Hey guys a few weeks back or so I ran across a decent looking 91 Z28 convertible on craigslist. I watched for a couple weeks then offers the guy a small stack of $100 bills and the guy took my offer.... So I'm back in a convertible again.



So yeah a Cherry red 1991 Z28 convertible with grey cloth deluxe interior, and an auto transmission. The typical power options, and the typical wear. The top has a couple spots on the rear bow that are rubbing through, but don't leak surprising. The rear vinyl window has two cracks that have been taped. The interior as dirty as it was really pretty much in tact and has only a few parts that are not up to par, that will need replaced. The drivers front seat is extra hammered and I'm working on that as we speak. The car ran really well, and transmission felt great. Only needed some basic maintenance and cleaning type stuff.

Anyway Here are the pics from the day I got it back to the shop. Kinda a deja vu type thing lol

 

So first order of business was to see if the paint could be saved. The paint being saved will determine the rest of the costs that can be incured for the remaining areas.

I broke out my Porter Cable DA polisher and some pads. I was able to improve the hood, but not really good. Drivers side only for reference.



I continued on polishing out one panel at a time around the car. You can see that drivers fender behind the wheel was touched up at one point with a paint that is a little off in color. This picture I had only polished to the rear wheel area on the body.





I worked my way around it, and still need to address the hood. I did clean up an extra set of turnsignals that I slammed in to help brighten up the front.



Since the paint was cleaning up I replaced both the side emblems that were missing with the cheap sticky back kind from Hawks. Looks good enough I guess.

 

Looks to be in better shape than the Z03 started out in. L98 in this one?

 

It is! That is why I chose to take this one on. No L98... only 305's in the verts. Unless someone swapped it??? I haven't even tried to investigate that. It runs stronger than the Z03 car though which I was surprised about.

 

Got back to polishing the hood. Used my bigger 7" polisher with a wool pad and was able to bring some real shine back. I have done two stages on the drivers side, but only one on the passenger side, and I need to pull the blisters off to really make it look good, but we are onto something here!

 

I happened to have both my babies at the shop with me the other day... Best I could put together for an impromptu photo shoot.

 

Please tell me that's after a brake torque. Otherwise, I'm going to drive my purple 'vert to the junkyard.

 

Oh yeah that was a brake stand!!!! The thing about this one is I could get it going fast enough throw rubber. I runs pretty well!

 

How many hours do you have into buffing?

Should make a sticky on/about buffing out sun oxidization. There have been a few members here with similar condition paint.

That turned out great! I mean its no new paint job, but from what it looked like..

Good Job!!

-D

 

TOOOO Many!!!! Haha! I would hurt my own feelings to know how much time I have into grinding on the paint. A paint and body guy would probably laugh at me and just question why I didn't paint it for all the effort LOL.

I sometimes do things or go back and re-do things to get the results I want that I'm not sure is sticky worthy haha! Plus with stuff like this there is no garuantee that one persons will even come close to turning out, where the next looks like new paint when done. I guess I'm not the greatest teacher lol. I just kinda get after it, and then remember I SHOULD HAVE taken pics of that lol.

Thank you!

 

I got to a point where I was able to put my 2 stage Adams Polishes on this and it really helped the paint pop. Still needs some touch up and probably gonna have to re-spray the trunk lid and tonneau, but I'm starting to get proud of how it looks.





Thinking about stripping the wheels and painting the windows in the wheels red? Thoughts?

 

I pulled the seats last week and did a clean up job on the carpet. The carpet was pretty nasty, but the good old Barbasol shaving cream trick made it look respectable again.

This was after a good vacuuming and brush scrub


This is with the shaving cream installed lol


After drivers side:


After Passenger side:


Instagram comparo pic


And just a shot with the seats back in and the mats on. Starting to look respectable other than the damn seats!

 

Well done so far - subd!

 

She's coming along very nicely.

 

Thanks!

Thanks!

 

Looking good... It goes to show that with some hard work and not just throwing money at something can get you good results sometimes. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and just buy a better something, like the dash pad, no way around it.

 

Thank you! I have very little into it so far, but lots of elbow grease and sweat

Yeah the dash pad... I'm torn on this. The original one was severely cracked, this one came out of my 92 convertible that cracked in the winter freeze, and has one crack in the center the splits to 3 at the edge. I'm trying to figure out if spending $250+ on a perfect dash pad will make the car worth $250+ additional money when I go to sell it. I'm kinda thinking it will not, since this isn't a complete restoration. Maybe I'm wrong?

 

Don't think of it as what a new dash will add to the resale price. Think of what a cracked dash will subtract. I think it would easily have a $250 effect because it will be right in the face of any prospective buyer. Yes or no depends on the condition of the rest of the car. $250 can be absorbed into a $6000 car, but not on a $2000 car.


Nice job on the cleanup by the way.

 

Just leave the mat on the dash when you sell it... I have a stash of Firebird ones that I used to pick up for $30 each...

 

I agree when it comes to a perfect restoration. Since this won't be a perfect restoration, and will become a nice driver for someone, I don't really think it will de-value or prevent a sale.

I think that is what I will do. The dash mat looks nice, and the small cracks are not very in your face with the mat on. I supposed worst case scenario I do have a mint one set aside for another project I could sell it to the potential new owner if it were a problem.

 

What are your plans for the resto? I wish I had the cash and the room, I would be interested in the car. I love the ground effects and blisters on the '91-'92 cars.

 

Really the plans were only to clean up, repair, replace the damaged parts that would keep it from being in the nice driver status. We'll see... the longer I have it the longer I will probably mess with it more (bought SLP LM2 exhaust for it yesterday lol). I have a couple people already bugging me to sell it to them. Part of me wants take it home and hope my wife falls in love with it... anywhoo. The blister are one of my favorite parts of the 91-92 Z28's!

 

Quick project: I wanted to see if I could make the underhood insulation look good again. Mine was in decent shape with no large tears, more just abrasions and loose fiberglass? I made the mistake of washing it early on and it really just washed off what remained of that thin crispy outer film on the mat. So on the last one I just shot it with semi-gloss black paint and it really looked pretty good, but the last one was in better condition... this time I used PLASTI-DIP which provided that thin outer shell, and didn't try to soak into the fiber as I experience with the last one. I used almost 2 can on this and the pictures don't really show it off well, but I think it turned out great!

Before:


After:


Installed:


I should have spent more time cleaning the push clips, as they look the worst now. I can see areas where some of the dust that was trapped in the fibers came out when handling it, and left a finger print, but I think those will wipe back off.

So in conclusion don't be afraid to spray some PLASTI-DIP on the underhood liner

 

Since I have had the hood up so much I decided that this would be my next area of attack.

The underhood was pretty clean and didn't need much other than a deep scrubbing and a few small odds and ends like clips and such. I pulled both bottles and soaked in a bleach toilet bowl cleaner for almost a week which really helped clean up the stuff suck on the insides (mainly coolant bottle). They turned out good, but as we all know new would be better. I hand polished all the painted surfaces including the underhood where it would show from around the mat. I cleaned the plastic surfaces with wax and grease remover, which was mainly to remove the residue from the various little stickers that had been applied and removed. I then used Adams VRT (Vinyl, Rubber, Trim), which I found only soaked into the plastics, as they likely have never been dressed. Switched over the Adams tire dressing. Its not overly shiny and provides a long lasting shine. Might be a touch too shiny for what I was going for, but I'm sure this won't be the last time I need to dress the plastics. In the tight areas I used Adams In& Out aerosol spray dressing which is a very light dressing and get into the nook and crannies you normally never be able to touch.

 

wow, it is looking really good... great idea about the plasti-dip...

I was smart enough to buy an OE Insulation years ago for the Formula Hood... still in original box... Waiting to go on

Got it when they were $30.00

 

Figured I had nothing to lose and a couple cans of the stuff hanging around.

Bet you wish you would have bought 10 of them now!

 

About 10-15 years ago I got it, I wish I would have bought 10-20 of them, along with window switches, door lock buttons, power mirror switches, all of which were $5.00-$12.00 each at the time...

 

I know the feeling.

 

too bad your not closer, got some nice seats ill be selling out of my 92 soon, same color.

 

To make sure I am reading this right, these are the products you used on the TB-aircleaner boot (among other things)?
Would you recommend the same to freshen the AC housing on the firewall? BTW, I got the engine compartment painted on my IROC (SA-WEET!), and don't want to put 28 year old crud back on...

 

Yeah coming all the way from NY would probably cost me more than I'm ready to spend. I got a plan for the seats. It's not my ideal, but it what I got to work with.

YES!!! Adams VRT, but it soaked in quickly as the plastics were very dry, so I switched to their Tire shine, and lastly used the aerosol spray for the "can't quite get in there areas".

 

Well more little projects over time...

I got SUPER lucky and when I went to remove the window tint, that they came off in large sheets!!!! The drivers came off in one complete sheet. I spent 10-15 minutes slowly pulling it off. Blown away!!!

 

So I thought that finding a decent set of grey 89-92 cloth seats would not be all that hard.... Well its been a pain in the rear. So now I'm on to PLAN B

PLAN B is strip down a passenger front seat from my part donor 92 RS that I bought a few years back. The seat was squished in the accident, but the materials are clean and low mileage.

I'm gonna strip the 91Z drivers seat to the frame, swap foams, and covers with the passenger side. The foams will work on either side, but they must be altered (trimmed) slightly for the reclining mechanism bolt hole clearance. The covers will have a couple holes that will be left on the inside edge of the seat (against the console). My plan is to just make those a least noticeable as I can. Again not trying to make a show car, just a driver someone might be proud of.

Here is the donor passenger seat all stripped down;



Here is why we needed to do this... the drivers seat is HAMMERED!!!



This is the drivers seat after I got it torn down, and the foams swapped over;


The grey fabric a section from the torn up old cover that I'm putting in the area where the passenger seat cover will have a hole. I also have a small "patch" of the same material glued to the inside the passenger seat to cover the small holes.

I'm slowly working away at it so more pics as soon as I have the seats done!

 

Oh yeah... I had a rough day at the shop, and needed to vent my frustrations:







R.I.P my brother Joey Kerr!

 

Here is the covers after I got them dried out. I ran them in the washing machine. The washing machine is the hands down best method of cleaning. Holy moly that worked well!!!



Here is the seat adjustment bracket holes that will now be against the console. I used a patch of old material on the inside of the cover to make these less noticable.





Finished pics!!! I need to clean all my crap out of the car, and wipe everything down for a full "shoot", but here is teasers

 

You are incredible at making things look new again...

 

There isn't much on this that looks brand new! But I appreciate the compliment. I try

 

That's awesome!!!!!!

 

Impressive!

Does the console completely cover the bracket holes? I've been considering having my interior guy take the seams apart to do a similar repair for my 87 but if the console covers the holes - who cares!!!

 

Thank you! It comes pretty close depending on where you have your seat positioned. Here is a couple pics looking across from the passenger side.

 

The windshield was cracked badly in the convertible so.... I decieded that I WOULD NOT put a new one in the convertible, and I had the pitted 15+ year old window from BADNBLK, and had that installed into the convertible.... BUT....

Before I did that I broke out a rattle can of GM Bright Red, and shot the windshield frame, since the paint around that was beyond polishing



Here are both the cars getting ready for the swaparoo of glass


More pics to come

 

"New" windshield, and a couple stickers from past race events... think anyone will buy it? haha


BADNBLK got the shiny new glass

 

Clever, very clever!

 

I just wish they would make the correct trim piece for around the windshield... the new stuff is wider than original...

 

Sometimes the best ideas come from necessity lol.

I was hoping the black cars trim could be re-used, but cracked off the tabs near the bottom. I think most won't complain, but I hear what your saying.

 

Same thing happened to me on one of my cars about 7 years ago. So, I ordered an original windshield trim from Modern Day Muscle. I intended to replace the wide trim with the original one since it is 1/2 as wide as the after market trim and does give the windshield a different look.

I still haven't got around to replacing it. So, I now have an original spare windshield trim to put on someday. I'm glad I got it back then since they are no longer available and I purchased it for only $20.00!

 

IIRC The factory had 2 widths, the early was narrow, and the later was a little wider... It might not show in the parts catalog because the late would replace the early, so the old narrow stuff was phased out. My 89 Convertible has the original windshield, and the original is barely wider than the gap, there is actually a gap in the corners ... The replacement GM stuff is 1/8" wider IIRC... It seems really crazy to me that getting the correct width is such a challenge, almost everything used that in the 80's, My 83 Riviera used the same piece...

I have a GM NOS one in a box, it is the wider of the 2 trims, but it is original GM, so it is what it is. I know if I ever get a windshield replaced and it is the wide 1/2" stuff I will tell them that it is wrong and they will get me the something better than that.

 

I didn't know that they had two different trims back them. Do you have a part number on your trim? I'll dig mine out and see what number is on my trim. I also recall that the upper corners on the windshield didn't seal well with the original GM trim and I had to fill them with a 3m sealant for glasing that never gets hard. It has never leaked since.

 

It is called a Spacer AFAICT.
7.0mm 20624925
9mm 20532870
11mm 20532871
13mm 20532872

I believe I have a 7mm in my car, and the one I have in my box is 9mm... the 11 & 13 look too wide IMHO. I have seen even wider ones too it seems.

John

 

John I think those might be part numbers for some kind of windshield glass spacer since they are priced under a dollar in the June 1988 GM parts catalog. Those numbers are in section 10.027 under Caulking Kits-Decal-Glass-Spacer.

I took out my original boxed windshield trim this morning and saw that it was part #10103279 with a width of 11.208mm on the tag. Since it didn't match your part numbers I looked further on that same page and found it in section 10.093 under Molding-Seal, Windshield Reveal Molding.

It looked wider than my '85 and '88 moldings that are original so I measured those and they were indeed smaller at 7.938mm.

The parts catalog had them listed as:
1982-84 Part #20215817 (11.208mm) for $9.50
1985-88 Part #20355447 (no width given) (assumed at 7.938mm)for $8.40
1989 Part #10103279 (11.208mm) for $10.75

If this is the case it looks like 1982-84 had the wider 11.208mm trim. Then 1985-88 had the narrower 7.938mm trim and then from 1989-92 GM went back to a 11.208mm trim. So the OEM #10103279 trim I have won't be original for for 1985-88, but would for 1982-84 and 1989-92.

I can see GM doing that since the narrower trim used from 1985-88 tended to leak in the upper corners if they weren't sealed properly. What do you think?