Hey guys l am painting my car in a few weeks here I am now in the body work stage. What I really want is ideas for custom fabs I can do before I paint really to just make it unique. I am going to delete (shave) the factory antenna
that is as far as any custom fab work that I can think of doing. I do not want to shave the door handles because I actully like our door handles I think they fit the car. Just shoot me some ides Iwant to see enaything yall have done THANKS!

 

I recently shaved my antenna. Cars look WAY better without the side moldings as well. They don't really do much to protect from door dings. Much cleaner look if you haven't already. I'm a guy who goes for a cleaner look while trying to retain the great factory shape our cars have. Side moldings made a huge difference imo.

Just a sport coupe, but here is side molding delete.

 

I agree with the OP about keeping the door handles.

I also agree with 68Strat about taking off the side moldings.



^ I'm sorry, but to me this picture looks like a picture of toy cars in a sand box. am I the only one?

 

I forget who's car it is but a member here had grafted on some 2nd gen Camaro/Trans Am fender vents which I thought looked absolutely killer!

**edit**
Sickness91Z28 is his user name.

 

Smooth out some stuff amber delete

 

Well I am a little torn I actually like the door moldings but I do like the look of them without it. The deciding factor is in how hard removal Is going to be if we manage to remove them without damaging them I will put them back on.

 

Absolutely GORGEOUS Sport Coupe 68Strat! No such thing as "Just a Sport Coupe" in my opinion!

 

I might do the Gas cap smooth how did you do it?

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...-see-your.html


https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/fabr...some-pics.html

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/auto...ustom-mod.html

that should get your thinking

 

Alright Thanks man i already looked at the first two threads but I didn't see the third one really gave me some great ideas

 

I made a how to awhile ago here you go also check out the thread in my sig for more ideas
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...e-project.html

 

Less of a toy car pic
I am excited to get my refinished IROCs back on the car.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53106660@N03/8281673118/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53106660@N03/7292445268/
I am not a huge fan of fully blacked out tail lights, but I did tint just the amber lenses, which I think cleaned up the look a bit.

Sorry to post so many pics in your thread rfoster... Good luck!

 

The antenna and side molding delete was a must..
When it comes to new paint one of the best things I did was put on stripes with the cowl hood.
The car looks soooo much more aggressive with them. Mine are a custom design .I also went with the "88" short wing. Some like it some don't but that's another thing that separates mine from the rest.
Love your car 68Strat.

 

is it possible for me to get stripes like that will the stock 92 camaro work with a cowl hood. Your right those stripes really do set your camaro off

 

I don't see any reason why not. It’s all in the guy laying them on. Here’s a top view of the stripes on a cowl hood. You can’t see the cowl but you can get an idea as to what they look like.The initial design had rounded corners.There is a 5 in space in the middle.

 

This is the hood I have on mine and it says it fits a 92 Camaro. =
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/gm...t/model/camaro

 

I smoothed out my gas cap as well. It's not hard to do. Cut the finger notch off with you favorite tool, I used a dremel. Then sand a slight depression on the back side so you can fit a small piece of screen in to fill the hole. Epoxy the screen in place, bondo and sand smooth.

I've also done the door molding delete, shaved the antenna, nose emblem and the door handles/locks, and replaced the stock hood hinges with one from an 80's Buick so it is hinged at the front like a Vette.

 

lol I have the exact same hood as you man and I have already shaved the gas cap and antenna ya they were pretty easy

 

I agree the side molding delete is a must. I love the 5" rear spoiler too. Subtle look but looks great imo. I put celebrity headlights on mine. They fill the place of the stock headlights perfectly but now have one big rectangular headlight on each side. Im not sure what year they came off of. I found them in a junkyard for 20 bucks.

 

I really like the stripes man as they look sweet

 

How are you opening it?

 

there is like a spring that lets go if you push on it that pops it out

 

I use a cable release from a Saturn on mine.

 

Not sure which one you're referring to, the hood or the gas cap? The hood opens fairly normally. Pop the latch using the original hood release, lift the front up about 6", then tilt up and over the nose. The gas cap door has plenty of room for me to get a finger tip in there to flip it open.

 

Your car is a great example of well-done stripes. Full body stripes on these cars just dont work, and you've mimicked the factory way of doing it despite not having a factory hood. It works really well. Very classy.

 

I agree those stripes look perfect man I didn't ask but what are they made of are are they vinal or painted on? I would very much like a pair

 

I am almost certain I have the exact same hood as yours

 

Do you really really think I was asking how to open a hood?

 

Not really, no. But since you didn't specify which one you were asking about, and my hood doesn't open like the stock hood, I figured I would cover everything. Besides, I work in IT which means I sometimes forget there are still intelligent people in the world

 

lets get this thread going again I custom fabbed up a switch near my shifter for my cut out ill post pics up

 

rfoster23g, you realize there is a section of these forums specifically for custom fabrication

 

Thanks InfernalVortex,
I know you tend to see my car on here a lot but I have around 50 photos of it on Photobucket and I like to use them.
I wish others would do the same.
Any photos are better than none, even if they're still in the building faze awaiting paint/etc. We all started some place.
Mine was a wreck =
The car was on its way to the junkyard. I took a chance and payed $500.00 for it. Needed a fuel pump ,water pump , power steering unit ,new steering column, intake manifold gasket, front windshield ,, new front bumper cover and lower valance, new rear hatch, new rear hatch motor, some of the interior including headliner ,door skins,etc.
Of course I did not know all of that when I bought it for my first build ever.....

 

does any one have any experience using plasti dip to paint the stripes im debating it so if I don't like them I can always go back

 

You can do stripes with plastidip. But the stuff is pretty tricky to work with for stuff like that. It's one thing to bomb some wheels with it, but to do precision stuff is a lot tougher. When it dries a little it will peel off with your masking tape, so it's a balance of getting nice, smooth, full coverage and getting your masking tape off before it dries so much that it peels off.

The good news is, if you mess it up, you can just peel it off. I suggest you play around with the stuff on other things first and get a feel for it. It takes 5-7 coats to make it peel easily, so if you mess it up trying to get even coverage and yanking the masking tape too early or late, you will need to bomb it with heavy coats before you try to peel or you'll be there peeling forever. It's not paint! Its very counterintuitive, but to get it off, you spray more.

Try to set up your masking tape so that each piece overlaps the piece before, so that when you pull it pulls off every piece after that in one motion. And try to pull while it's still wet. That means several light coats in quick succession. A little tricky. For stripes you can get full coverage in the middle area (I assume you're going to do heritage stripes, because full body stripes are hideous on these cars) and then do the edge coverage last and then pull your tape. That's how I would do it and it should be pretty easy compared to, for example, trying to spray the inserts in my 82 hood because they're smaller than the can's spray pattern. So it's harder to hit the middle area for coverage and dust the outer area last to pull the masking tape when its wet. The other danger is yanking the tape while wet .... the stuff is still wet. You dont want anything to touch it. It will smear and fingerprint at that point, badly.

My headlight buckets, wheels, and inserts on my hood are plastidip. Not stripes, but similar, and those are the challenges I've had. It's DEFINITELY doable. I'd say if you were careless about it you could have a hood done in, at most, 3 tries and even with that 3-4 cans of black dip should be enough to hit the hood and the decklid. Just remember it's spray on rubber, not paint, so your intuition about paint wont apply and will get you in trouble.

Also, the texture can vary depending on your application technique. You'll get better with it if you play with it. Just be aware that if it comes out with the texture of an orange, you may want to give it another go. At worst it should be the texture of maybe 600 grit sandpaper.

 

well the car is in the paint booth Finally!!! I will post some pics tomorrow night after its done.

 

well its been a while but here it is all painted and put back together

 

here it is

 

in the booth

 

all wrapped up

 

Very handsome. Congratulations!

 

Green? I LOVE it. My navigator was that color

 

Thanks Guys I love it so far

 

so here I am thinking "dang, that's a nice black!…..waiiiiit a minute, green? awesome!"

That came out reaaaally well man.

 

Thanks man I am pretty happy with it so far. Right now I am working on a 5.3l ls swap for it. check it out man. https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/ltx-...ing-5-3-a.html

ps: I am also I am going to be experimenting with plasti dip in the near future so I will post some pics up on here