Funny you should mention! I've been meaning to post an update today. Well I finished sanding/prepping the body for paint, and this morning before school I dropped the Trans Am off at the body shop for paint. I was planning on doing it myself but things changed.

Take a good look, since the next pics are gonna be with paint. Although I might sneak into the body shop to take pictures of it undergoing work. They're also gonna fix a few dents on it that I simply wasn't able to and they'll cut out and weld in a new battery tray along with fixing a small rot hole on the driver's side rocker panel.



and waiting at the shop:



I felt kinda weird driving it with bare metal exposed but the place didn't want me throwing any paint on it for fear of incompatibility or anything. At least it was only about a 10-15 minute ride.

It should be ready by the end of the week!

 

nice i love the car man. i been looking at them ta taillights but i cant find anyone selling them.

 

Ugh, more drama. Body shop guy called mere minutes ago saying that he backed out of the job... says that the car is a mess and will require 2-3 weeks of work and thousands more in cash to paint/prep. The whole body is sanded down totally smooth with 320 grit so I don't see a problem, and no rust anywhere on the body (except for the rocker panel hole). However he agreed to fix my battery tray and the rot hole on the rocker for free after telling him what a PITA it was to get the car road worthy to get it to him.

I'm fuming a little right now but I guess I'll bring the car home and shoot a coating of primer on it to see if the body really is that bad, and so that bare metal won't flash rust. I was really hoping for the car to be ready by Memorial Day weekend but I doubt that'll happen.

Although I can't beat the price of "free" on the stuff mentioned above.

 

wow - that was like an hour after you dropped it off? Looks pretty good to me - wierd. Either he was serious, not knowing what you wanted or wanted to see if more $$ was coming out of you. Could you PM me the name of the company as I'm just getting the sanding done on mine was going to find a shop to paint and don't want to pick this one by accident! Maybe I'll paint mine on my own as well as I think I could do a pretty good job.

 

Nah I dropped it off at around 7 am and he called me at 10 pm that same day... not sure why it took him 15 hours to make that "executive decision" but maybe he was just trying to squeeze more cash out of me, or didn't take an 18 year old seriously or some crap. What pisses me off is that when I drove over for an estimate, he said he'll do it for about a grand as long as I finished sanding it with 320 which is exactly what I did before I dropped it off for paint. Although he merely glanced at it during the estimate so I guess he didn't know what he was gonna face. But still, that's pretty unacceptable.

I took the car back and they totally mickey-moused the battery tray; better than nothing I suppose, plus it didn't cost me anything but still. They pretty much welded a piece of metal ON TOP of the old rust without cutting any of that **** out. I guess I'll just cut the old crap out myself and throw Chassis Saver on it to make it look half decent for now.

BUT I have good news! My dad found a shop not too far away which agreed to do it for me for just a little more cash. The owner came out and looked at the car, even felt it up, and agreed to do the work. That includes fixing some dents too! So I dropped my baby off yesterday and they said she'll be ready by next Wednesday. This guy promised me that I'll be very happy with the end result... lets see if he lives up to that promise!

Plus it's been 24 hours so far without any phone calls from this guy so I feel better lol.

 

Stopped by the body shop today and here's what I found!





Pretty surprised that its already got its guide coat on. Maybe it'll be done sooner than they said?

 

thats awesome man, nice to see you found a place to get it painted, saturday ill be sanding mine down. how much did you spend on the sand paper. what kind was it and how much did u have to get?

 

Good job man. I have just finished tearing mine apart. Should start the bodywork then paint it soon. Hope to have it done by mid june. When yours is done, you should join me and a bunch of ct guys when we go to marks car show.

Keep it up man!

 

Awesome.

Can't wait to see it in paint!

 

I spent about 30-40 bucks on just the sandpaper. Then there was the $30 DA I got from Walmart, cheap but works. You'll need a bunch of sandpaper lol depending on what kind you get and how easily it clogs. I started off with 80 grit to break through the old stuff easier then I used 320 to smooth it out... it should be totally smooth when you run your fingers over it when you're done.

Thanks! I'd love to join up in some CT thirdgen gatherings/cruises. You'll have to send me details about Marks though. With summer just starting, I plan on doing a lot! I'll probably be hanging around the Bristol Auto club's shows pretty often as well. They are every saturday at 5 pm on rt 6 in Bristol and when I went a week ago, they didn't have a single third gen!

 

Ill let you know. Check out that site i sent you a while back. Lots of good guys on there.

Also, did you da your car with 320, or block it out by hand? Im not sure i would have used a da on the finer grit pass.

 

These guys seem to be making good progress.

I know the car hardly looks any different but I walked in (about an hour ago) while they were wet sanding it, and they also fixed some more dents before that.



Boy I'd love to have a lift like that at home lol.






Oh yeah! I forgot about it. And yeah, I DAed it with 320 prior to the paint shop. We'll see what happens, the paint shop didn't seem to think it was a problem and maybe they ran over it on their own too.

 

Looking sweet!

But, they really should remove those expensive *** taillights before they get hit with the sander, or painted on.

 

Yeah they had em taped off for the first coat of primer but they're gonna remove em completely for the sealer/paint. Thanks for the comment!

 

Nice project how much money have you put into it so far? I want to start on my 89 GTA convertible but parts hear in Hawaii are expensive and hard to come by. I will have to wait until my tour in Hawaii is over.

 

Glad you found someone good to take the job on! It was meant to be see

 

With paint, I'd say about 3 grand, I was really keeping track but it's not nearly as pricey as some other projects. Good luck with yours!

Thanks! I should have the car back later today... I stopped by yesterday and they already had the gfx and spoilers painted and lemme tell ya... they looked GOOD! I haven't seen the car in paint yet but when I called 20 mins ago they said it's getting buffed. I guess the biggest test will be to see it in the sun!

 

Before I pick up the car and post the new pictures, I thought I'd post up a few old pictures of the car that I took when I just got it last August...

 

I don't see why you needed a paintjob?

lol

 

Don't tell me you can't see that tiny little scuff on the bumper!!

 

pics?

 

OK finally got some pics.



Man I love that shine!



The paint came out very well; there are a few dull spots and other minor blemishes but the body shop said to return when I finish reassembling the car and they'll fix those for me. Hopefully I'll have it back together by tomorrow evening.

 

Well, than do it!

Pics, lol.

 

Very nice. I love that color!

 

sorry it took me so long! but here are some pictures of it back together.

 

Sweeet.

 

more...




spray painted the mesh gold for a subtle factory/custom look. yes that's a scratch underneath the one on the right... I gotta bring it back to the shop for a final buffing and that'll probably fix it.




closeup of the smoothed fender vents with the gold mesh.



aaannnddd one more.



Yesterday I gave this car it's first wash but I made the mistake of letting it air dry so there's a bunch of ugly vapor spots that I'll have to wash off the right way.

I still have a couple minor things that I need to reinstall that I just can't think of at the moment. Since reassembly (late last week), this car pretty much became my DD and boy does it turn heads while driving. And younger kids look at it like a Ferrari or something lol. Again, I'll bring it back to the shop probably sometime next week so they can give it another buff and fix a few scratches.

 

Also, I went to Stew Leonard's with this car a couple days ago and when I returned I found a small dent right above the rear driver's side marker light. UGH! And I parked near the back AWAY from everybody else. Oh well, I guess the wind took a shopping cart or something, I'll get an estimate from the body shop on the repair. I'd fix it myself but I don't wanna be the one sanding into this brand new paint.



I still didn't rebuild my front end, but the parts are sitting around waiting. I'll probably get to that in a week or so since this week is kinda crazy for me since I'm graduating high school this Friday.

Up next, I'm gonna save up for some new tires, decals (WITH the big hood bird ), new top, full exhaust (headers-back), and a 3.23/3.42 disc rear end. Someday I'd like to drop in a twin-turbo or a 350... but that's waaay in the distance.
The car drives nicely as is and is very fun, but the speed bug bit me lol.

 

You have done a beautiful job! It is great to see someone bring a car like this back to life!

 

Looks gorgeous. Fantastic seeing this thread all the way through. Don't get the Bird Sticker though

 

Looks really good man! Totally jealous! Been following this thread since you started! LOL I cant tell you how many times I read this thread and then went to my storage and messed with my 91' Z28 vert.

 

I love what you've done with the gold mesh! Great job!

 

Nice. Subtle, elegant touch.

 

Thanks so much guys! I appreciate it.

 

I know I've been whoring out this thread for a while now but I thought I'd just mention that I rebuilt my front end. I replaced almost every part that wears out over time, here's the list:

*front struts (KYB GR-2s)
*strut mounts (Gabriels?)
*inner/outer tie-rods, center link, and idler arm (all Moog stuff)
*ball joints (Moog)
*brake rotors (cheapo Valu-crafts... had to bite the bullet for now with those)
*front inner wheel bearings (Timkens)
*sway bar links all around (Moog)

I already feel an improvement, but the tires are really old and crappy and the suspension hasn't been aligned yet since the rebuild (did my best to try to copy the old geometry) so the car's handling still probably isn't even close to its full potential. Hopefully the new tires and alignment will happen sometime this week. Can't wait! The car is probably gonna drive like new.



and some of the old crap:


The old rotors seem solid in the last picture but rust was actually eating into the surface where the pads grab onto; it was quite a bit worse on the other side and I didn't want to deal with this rusty junk when packing in fresh bearings and grease. Although strangely, these old rotors are 10.5 inches across, despite compnine saying I have the WS6 package. Aren't the WS6 brakes 11.5 inches across? I stuck with the 10.5 when getting the new ones since these old ones stop the car decently (for my liking, at least for now) and the bigger rotors cost more than double the price!

 

LOVE IT KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND ENJOY

 

Your car looks really great man! I am really envious.
Get a bird on the hood and your set
I think the T/A convertibles are the best looking 3rd gen firebirds
and I hope one day I can find a 84 autoforms vert.

 

well it took me 3 days but I finally had the time to get through the whole thread and I have to say you did one hell of a job. It looks great. I am also impressed you got it all finished and in a pretty timely manner. You said at one point you had 3 grand into it with paint just out of curiosity how much was paint. I am not picking it apart but I really don't like the color but you said you wanted the original color so more power to you and in reality it doesn't really matter what I think. Also I love the gold mesh that adds a lot.

I also think you should not put the hood bird on either. Here's my thinking on stripes (excluding racing stripes), pin striping or mainly the lower stripes on an IROC. Well I think in the mid to late 70s they needed to put stripes on f bodys because they were so ugly and they needed to detract from that a little and when they started with 3rd gens the stripes just got carried over and over the years they got smaller and less of them until 1991 when I think they finally realized they had a damn good looking car that didn't need any stripes getting in the way of that, I think the 91-92 f bodys look the best because they are so clean. If you look at the vettes they have never had a ton of stripes and at least in my opinion they never made a bad looking vette, sure some look better than others but I would take any vette and be happy with it. Anyway just wanted to throw my 2 cents in and say to leave it the way it is, but do what you do.

Also I'm just curious, how's the interior? Another thing I read you wanted to do something with the motor (I think you said twin turbo but I can't find it now) anyway after looking around on the engine swap forum I found a couple people adding superchargers which peaked my curiosity and I looked on eaton's website and found that the eaton m112 was the best model for the size of our engines and it came on the mustang cobra, it would take a lot of fabrication and work but obviously you're not afraid of that. Anyway these projects are never finished so just something to think about please keep it up.

 

Hey bud I got a question for you.
When you cleaned the carpets in your car you used a pressure washer and some chemicals right? can you go into more detail? I need my carpets cleaned.

 

I've also been following your progress for some time now - fantastic job!

 

Hey thanks for the input. I don't think any excessive stripes will look good on this car, but a subtle pin stripe plus the bird would look pretty nice IMO. Oh well, to each his own. And yeah I did mention something about a twin turbo but my plans change every day for this car LOL. Now I'm thinking of just dropping in a 350 someday, less of a hassle and probably much more reliable than a turbo 305. Especially considering that this car is my daily driver except for winter (I hope). The interior is pretty nice... typical cracking in the driver's seat leather but what can you do. The paint cost me $1500.

I used Purple Power. It's not factory clean but it did help a good amount.

 

When you painted your car, did you take the convertible top off, or did you tape it off? Im currently restoring my 92 firebird convertible and was just wondering how you went about painting it.

 

Well the body shop left the top up, they just kept the back of the top propped up so they can paint the part of the body that gets covered by the top. I've seen other people paint convertibles with the top down and the whole interior just masked off. Good luck!

 

I think that WS6 rotors are 10.5 inch (front and rear) for 1987-1988 and 10.5 inch (front) and 11.7 inch (rear) for 1989-1992. At least that's how they are for GTA's

 

Weird how the rears are bigger, but i believe ya. Anybody know how big the base model rotors are?

 

I just read this entire thread....i don't know how i missed it, your did an awesome job on it man

 

Thanks bud! With lots more to come lol. Now it looks like I'll be swapping a T-5 trans in soon.

 

im in the process of picking up a 92 formula the same color as your car so it really intrigued me i saw this....if your gonna go t-5, why not do a t-56?

 

I met Arthur today when he came to look at the t5. Very nice guy.

 

I'd love to get a t-56, only thing is that they're a bit more expensive especially considering that swapping those into thirdgens seems to be all the rage now. That and the swap is a little more challenging. But if I get lucky on a deal with a t-56, I'll definitely take it! I actually posted up a wanted ad for a t5 or t56 on the classified boards.

Thanks Matt! It was great meeting you, and the IROC looks great. Drop me a line if you need help with that fuel issue at all. I'm hoping to get the local thirdgens for a cruise together sometime as well!