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ConvertiblesDiscussed here are problems and solutions to convertible specific questions, including difficult to find part numbers and other convertible tech help.
That would be -TWO- Jamaica Yellow 1992 Firebird convertibles. Both are 3.1 automatics with air. Just picked up the one on the trailer, it's going to take some time on that one, she's really rough on the outsides and I found the top half of the engine in the trunk, but the underneath is solid. I got parts.
For now I think I'll leave them as they are since they're fairly uncommon cars. The latest find with the engine half apart--that one's up in the air about what engine goes back in. I'll have to tear down what's left of it's 3.1 and see what I've got to work with. K-I-S-S says to put the same thing back in or fix what's there if I can, my mindset is to try and keep things original if possible. The local boneyard has a '91 F-Bird with a 3.1 in it so that might help influence the decision too.
A few years ago I built a drag car, an NHRA legal T/SA '79 AMX out of three junk cars, so if I feel the need to go let something's tongue hang out and make lots of noise and tire smoke, I'm covered. I'd rather cruise the convertibles.
Turns out after a teardown that the original 6 in the bad bird is headed to the trash pile, one cylinder is badly pitted. The cost of the machine work to fix this block just isn't worth it, so me and the boy will talk it over and see what ends up in the engine bay.
No doubt some of you have seen this type of picture before.
The LS won't happen. Too old to take on setting up and learning a whole new system of engine and I'm pretty sure my Windows 7 laptop wouldn't respond to the tuning needs of today.. If I was 47 yrs old, I might go for it, but not now at 67. OBD 1 and the factory MPI fuel injection on a V6 is complicated enough to suit me at this stage of life for now.
Today's efforts included going after this sensational "find", a '91 V6 AT coupe (despite the T-A hood). The body is beat to death all over, Fred Flintstone's feet would work as brakes because there isn't a whole lot of floors left in it, the driver door won't shut at all, but hey, it's about 95% complete. The local junkyard was getting ready to crush and this car had to come out of there NOW or it was gone forever with whatever good parts it still had. I'm going to try and start the engine first to see if it's any good, it's a 3.1, and we'll see where we go after that. A lot of the ground effects on this white car are still useable, they'll be heading over to the yellow car and underneath all the dirt and moldy scum, the wheels and tires actually look pretty good too. I was told this was a drug seized car that never got picked up by the owner, so the prospects of the engine running OK might be pretty good. We'll see....
After the big time '91 part-out, I fired up the engine, literally--only caught it on fire once, and it runs good! So the engine and trans is coming out over the weekend for possible transplant into the '92. I kept almost everything else off the car that was any good, even some things that weren't but are repairable. Once this heads back to the junkyard, there will be so little left it's not going to bring much on the weight scale.
There is more on my #2 JY convertible re-build over in the Midwest section if you care to follow along there. I'll place things on the build over there from here on.
Finally--an update on what I call JY 1, that is, the running and driving '92:
The convertible top has been replaced with an entire black cloth unit I bought off a wrecked '92 TA that Hawk's had and was parting out. The top material was only three years old, and the framework had fairly nice weatherstripping all over and the flip rods were both there. Buying that whole unit complete saved me a lot of money and trouble I think. My friends who live 80 miles away from Hawk's were kind enough to go make the deal on it for me and take it home with them for safekeeping, and I knew I would be going that way sometime to see them and get it picked up. Mission complete--got it back to my home now, and it's been installed on the car. Pretty easy installation when there's only 4 bolts! I like easy. Took a little finagling to get it all adjusted just right, but it's a winner now! Man, it sure is good to have a back window in that car (a heck of a lot quieter now!) and not see tattered Gorilla tape waving in the breeze going down the road. If it gets rained on while out, it will at least keep the water out unlike before. I kept a tarp in the trunk all the time just in case I got caught out.
This car is headed to the bodyshop in a couple days to get the rear quarters fixed, and then I'll bring it home and sand it and strip it all down for a full repaint. Even though I do like a bright yellow color on a sporty car, (this yellow is a repaint from previous ownerships) it's going back to the original Jamaica Yellow. Right is right.
Thank you. It won't be show quality, that doesn't work in my world, but hopefully it will end up as a decent looking driver car I won't have to be embarrassed about if I pull into a cruise night parking lot.
The rest of the update: It now has a new left front fender installed to replace the mildly wrinkled up one and the gaps lined up pretty well after some trimming and reworking along the back bottom edge to account for the differences for the convertible conversion fender mounting tabs and a normal fender. Learned a lot here for the next conv car I do. I saved the cut off double wall pieces to make new tabs out of for next time. One thing I learned was you have to take the lower back seat cushion and speaker panel out to properly install a front fender on a 91-92 convertible with ground effects.
What?? Yep. Some of you will know why.
Painted the headlight assembly covers the proper JY and black semi-glossed the frameworks and housings of those units over the weekend, put them all back together this morning. They will get put back on after the rest of the car has paint on it. I now have the front fascia off and some of the ground effects pieces off the car and those parts are getting sanded down for refinish. I'll paint all those while they're off the car so I can get the undersides of them and the rest of the ground effect pieces done without having to spray yellow up into the engine, radiator, and condenser areas like I'd have to if they were mounted on.
Overall, that nose piece is in good shape, just a couple of minor repairs needed for scrapes and cracking by bolt holes underneath where the ground effects bolt in, and one depression in it up on one edge where the old left fender got tagged a little and it distorted the plastic some. It'll fix. I felt fortunate the nose was in as good of shape as it is! The other car's is far worse.
Show quality is for show cars. I need a repaint too, but not gonna do a high dollar paint. I wanna drive it and not worry about road chips too much.
Those two nuts on gfx rocker are a bit of a pain. I got mine from the door jamb vent, but definitely not a walk in the park getting them out. ASC didn't make it any easier by welding the bracing around that area.
Today the car went to the local body shop where they will clean up the small amounts of rust on the rear quarter fender lips and take care of a couple of dents. I told them to leave those areas in primer when they got done. Luckily the rest of the car is fairly straight for my finish work. After that it comes back home and I strip some things off of it and then sand sand sand! I haven't painted a whole car in a number of years, so it sounds exciting again, but I might change my mind mid-way when my arms hurt and my fingers are raw. I think the last car I painted complete was in 2017, my '79 AMX race car. It turned out OK.
And a picture of the headlights all back together and ready.
Back from the body shop--the rear quarters are all straightened up and rust repaired, and the rest of the panel replacements are going nicely. Car is 3/4 of the way sanded down now, smooth as a baby's bottom!
I'm remembering now that it's hard work and not all that fun while it's in progress. Oh sure, getting a uniform shiny color back on is great, but the prep work on a complete overall paint job is a killer! And I'm on my second go on the primer coat on the entire rest of the convertible. The first try--I don't know what I did wrong, the primer can said "ready to spray"--and spray it I did--but once it dried, it was like I'd sprayed tree sap on the car, you couldn't hardly 400 grit that primer coat back smooth for anything, so had to wet-sand it all back off again with 220 and go again. Went for a different brand this time, hopefully spraying the whole car tomorrow if the weather cooperates.
My arms are so sore after a solid two weeks of this stuff painting two cars that I can't reach up to scratch my head. The paint job I did last week, on the black '97 Firebird I also have, is all done. That one was a 'sand and spray' from the belt line up because the clear coat was failing on it, no real bodywork needed. But it still required a lot of sanding by hand with three different grits. Saw a couple of sags in the dished-in hatch area when I got done with the paint, but turned out good otherwise.
Black and shiny again! Good enough for this boy. Now we'll see if I can turn something yellow all over in time for Power Tour.
I sold my 91 convertible several years ago and immediately regretted it. Had the chance to buy it back 2 years ago, struck a deal with the guy I had sold it to, and then he sold it out from under me. Last weekend it popped up in Marketplace and I snagged it back without hesitation. Glad to have it back but the last 4 years or so haven’t been great to it as it sat outside pretty much the entire time. The guy I sold it to knew a little about cars but the second guy knew nothing. On the positive side, neither drove it a lot so it currently only has 57,700 miles on it. The guy I sold it to tried dying the top black which looks like hell (and there’s now a small rip) and rattle canned the deck lid. That, combined with sitting outside, the deck lid, spoiler and rear bumper paint is shot. Lots of paint nicks all over and worn spots on the drivers seat bolster. Fortunately, I still have shelves of parts for it including a 355 long block with an HSR and Megasquirt system. I’m already registered for UMI’s Muscle on the Mountain Father’s Day weekend wi the my other car so switching and planning to take this instead. Time to get to work! Back home where she belongs! Fresh off the trailer Ruined paint I had a decal here and guy I bought it from said this happened when removing it Busted ground efx Ruined paint This looks about the same mins the taped reservoir and dirt. This shifter plate/boot was brand new when I sold it…replacement already on its way from Hawks
looks like someone liked doing burnouts with the NT05’s.
The work continues on that old yellow car with no roof. Slow but sure. Mostly slow, I keep messing it up and having to do it over!
The hood and front bumper and ground effects pieces got painted with a batch of paint that I deemed a shade too light after it went on. The re-primer on the right side is because I'm just not a very good painter. The second batch of paint I had mixed up was done from the place using their paint gun on a headlight lid off of JY car #2, which still had it's original paint on it, and that one turned out with the way better color tone you now see on this back end shot.
It's a good thing I work cheap. Even with all the grief I'm enduring, I'm still into this bodywork and paint job for around $1200.
The work continues on that old yellow car with no roof. Slow but sure. Mostly slow, I keep messing it up and having to do it over!
The hood and front bumper and ground effects pieces got painted with a batch of paint that I deemed a shade too light after it went on. The re-primer on the right side is because I'm just not a very good painter. The second batch of paint I had mixed up was done from the place using their paint gun on a headlight lid off of JY car #2, which still had it's original paint on it, and that one turned out with the way better color tone you now see on this back end shot.
It's a good thing I work cheap. Even with all the grief I'm enduring, I'm still into this bodywork and paint job for around $1200.
