to pick up the car on thursday, I'm really getting excited now.

nice project!

Nice work Brother! I got lucky with mine and found a body shop that let me do my own work in his garage. Made a new friend too. I'm glad I didn't have to replace my roof, I just needed a new T bar. It is all worth it when done though.

Thanks!
I can't wait to drive this thing again. I have 3 days to finish sanding the front spoiler, and the door ground effects. After that its on the trailer and going to the shop.
I just bought the assembly manual, hopefully it will remind me of where all the nuts and bolts on the front end go.

I got the hatch glass off last night, and seperated it from the sheet metal. I also got all of the garbage and sanding dust out of the car. I have to put a couple of bolts in the exhaust flange, and give it one more hit with the air nozzle and load it up tonight.

Painter just came by to pick it up (how cool is that?)

Hopefully some good pics soon of it in primer, and fresh paint. Should take 4-5 weeks to get it home.

Update...
The car is in paint. Tuesday he'll paint the bumpers, ground effects and mirrors. Hopefully a completed car coming soon.



sorry about the cell phone pics. I'll have some nice ones next week

Just got the car back. I'm going to assemble it at work, and give it back to the painter to do some more buffing. It looks really good, but I'm gonna have to try to be really careful not to scratch it.

NICE!!!! Keep the pics coming!!!

Looking great. I have a black 86 IROC myself, but it looks more like you in progress photos

fantastic build. cant wait 2 see more pics

Thanks everybody! I'll post up more pics when I get the front cover and the rear glass in it. I'm also planning on refinishing the wheels, and when the paint about a month old I'll put all the decals on it.

Well, been working hard but almost done. I had to repaint all of the interior plastics, the outside of the T-tops, and put down some cloth type sound deadener. I installed the carpet, console, front and rear covers, and the weatherstripping. I'm still waiting on the front spoiler to get re-painted and anxiously waiting for my new emblems, and decals. I was able to scuff the stock louvers and paint them with trim paint. I also used 5 min plastic epoxy to attach screws for use as studs to hold them down. I still have more to go but here's a teaser picture.
Thanks for looking

What an awesome job you did and appreciate all the picks along the way. My top looked like yours before so I reckon I may have to swap tops out too.

1) Hardees-mmmmmmm
2) Is that your painters truck towing your car? Looks nice as hell
3)MAD props for restoring this car. The first Iroc I really saw up close was an 86 black & gold t-top. This guy used to cruise my apt complex with one trying to holla at the ladies. It was brand new (86) and he used to smoke em going down the street. I was in high school and it was the first new car I drooled over. I thought it looked better than the white Lambo on my wall with the dual spoilers (remember those days?). Good work and good luck!!!

That's the painter's truck, it is very nice in person. He also has an old Impala that he's painting which looks really sweet. I remember those Lambo posters, I thought those cars were incredible.
I've always loved the black and gold Irocs, and even though black is the worst color to have in this part of the country I had to have one.

Thanks for the kind words, I'll have my decals next week, and finish the interior. The car should be almost done next week, and I'll post up some full pictures.

man i hope mine looks that nice this spring Im replacing inner fender wells and floor pans now (almost done) I think the only place my 86 iroc didn't have rust is the T-Top channels lol... looks killer man good job

Wow our 86's look very similar! But yours is going to turn out beyond amazing! I get looks EVERYWHERE and my car is not NEARLY as gorgeous as yours is going to be! Good job! How did the fatmat job go? I am doing that over the winter season (canadian winters are good for indoor projects!) except i may go with hushmat instead.

Edit: I am curious.. Is your 3rd brake light loose on top of the hatch? Mine seems to be able to slide a half an inch up and down the glass... But it's attached pretty good, I just can't figure out why it's loose like that?

Thanks! The fatmat went pretty good, Its easier to work with when its warm outside. I started doing mine at the end of summer, and got sidetracked. When I got back to it in the winter i had to use a heat gun to get it to form to the contours of the floor. We don't get winters like you guys in Canada, so I would definitely plan on using a heat gun.

The third brake light does have some play in it. I'm gonna take it apart next week, scuff the outside, paint it and see if I can make it more secure.

I just got the front spoiler back today, gonna try and get that on and the "camaro" fog lamp grille on as well. I'm trying to remember how all the rectangular clips went in, and what bolts hold the lower spoiler to the front cover. After that I'm going to get the door panels on, and finish painting the last few interior plastics.

My brother took a few pictures last night with his nice camera. I still haven't put the lower body stripes or the IROC decals on yet, but its coming along nicely. I have a few more interior pieces to install, and a frightening amount of extra screws left over.

Its so nice to drive it again. I'll post some more when I get around to installing the decals and get the paint buffed again.
Thanks for looking!!

one more...I love long exposure shots!

Damn man that looks beautiful! Glad you're fixing her up like u are! I'm ordering the hushmat now actually, probably from a local source as Hawks is in USD and it'll cost alot for shipping/customs. Outta curiosity, how much of the stuff did you need to cover everything up? (How many 12"x12", etc.)

I'm planning on doing complete floor board, underneath side panels, roof, doors, firewall, and every other sport where i can try to insulate it 100%... did you notice a difference in sound/heat/vibration??

Thanks man!
I think I used about 60 or 70 square feet of the sound deadener. I did front to back, and both B pillars. I also did two layers on the floorboards for a little extra protection. The road noise is down significantly, and the floorboards don't seem to get as hot as before. Not a night and day difference, but it is noticable.

Gosh she looks beautiful... Amazing work/attention to detail here, and great motivation for me, as I have an 86 in the same color/trim. I can't wait to see a daylight shot of the finished car!

Yes daylight shot needed!

Nice to see more IROCS with the black/gold combo!

68strat: I actually bought my IROC from a guy in Plymouth, Massacheusetts! Chevy must have sold lots of black/gold 86's back then over there.. haha

Little update, I had to chase down a wiring problem with the Torque converter clutch, got the door panels installed, fixed rattles with the 1LE front calipers, replaced the trans pan gasket and changed the fluids.
I'm thinking I may wait till it cools off till I put the decals on (its still over 100 here).
I'll take a few pics this weekend outside in the daytime..you'll be able to see the car still needs some buffing.

Some daytime pics. Still doesn't look finished without the IROC stickers.

well no stickers give a car that "sleeper" look IMO. I was gonna get the original decals for my trans am after I had it painted a few months ago but I think I might keep it without them... I might get the hood bird though.

get the iroc-z gold stickers.. they look awesome and really make the car stand out from the other basic camaros IMO. That looks sexy.. I have GTO black rear light covers and it makes the rear look really slick i find... are you allowed that in AZ?

*drooling*

Also, if you do put back the stickers, put them in the right place lol! mine were put in the wrong place by the previous owner (check my car for pics).. i plan to correct this next year or in two years when i re-paint!

great job, looks sweet.