i sanded the whole car with 100 grit today took forever shaved the door locks and handles off, filled in the lines around the turbo bump hood so its all smoth and did alot of body work. its lookin real good i hope to spray primer tommorow and move to 160 and then primer and to 200 then primer and 260 call it a day and send her off to be painted high gloss jet black. im also going to be relocating the gas filler to inside the rear of the car(redraif gave me the idea) i like how it smooths out the car much better +++ i also lowered it ALOT the fron is about 2" from the ground and the rear maybe 3" id rides like a beast very rough... ill post pictures tommorow

kevin

 

I can't wait to see the pics, good luck with it.

 

260 is a pretty heavy grit, I think I would wet sand and block with 400 or 600 before going to the painter.

 

Cool, cant wait to see the pics! You might want to build a vented enclosure around the gas filler, to prevent any fumes from getting inside the car. Thats something we're adding to redraif's car, since occasionally you get a gas smell in the car.

 

I love how he says occasionally. You can tell he si only in the car occationally!

No its only after I just fill up.

 

ok ok it took me a lil bit to get the pictures because my camera was being really fun...

i took alot filled the memory card right up on the digital camera so ill post most related ones but first i have a question

redraif or lt1, what did u use to make the bend for rerouting the gas filler??

and heres the pics tell me what u guys thing or anything i should change thanks

 

Heres a shot of the door handle and lock shaved

 

heres a pic of my 5 point harness, still need the seat covers tho

 

i mounted the door popper buttons into the wheel wells one on the passenger side and two on the drivers so i can open my door and the passenger door from my side

 

I got a turbo bump hood but at the intake part of it i didint like how it had a indented rectangle aroudn the top car so i filled that in to keep the smoothness of the car flowing

 

i also shaved the antenna

 

when i first got this car it was a tbi 2.8v6 that blew up and i bought this 77 Impala 350 2 bolt main, this is its second rebuild the first time the cam shredded itself and metal shavings fried all my bearings. comp cams warrentied it for me so its all done again much much better this time i have a couple engine pics but they are really dirty from all the body sanding:lala:

 

heres with the headers and wire looms

 

the pics of the engine are too big 2 post ill haveto set the camera on a lower quality and take more later heres the door lock actuator a cheap lil 10 buck thing

 

and heres the last picture for today just one above the car shot, i hope to shoot primer today lol its 625 AM so ill take some pictures later

 

what grit did you use? your potty seems rather rough still from the pics.... I'd suggest you use an air sander (rotax) with grit 180 or do it with grit 200 manually if you can't use air tools... just My 2 cents good luck I should begin to work on mine in a week or less.. the snow outside is almost all melted since I don't have a garage of my own

keep the work going it will look sharp

 

So far ive only sanded my car with 100 grit using a orbital air sander.

 

I'd suggest you sand it with 180... 100 will do if youuse a thick primer... but it will still be much longer to sand afterward to get it smooth

 

oh I forgot... a nice trick too.. to make sure your repairs are filled properly... your first coat of primer... filled the repairs first then apply 3 not so thick coat of primers everywhere else you want to apply it... that way you make sure your repairs will be hidden properly and your paint protected against the potty

 

Lookin' good,can't wait for it to be finished. Oh and you better sand down the "potty".You'll have a hard time taking a crap!

 

Id keep eye on those door pop buttons. When i lowered my car that much the tires used to always scrub the top of the inner fender when it went over bums. You might end up ripping those buttons right off.

 

i was actually thinking that about those buttons because its pretty low and that would be really bad to have them ripped off i might relocate then under the front bumper or possibly the rear? any ideas??? today i sanded with 260 and 300, later tonight im going to hand sand with 500 and then my friends dad is going to spray it tommorow just primer tho soon enough itll be high gloss jet black...

 

believe me, there is no need to go smaller than what you are right now... grit 500 might even be troublesome as it can be too small for the primer to grip correctly and it might peel off later

 

If it were me i would hide one button under the rear bumper as a fale safe button and i would use an alarm that had two extra channels and use one channel per door. So you could do it by remote.

 

well my car didint come with power locks i had to install the actuators myself and i have the bulldog remote door lock system, Model KE100, it has a trunk release button i was going to wire that for my driverside door release, but then i would haveto have the passenger button inside the car. i dont know any ideas? TA88GTA where in vancouver u at???

 

We used a piece of flexible exhaust tubing from Autozone, along with HD gas hose from Napa for the joint. The flex tubing was brazed to the end of the original filler neck (containing the threads and the flapper valve). I'd recommend having a new filler neck bent from regular steel (by a muffler shop), so it will look a little more OEM. The flex stuff worked fine though.

 

The idea of having buttons on the outside of the car would bother me a little, for security reasons...on my TA, I'm going to mount the release buttons inside the rear hatch storage compartment. That way, if the remote fails, I can always unlock the hatch and pop the button. I'm also looking into mounting a power window switch there so that if the solenoid fails it will still allow me to roll down the window.

 

the actuators lock and unlock the doors with keyless entry... its the same as havign a handle people can pull it up and down but it wont open, same with the button people can push it all day if they really want but i better never catch them im thinking of relocating the buttons flush under the side mirrors, ill post pics tommorow..

??did u haveto drop the tank to make those adjustments to reroute the filler???

 

ok guys i cant decide... i moved my car from my warehouse to my friends dads garage hes been doing body work for a long long time and hes helpin me it should be all ready and primered in 4-5 days depending on how much time i get in on her but when its ready what color am i going to paint it??? i origianally wanted high gloss jet black.. but then today i was thinking of a really bright yellow something that really stands out with really dark tinted windows on some nice 16" chromes tucked into the fenders i dont know ideas? what u guys think i should do?

 

Im in east vancouver, not too far from you.
I like the idea of the buttons in the side view mirror. They would be easily accessable buit not very noticable.

 

Yes, the tank was being dropped anyway to replace the fuel pump, so we decided to shave the filler while it was out. It actually made re-installation much easier, since the filler neck is usually the problem. I cut it off with a hack saw to minimize the chance of sparks.

 

On the buttons. I had mine hidden in my side mirrors before I went to the 4th gen style. I had them glued to the backside of the actual mirror itself. The button was hidden from view on the inside of the mirror's body. I could reach in a finger and push the button if I needed to. Mostly I relied on the remote though. The button was backup. I did not want anyone getting the low down on where the button was.

 

Question, why are you worried about 5-point harnesses and such when you've shaved your handles and your car isn't track-legal now anyway?

Car's looking good though!

 

Can anyone post where this is stated in the NHRA rulebook? I don't have one handly and never noticed this rule before, even though people always bring it up.

In Redraif's case, and mine, we typically race at only two tracks...Silver Dollar Raceway in Reynolds, GA, and Headhunter (1/8th mile) in Eatonton, GA. Neither cares.

 

I would definately move them. It's a long shot, but picture this. A rock of another object gets flung up into the wheel well while driving down the road, and pops the button. Might just scare the crap out of you, or even worse, you fall out of the car.

 

Hm, well I don't have an NHRA rulebook, I'm just going on what I've heard from here, so I can't give you anything concrete on this... I too would like someone to post where that is stated in the rulebook as I'd like to know as well.

Quote:

I would definately move them. It's a long shot, but picture this. A rock of another object gets flung up into the wheel well while driving down the road, and pops the button. Might just scare the crap out of you, or even worse, you fall out of the car.

Buckle your seat belt.

 

today i moved the buttons inside of the side view mirror i had to fab a bracket to hold the buttons and then brace it. the buttons are flush with the bottom of the mirror body it looks good there is two buttons side by side one for drivers one for passengers. who cares who knows where ur buttons are the doors are still locked??? iits like pulling ur handles up and down they can do it all day but it wont open the door

 

Sweet! Can't wait to see some pics.

With my car there was some odd thing going on with my locks... When the alarm would lock my doors, the poppers would not work and vice versa. Never figured that out. The alarm guys added the remote lock relay, so I'm wondering if they did something wrong.

Anyway, in your case it does not matter in mine it would. So for now I have no exterior button (4th gen mirror conversion killed my old idea)

Glad yours is coming along so nice though!

 

i havent had the time to snap the pictures im pushing really hard to get it on the road for this sunday, as soon as possible ill get them to u guys

 

AHHH yes the pics have arrived, the body work was great fun.. i ended up renting a flat trailer and moved my car to my buddys house so his dad could give me a hand a 30 years over experienced body man so he knows whats going on days and days of work but shes primered black DP90 epoxy black thats the just of it but yeah here some pics for ya

 

2

 

3

 

4

 

The two buttons are extremely hard to see i sanded the little tiny bit that stuck out off so they are completely flat but its lookin very good

 

Do your self a favor and ditch those door switches for some waterproof ones. I hit a puddle on day and pop'd both doors open. Not good or safe.

Nice body work though.

 

i sprayed the wires and connections and my bracket with a high enamel paint so that no connections are exposed i shouldent have a problem

 

Thats not the issue, the water gets inside the switch and pop, you fall out your door.

 

interesting... ill haveto get some waterproof buttons then.. falling out heheh 5 point 3" rci racing harness i dont think im gonna fall out

 

looks great

as for the 5 point harness
well we've all had those days when we simpley did not put on the oem belt let alone that monster lol
anyway i'd love more info on the door set up
i'm thinking of shaving as well and after seeing it again
i'm sold

 

:hail:

Wow. That car looks amazing... very smooth ;-) I'd like to shave the handles and everything myself, but I'm not sure I'll ever get around to it--but the antenna is definitely gonna be going away soon :-D Can't wait to see yours painted!


Oh, and there are countless places inside the car to put a passenger's door release button--I suggest you put one in anyway so you don't have to reach out of the car or lean over whenever you wanna open the passenger's door. Actually, I'd do two buttons, one for each door, and mount them next to each other on the console somehow. I'm not certain what your console looks like (I'm a Camaro guy), but it's gotta be possible, and I think it'd look pretty good. If there's nowhere on the console (or in the console, for that matter), there's always room under or on the front of the dash. I'm actually planning on putting door switches (if I ever get around to shaving them) under the headlight switch and cig. lighter in my car (see attached pic... the Berlinetta already has a switch where one of the buttons would be going). There'd have to be some similar spot on your dash, right?