Well its been 1 1/2 years & I finally am able to drive & enjoy. All work was done by me, including my 1st time try at painting ( in my garage/shop ). I did build this car to drive, and during nice weather I will drive it to work everyday ( 40 mile round trip ). The trouble is now my son wants to take it out all the time. Oh well enjoy & thanks for all the unseen/unheard help that I have gotten from this great site & you guys/gals on this message board.

Thanks, Steve Porter

 

Here's some more for your viewing pleasure.

 

Take of the bra!

Other than that, very nicely done. Love the stripes down the hood.

 

well lets keep this going!!!!

 

Better give my son some props to. Oldschool vs. Newschool!!!




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The only reason for the Bra is that I work at night, and driving to work the BUGS are terrible. They wash off of the bra much easier, and don't leave stains in the paint. I don't care for them to much but I have to use it.

 

Nice car, and that is your first try at painting? **** man, you did a hell of a job!

 

hell of a job man car looks great wish i was close to you get my car painted good job

 

Thats Badd

 

Both you and your son have beautiful cars. Good job on the build man!

 

great job that is a beautiful car...except the bra....but i defintely understand why you have it

 

I disagree i like the bra on there too, the whole car looks great!

 

That paint job looks hot! I wish i had the money to paint my vert that color.

 

Duplicolor invisable spray on bra ftw!

LOOKS AWSOME!!! I hope I can sell my car so I can buy two more cars get them runing and then paint them my self

 

i like it man real nice. i also like how you painted the apillers and around the windshield black that kicks ***.

 

Thanks for the props fellas, and the paint was'nt to bad. I just used a single stage acrylic enamel, and it had some orange peel when I was done. I spent many hours wet sanding w/1500 grit paper, and I buffed it once with a fine cut compound, then swirl remover, and then finished up with a hand glaze. Alot of elbow work but I figure not counting my labor that I saved $1500.00 just on the paint job. There's some spots if you know what your looking for that are there, but all in all not to shabby for ol' pop's here. The wheels & interior are from a wrecked 1998 Camaro, and yes I have the LS1 in the corner of the shop. My next project this winter will be to put the LS1 in the 86.

Thanks again guys for all of your help, maybe I can chime in every now & then, and give some advice for the trail and errors that I have encountered building this ride.

 

Thats a bad a$$ car. Nice job.

 

Nice job.

IMO, grid tailights and the car is cosmetically complete.

 

I think I will run grid tail's next summer after I get the LS1 in. I do have a set, but my son did such a nice job of sanding & polishing the Z tails that I felt compelled to use them. I also have a set of Black 17x9 ZR1's that I think I will put on after the engine swap.

Steve

 

Looks great I love it

 

looks great, alot of hard work payed off.. great job!

 

Damn good job for painting yourself!

 

Great looking ride!!! Great stance on the ride also.

 

looks tight..you shoulda took pics of it without the bra

 

Damn I didn't even notice that. Looks great! I like subtle touches like that.

And that hugger orange could almost pass for my bright red in certain lights.

 

very nice paint for DIY work. esp for 1st time. enjoy it!

 

Ditto on the a-pillars! it ran right passed me...i like it too.

Car looks great, you have good taste...hugger orange in my favorite color and you used anniversary stripes and left them off the roof/bumpers the way they should be

Ditch the bra and your good!

and maybe some grid lights

Also what kinda drop to you have on there? Looks lowered.

 

very hott, props on all your hard work, it looks amazing!

 

Thanks for the props, and ideas fellas. It is lowered with Intrax springs, monroe struts/shocks, and new moog front suspension parts. I also just last weekend put new wheel bearings, rotors, calipers, and brakes on the front. I will wait and do the rear brakes when I get the rearend out of the "98" under there as it has disks.

Steve

 

It looks awesome! Huggar Orange looks really good on our cars.

 

Very nice!

 

Very Nice Car! That is awesome, I bought an 89 RS from a friend a month ago and I was thinking about painting it orange with the black stripes. I found your awesome work here and now I'm certain it would look fantastic in orange.

 

very nice! I like the contrast with the black a-pillars also. I've been debating if I'm going to do the same on my T/A. So that 98 camaro had firebird seats in it, or did you get those elsewhere? The LS1 should make your camaro perfect

 

Awesome Z!!!! As for the bra, take it off for sure. Not only for looks, but they do damage to your new paint. Wind gets under it, and it moves around. Also, traps sand, etc which when moving around causes tiny scratches in your new paint. Put on a double/triple coat of wax on the nose and bugs wash right off. I show my car and drive it to shows, so I know about getting bugs off. Anyway, that is a nice car.

 

you need to paint those headlamp pockets black IMO..

 

nice looking car! and i love the black windshield frame haven't seen that on any other car lately, but it'd really be nice to see it with the bra off.

 

this is the color i am painting mine! but with exact same stips but white!! and no bra , thats sick man

 

awesome color combo. i like the painted a-pillars. take some pics of the car with the tops on and the windows up so we can see what that looks like.

ditch the bra, or at least take some pics with it off so we can see how nice it really is

awesome job

 

Steve, your car is just stunning - you did a beautiful job on it and I love the color. Lots of comments on the bra, and I fully understand the desire to keep the paint safe from rock chips and all, but a couple of things to consider:

1. If you leave it on all the time it will cause clouding of the paint as moisture gets trapped under it. Guaranteed.
2. It looks to be sort of loose fitting, which means the wind will slap it endlessly against the paint and beat the crap out of it.

I don't mind the look of the bra one bit, and even if I hated the look, so what? It's your car. But I'll go out on a limb here and say I'm damn sure YOU won't like the look of what the bra will ultimately do to your car.

 

What he said.

 

got any with the bra off of the car

 

that paint job looks awesome. props for being brave enough to attempt it yourself.