purpleZ-28

as long as you leave a lock on the hatch, no worries. i dont know why youd remove the hatch lock.

also, alot of car alarms have back up batteries, just in case someone disconnects your battery somehow. so maybe you could mock up a back up like that to the door handles.

neagan

iTrader: (7)

Hey Neil,
Just a thought on your Valentine One unit; I thought about hardwiring it in, but what I've ended up choosing is to gut the 'odometer wheels' on the overhead console and fitting in two power ports in the same place. This way I don't have the power cord hanging across and I can charge my cell phone or hook up my G-Tech at the same time.
Like I said, just a thought..... Nitro

Neil

neagan, do you have any pics? That sounds very cool! As for the power cord, I didn't plan on using that, I was going to run power wires to it up under the A-pillar and above the headliner so all the wires would be hidden. I was thinking of powering it from one of the acc. connections in the fuse box.


Ricco, too funny! You know I was originally thinking that the body work would be Phase I, then the interior work - Phase II and then the motor, tranny and brakes would be Phase III. But now that this thread is going I think I will keep it and make sub-headings within the thread.

1986Z28OWNER

iTrader: (1)

your crazy

Neil

I know, I need help!

MaineIrocer86

when can we expect to see some more pictures?

Neil

I am hoping by this weekend i'll have some more pics for you.

Vintage Rest

We're most likely trimming in the car and under the hood this weekend....Body should be painted this weekened most likely

neagan

iTrader: (7)

Hey Neil-
I figured you were going to run a hidden hardwire someplace and bypass the dangling cord; that's why I'm making it so I don't have a cord running across the windshield- I don't want the cops using the excuse that I am screwing with safety visibility. I love those Valentine Ones, they are far-far superior to the others. I'd never go back to a detector that dosn't have arrows.
As for pic's, I loaned my camera to my in-laws, but once their back from vacation I'll try and remember to post a couple for you. I'm also trying to think of a way to install my police scanner where the leather pouch is. I've got one of those ones that are about the same shape and size as the radar units. It's sends a beep and approx distance away when a CHP uses their radio and if they're closing in on you.
1986Z28OWNER; I don't know how you did your slide show signature, but that's hella' damn cool; almost as good as a CarDomain site! Nitro

Neil

Finally, I have some photos of the car wearing Imperial Blue Metallic, well parts of the car. I'm on my lunch break so i'll make this quick, but John was having problems sending me pics from work, so he drove home to get on the net and e-mailed me pics! That is awesome, who does that? I do appreciate it and thanks John!

Neil

Some more teasers for you

Neil

...and some of the engine compartment (this is almost like soft ****, well to me it is, LOL) We have paint on the car!!!

zdc590

I've been checking up on this thing since day one, never really gave you much input, but damn! That thing is going to look amazing when you're finished, i really wanna see the whole car painted.

Neil

Thanks, I appreciate it! Let me tell you....I am sitting in my office in Dallas and I can smell the paint fumes and oh what a sweet smell it is! John and James! I assume James is laying the paint on.

compuwiz1937

iTrader: (17)

Damn that's an awesome shade of blue! You are definately going to have one amazing car on your hands when this is all done (as if you didn't already know that)!

BADNBLK

iTrader: (11)

Yeah BUDDIE!!! That is the color I have been dreaming about! Looks great Neil. John your doing a great job, just make sure you send about 100 pics a day to Neil so he can update us frequently!

johnyIROC

Looking great!

Neil

Tommy Z28, I took your advice and closed up the inner fender well areas! Thanks for the great idea, it looks awesome!

MikeH

iTrader: (10)

What a tease....Looks great so far, cant wait to see the finish product out in the sunlight!

Vintage Rest

Paint really does look great on the car. Should have some paint on the body this Sunday pending our airbrusher being able to do the emblems. Glad u all like the car.

purpleZ-28

very nice, as usual!
wheres it goin after paint?

89firebirdguy05

looks really good..but looks almost like not enough base was applied in some spots..looks like you can see the primer. beautiful color tho.

CYARS92

You gettin any other cars done John!? And do you want to open a franchise in N. Illinois?!! Great Job!

Neil

After John has finished beautifying my car, it will be going to my garage where she will be built up!

neagan

iTrader: (7)

Wow! That Imperial Blue looks close to the Candy Blue I'm starting to use to Powder Coat my suspension parts. I've been dreaming about eventually repainting my stock beaver-bitch-slap-black exterior paint to some sort of two or three tone mix of rich blues and silvers. PLEASE-PLEASE post pic's of the final color coat when you're done!!!! I'll be painting my engine compartment this winter when I drop in a new N-gin. Maybe I should try your blue in the fender-firewalls and silver the underside of the hood and fender channels.
It looks like it will almost glow in the dark under the streetlamps! Killer! Good For You!!!!!!!!!!!! Nitro

theboilermaker

" looks really good..but looks almost like not enough base was applied in some spots..looks like you can see the primer. beautiful color tho."

Neil Or Vintage can confirm this, but I beleive what you are seeing is not primer but the color change in the paint. This paint (if I am thinkning of the right color) is very similar to the bermuda blue that goes from dark blue to green depending on the light. It is a beautiful color, I just don't trust myself to shoot it. Which is why I am am going with the Lemans Blue from the C6

Neil, I have been working on design a door handle set up like yours since I saw the new C6 in detroit. Are you going to lock and unlock with a keyfob, and then pop with the button mounted in the door, or with another key fob? What are your plans on this? Can we have pictures? BAD *** CAR man.

MaineIrocer86

I love that color...great hoise neil!

Stephen

iTrader: (12)

Actually, as far as the primer showing. I think it is. It's just that, those are the initial door jams, recessed areas, that aren't obviously visible. In fact, some of those areas won't ever be seen, but that it the correct way to do it. Paint the jambs, and recessed areas, assemble the car, then do all the exterior parts together in one shot.

purpleZ-28

yeah, thats the right way to do it.
not necessarily the most common however

CrAzYcUsToM

This looks hot...I can't wait to see the end result.

tommy z-28

iTrader: (1)

Thanks man. Im awaiting the finished exterior shots. One of kind car you are building there! Heres a shot of my bay with the firewall smoothed as well.

IROCZman15

iTrader: (25)

tommyz - that looks really great. couple questions:
-where did u put your coolant overflow tank?
-how did you smooth over the screw holes that would be on the inner fenders? weld em? or ive been told some types of exoxy filler?
-is it ok to leave the strut tower plastic caps off ?
-i ripped out my AC/HEAT everything ont he firewall,a nd plan on smothing it over, and then cutting up a 1/4" sheet of Brushed aluminum nicley to dress up the area, maybe with a plaque saying 1987 IROC Camaro on it... any recomendations on smoothing over the firewall? did u use Dynamat on the inside where the pass./ feet will be> smooth it over in there as well?

tommy z-28

iTrader: (1)

IROCZman:

THe coolant overflow was replaced with a summit catch can on under the hood latch. THe holes where filled by welding a square of sheet metal under neath and adding more weld up top and grinding smooth. When I got lazy I used a little filler. Not sure on the caps. THe firewall was smotthed by just cutting a template to fit perfectly over that half of it. ITs just welded up, didnt even bother to grid down the lip for the fan. I used peal-and-seal ductwork insulation on my interior floor.

Neil

Here's the paint progress update:

Ok, the color you see online is quite different than what you would see in person. I saw the car this last weekend and the paint has a slight purple hue to it especially in the shop, out in the sun the paint looked very similar to GM's Laser Blue Metallic - which is a little more purple than the Lemans Blue Metallic. At any rate, the color was much lighter and should have been Imperial Blue Metallic which is a dark metallic blue. So, the paint was obviously mixed wrong and John had to go back to PPG and get another batch mixed. This time my color choice is a dark blue metallic from the PPG paint chips book. Hopefully this time they are right on the money as I am ready to see my car painted!

TPI TERR

iTrader: (9)

GM's Laser Blue Metallic... =)

cant wait to see that car on wheels...

1986Z28OWNER

iTrader: (1)

OOOH i cant wait to see this, hey wanna paint my car while your at it?

Neil

TPI TERR, your paint color is awesome by the way!!!!

Roc Me 2

iTrader: (2)

That looks very nice. Makes me wish I would have done something like that with mine when I painted mine.

TPI TERR

iTrader: (9)

thanks... it still needs to be color sanded.. after paint my door jambs and repaint my front lip ... little incident with a flying object on the freeway... =(

theboilermaker

Neil- how is the car? I think I speak for everyone when I say I cannot wait to see it in paint. Also, are those trunk pop switches from a bmw? I am getting ready to start on my door handles, and I was thinking that might be an option. Thanks

Neil

Yes, I am using trunk pop switches from the BMW X5 tailgate. I believe they should work fine, just need to find the pigtailed connectors for the switches.

the boilermaker, I plan on using a remote to unlock the doors & then have the choice of remotely popping the doors or by touching the door mounted switch. Overkill, absolutely! I would like to have a cool keyfob though! Any ideas?

85maroz28

we need pics......

theboilermaker

I plan on doing it the same way I want the key fob as well. I have done some investigating and there are a few kits out there that offer 4 button key fobs. Lock, Unlock, Drivers Door, Passenger Door. You can usually find a bunch of them on ebay under shaved door handle kit, or under 8 channel shaved door kit. They are fairly inexpensive. If you already have the solenoids installed you could run a 5-8 channel alarm system with 4 buttons on the fob. Sometimes this system is harder to find though. I will probably use one like this.... Door Kit

purpleZ-28

im fairly sure you can find 6 button key fobs. i think i met a guy with a chevelle who had shaved handles that a 6 button remote, not 100% sure on that though.

is it out of paint yet?

Vintage Rest

We should have the new paint color on the car in the next couple of days for all the jammed in areas....Holidays have slowed us down....

N2TRUX

This is a very interesting reading about your project. I have been considering dusting off the cobwebs of the 84 Z-28 I have in storage.

You have asked a couple of times about what to use to help pop the doors open. We shaved the handles on my Z-28 about 15 years ago and didn't use anything to pop the doors open. The pressure from the glass against the T-Tops gave the doors enough push so you didn't need anything else.

If you do need more push, look at what Autoloc has to offer....

BOTTLEDZ28

iTrader: (9)

Neil, do you have any other pics of the quarter mods where it is welded to the car near the door? Basically, I am looking to see how much the quarter angles out from the body line of the door toward the back of the car and how it blends into the piller post of the old quarter panel. Also, do you think there was anyway of getting the quarter to look stock and still have it bend back in toward the tailight area to eliminate doing the rear bumper and tailight mod. I wanna try this but without the rear bumper mod.

Ps not sure if it was mentioned but are you using a 4th or 3rd gen rear end and are you rolling the lips. I am using a 4th gen rear with 315/35/17s out back and they stick out just a little too much for me. I need them tucked in 1 in on weach side. I was either going to narrow the rear or do this work instead.

dennisbernal91z

iTrader: (2)

BOTTLEDZr28: I also love stuffing big tires in the rear. I have 335s now that stick out on one side and are flush with the outter lip on the other side. Axle is def off center. But apprt from that, my point is that I have 335s and no rubbing, I am going to switch to 315s over the winter and have my spacers machined down so that they tires get pulled under the car some more. All I did was use a blowtorch and a hammer. There are a few inches in there that are very easy to make. That is of course if you don't want to widen the track of the car, or if you don't have the skill/$ to do that (like me). Anyways, just putting it out there. If you don't mind fiberglass, there is a kit made by Danko that widens the rear if you want. attach and cut the metal lip and you are all set. Only reason I didn't go that route was that I am in a place that gets up to 100* in the summer and down to single digits in the winter, so fiberglass would expand and contract a lot here and eventually look like crap.

Anyways, thats all I had to say, later.

-Dennis

BOTTLEDZ28

iTrader: (9)

neil, i just went back to look at some pics. One of the pics on the first page shows the OEM quarter cut on 3 sides and then "bent" out so it "flares" out toward the back of the car. Then in another pic in post #39 it looks like the quarter was indeed cut apart from the car parralell with the door seam and it appears a hammer was used in this location to bend the sheetmetal outward to get it angled toward the quarter. Can you explain a little more on what is happeing in these photos?

BOTTLEDZ28

iTrader: (9)

Dennis, are you mentioning this becuase you think I may be able to get the "tucked" look w/o all these body work mods? My only issue is spacers. I do not want them on my car. Not just because of possible safety issues that might orrour but because they make the brakes look so far away inside the wheel. when its all said and done, I want a tire/wheel combo that is at least 10-11" wide,tucks unde rthe quarter and has a nice 2-3" lip to it. I do not care forwheels with flush design on them like the factory 91-91Z28 wheels.

this is the look I am trying to achieve with my car