this is my 89 firebird formula( well thats what it started out as) just wanted to show all of you what im working on and to get some imformation. first of all i want to know if i should pull all gfx off of the car before painting it or should they be on the car when its done? i want this to be the last time i work on the body for a long time so im trying to make it perfect,also if any of you have any ideas or suggestions please let me know. thomas

 

#2

 

the best way is to pull every panel and paint it separately. but I'd DEFINITELY pull the gfx! and what do you mean you want this to be the last time you do body-work for awhile.......ahhhhhh...you want THIS TIME to be your last time. take all the time in the world, and do it perfect, then you never have to look at it again.

 

you know i never thought i would like that spoiler on anything but you have proved me wrong.

good job can't wait to see it done

 

I already paintedit once after the factory paint but i screwed up and the anticipation got the best of me and well lets just say it didnt turn out right thanx to #1 me,#2 cheap napa paint and #3 dew setting in when it wasnt supposed to lmao . i want it to be perfect so when you look at it in the sun youll be blinded ,oh yeah im painting it jet gloss black with a ton of clear and polished to h@ll and back, my father in law is gonna help me but im the one spraying it so hpefully it will be right when im done.

 

believe it or not that was on the car when i bought it 1 of the reasons i did,btw i believe that spoiler is about $4-500 from some corvette place in cali cant remember the name exactly.

 

yeah it should look awesome, if you got any questions along the way just talk to me.

 

how many coats of color and how many coats of clear should i put on it to get that kinda shine that makes you think you can stick your hand through and never touch the black.

 

enough to cover with the color and 1 light to medium coat of clear and then 1-2 more wet coats of clear. ask me later about wet sanding and buffing.

 

Looks good like the notchback

 

thanx scooby that was also on the car when i bought it another 1 of the reasons i bought for the ripe old price of 1 grand. jared just make sure the color is even all around? correct. oh yeah hey how do you all like the hood im putting on there i grafted that scoop on there myself. if you need more shots of it lemme know i have a few more and a digital camera if you all want any certain pics of any part of the car let me know.

 

Hood looks good as well

 

thanx bro it took a while for me to get that done first time i worked with bondo.

 

another pic

 

Can not wait to see it finshed

 

yeah, you overlap 50% on everything and keep it all continuous. and make sure you hit every spot. on a car I painted I missed a little on the bottom of the rocker and the bottom of the front bumper. hit the flange on all 4 of your wheelhouses.

 

hey firebird

is that some kind of trim border around your driver window?

looks kinda cool

 

its where i had the window taped off for shooting the primer.

 

Interesting "swoop" lines from the notchback to the spoiler, it ought to be pretty slick. I've seen that style spoiler before that actually fits on with the stock 3-piece on an LS1 powered yellow IROC, but have no idea where to find it I emailed the guy and he gave me a name to a place I couldn't find Any chance you might have more info on yours?

 

here you go here is a place that sells the spoiler i had to wait to get home to find it sorry been at work all day and thankyou for the comments,i was going for different i think ive achieved it. thomas here is the link

 

amazing car man, should be awsome when it's done.

are those aftermarket GFX?

 

they are factory 89-90 front nose piece then they go into 91-92 gfx lemme see if i can find a pic for you i think it looks alot better with the 2 mixed , why dont you all lemme know what you think.

 

thanx for the compliments im building this car to the way i want it but it does mean alot that alot of you like the way im doing it. thanx , thomas

 

Umm, I don't want to sound like an ***, but I don't like it very much at all. The spoiler looks out of place, and the 85-90 bumper with the 91-92 gfx doesn't help it any.

 

well i dont have all the pieces on right now but thats ok thats why they call them opinions everyone has 1 and i know not everyone is gonna like it thats fine with me but as long as i like it thats what matters since its my time and money im putting into it. thanx for the reply. thomas

 

Personally I don't like anything but the factory spoilers on our cars except maybe the fourth gen style spoiler on the 91-92 cars.

But otherwise looking good. Mines going to have to get the primer treatment soon.

 

I bet that once you get that bad boy painted, it will change the minds of a few people.

Sweet looking ride, good work so far!

 

87ws6 I like all different type of spoilers but i think this one accentuates my car perfectly and to each to his own in my opinion. digital i have to agree with you on that whole heartedly it looks kinda rough right now but i think in the end alot of different people will see what im going for and agree with this car being well put together. thomas

 

that well look pertty good, when its done, nice job

 

well im having to take a small break til i can get to a store and by a new d/a mine broke where the fitting screws into it it stripped today right when i was starting to finish my right rear qtr panel that really upset me but oh well ill get back on it as soon as i get to the parts house.

 

man this thing does 10 times the work as the other 1 i had did. i would have already been done with all the sanding on my car if it wasnt for the p.o.s. d/a i had before im kinda glad it broke. by the way here is what i have left to do on my car before i finish primering it.

 

everybody welcome good bad or otherwise.

 

them spoiler aint that much really.
i surfed forawhile and found em on ebay while back they are universal in different widths.
we bought one for our s10 off ebay.
jc whitney sales em made by jsp and another place.
they want between 2 and 300 for em but want 216 to ship em to ya.
i searched on ebay for truck wing n found em was place in texas but haven't seen em back since.
the guy was saleing them for a company he worked for had all kinds of different widths.
meaning side to side measurements liek ours was 59 inch i think
fomr bedside to bedside on the outside.
even has the 3rd brake light in it.
go to www.cardomain.com/memberpage/445147/4
you can see them on the truck there

 

ps we gave for shipping insurance and all total $120 bucks!!!!!!!

 

i didnt pay anything for mine it was on the car went i got like i stated before, i was just saying that it was expensive (not as high as i said before my mistake i was going from memory) and yes i love this particular spoiler.


thomas

 

no prob man wasnt tryin to highjack yur thread just ppl on here seemed to be interested and askin ?s on it so i figured id put in my 2 cents since we tried to find one and did and was same as yurs.figured id drop theinfo for ppl who may want one

 

hey man no hard feelings i wasnt upset or anything just letting you. and no i didnt think you were hijacking or anything, everythings kewl.


thomas

 

yea man no prob i didnt want ya thinkin nothin either im cool man.

i do liek that notchback tho havent seen one i liked but yurs is different maybe cuz the wing?
i dont care much for that big wing but hmm yur notchbakc looks better then others n hey we got matchin cars lmao color wise.
both got primered cars!!!!!!

 

yeah were twins lol almost i think yours is completely primered, and um mines not, but im taking vacation starting 3-21-04 and maybe just maybe if the weather cooperates with me ill at least have the color on my car done then ill have to wait for the color sand and buffing. i guess well see.


thomas

 

yea mines complete primer lol it was aweful when i got it just check my page on it in my sig.
yull see why its all primered lol.

im hopin to catch a wek or so of 60's and above here then im goin to spray mine.
not goin w/ 2 stage tho just acrylic enamel one stage let it dry a week wet sand n buff w/ all them compounds n glazes lol.
but ill have to decide if im goin w/ stripes or not id like to to be different but then again looks fine all grey so it look *** all one color.

 

man that thing looks terrific after all the work you dont to it i would have never guessed it looked like that before mine was pretty rough like yours before i started working on it . and well the interior is still rough but thats ok thats the next thing to get started on just as soon as i get the body finished(or at least get it in some color BLACK that is) that will be the next pics i post after the color goes on is the interior.


thomas

 

thanks thomas man i gotta see some pics when u get it one color and black man that will be sweet!!!!!
i'm not a perfect body man workin w/ bondo never is so im scared to go w/ black lol id hate to see imperfections.
i'd nit pick it too badly lol.
i already do ive used over a gallon and a half or primer lol doin spots over n over wet sanding and then redoing it lol.
i could buff my primer n get great shine prolly as much has went on it.
prolly got 2 full coats down both sides n three or 4 on my hod maybe.
well 2 different times w/ 3 to 4 coats layed on each side each time. it's funny tho i got my interior all apart now lol.
it was half done in the interior page, i got materil comin to redo my headliner and sail panels n sunvisors n junk. and gotta get a headliner coard fomr junkyard this weekend hopefully.
once i get that done and new door /hatch locks i can put almsot every bit of my interior together.
got other lil junk to finish like wiring for amps n subs frtons n rears,heater n that kinda stuff but really only part i need now is some seat belt buckles and a dash pad then my interior be done and gonna paint when it gets nice out.

 

hopefully if the weather holds up ill be able to get my mirrors and door handles off of the passenger side so i can finish sanding it down and then i can shoot the primer on the pass side and then resand it and then shoot 1 more good full coat of primer on the whole car then wet sand everything and then let it sit to let all of the chemicals evaporate out of it then starting on the 22nd ill be starting my vacation and be able to get my color shot on it and THEN if i have time start color sanding it to get any imperfections out of it and then spray the clear on (all 3 to 4 coats of it) and maybe just maybe after i buff that it will be the way i want it to look . the below picture is the way i want mine to shine hopefully ill be able to get it that way.

p.s. not my car of course and thanx to whoevers car it is but it has my goal all over it.


thomas

 

very nice one recomendation which im sure u know and will do after the clear wet sand then use thoose i dont member in which order n which by hand or by buffer and what pads try the rubbin compound the heavy cut kind and the buffin compound machine and hand glaze on it then wax n buff man u talk about slick and perfect n shine man its awesome.

 

do you know in which order i should do what benoit was trying to say and in what order i heard that finesse it II was some good cutting compound but maybe you can shed some light onto this for me. thanx,



thomas

p.s. if those are cars your working on they look awesome (the 1 with the blue car in the post).

 

That car is going to look awesome! I mean, it already does... but you know what I mean lol


I usually don't like any spoiler other than the stock ones (I don't really like the high-rise either!), but that seems to flow nicely with the car. And the notchback! That's really sweet. If you paid a $1000 for the car... that's $500 car and $500 notchback hatch lol

The only thing I would change is the rims... but that's just an opinion... I just don't like the style (course I'm stuck in the 70's with rims styling )

 

wet sand all the orange peel out, with 1500 then 2000 grit. on runs or dirt nibs use 800 then 1500 - 2000. Don't cut through!generally you sand the top half of the car since it's the only direct reflection, and use a soft block sanding block: grey on one side and black on the other, use the soft side the grey side.after everything that you want buffed has been 2000 gritted, buff till it has a good shine with a wool pad, it's alittle hard to get it but it is possible.then use level 6 compound on a rocky mtn lookin pad, then level 3 mirror glaze with a flat pad on a D.A. . there's these rags that are for pickin up dirt. get one and clean the compound in the spot your working so you can tell when your done. always run your buffer off of an edge otherwise you'll burn through and only sand where you can reach a buffer. You know what to do if you have any more questions.

 

sounds different then ones im used to pads sound about right but theese stage 2 and 3 that thgin throws ya off kind junk our auto body suppler here has is 3ms stuff like hand glaze, machine glaze, finishing glaze i think not sure,rubbing and buffing compounds.

 

ill have to go to the autobody shope here locally to see if they have the products you said and see if i can get them while im on vacation. what about after i shoot the clear do i need to do the same thing or just wait the month or so and then buff polish it? this is the first time im gonna use clear so i dont want to screw anything up.


thomas

 

no no no, lol. you spray the clear right after the color. after it has flashed. unless you run the color or have a significant nib in it or something, then sand it out and spray your clear. your not gonna make your color shiny no matter what so just worry about the clear. and you can sand and buff the next day. just don't wax it! unless you use a breathable wax, but I don't recommend it for bout' 3-4 months.