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History / OriginalityGot a question about 1982-1992 Camaro or Firebird history? Have a question about original parts, options, RPO codes, when something was available, or how to document your car? Those questions, answers, and much more!
I absolutely can't stand how the factory paint on the front bumper cover doesn't match for crap, and I had a little scuff on the pass side front corner, anyways.......so it's getting a little makeover. I went all last year looking at both of the things that irritated me, and I cant take it any longer lol. I'm just hoping the new paint will match better....there is only prime for the color, no variances. I figure it cant be worse....
Nope...I replaced the stripes last spring with a Phoenix Graphics kit. It had the original stripes on it before that, but some were starting to peel a little so I replaced all of them
Nope...I replaced the stripes last spring with a Phoenix Graphics kit. It had the original stripes on it before that, but some were starting to peel a little so I replaced all of them
Well that's good. You may need to replace the short ones on the front fenders to match the new one you will need to put on the front bumper, depending on how consistent the colors are between lots.
I'll have it finished tomorrow. Just gotta sand and buff the top of the nose, install the ornament, and install the cover between the nose and radiator support. Almost done!
Yep....I did. I didnt want to do it that way, but I didnt want to have to buy another complete stripe kit just for the nose pieces. It's not noticeable at all. But it would be evident if the stripes were removed. It looks a million times better than it did.
I removed the grilles and parking lights, too....and masked off the entire holes so ZERO overspray got anywhere. I wanted to remove the entire nose, but none of the bolts have ever been touched, and then I'd have to deal with realignment issues, etc.....so I painted it on the car with hours of tedious masking lol
It looks much better. Unfortunately, you have now destroyed its value, and I better not find any clay bar residue.......oh wait, I forgot.....it’s never had paint work......right!!!! LOL!
It looks much better. Unfortunately, you have now destroyed its value, and I better not find any clay bar residue.......oh wait, I forgot.....it’s never had paint work......right!!!! LOL!
No paint work here! It's all factory. What you're seeing is light reflections......lots and lots of them LOL
So after about 4 hours of my masking mission, a dude I work with came up to me and said "Ya know, my grandma was slow......but she was 90 years old". I replied with "Yeah well I know the guy that owns this car, and he's a picky sum b1tc#" lol
I found out another interesting thing with my paint color, too.....
So my maroon interior is a 1 year color....and so is this shade of silver paint. Different years share the 16 factory code.....but there are a few different WA numbers for silvers, and this particular one is 1982 only. WEIRD.
Really great job. Nice match. I can't tell what I've gone through to get a perfect match for touchup paint for my white '89, and I'm still not happy with it.
Really great job. Nice match. I can't tell what I've gone through to get a perfect match for touchup paint for my white '89, and I'm still not happy with it.
Thanks. The color is a great blendable color, but it's still not 100% for a panel to panel match. It's just a tad dark. But It sure is a lot closer than what it was, though! Our shop uses water base paint and there was no water formula for this color, so I had to order solvent base.....and therefore I couldn't tweak the color to make it 100%
Too bad you weren't closer.....we'd do a variance match with color chips and I'd make you some and tweak it until it was right on.
Damn that looks perfect! I've wanted to have a few panels repainted on my car without having to do the full car, but I'm scared of trying to properly match decade old Dark Green haha
That's because the pictures are of a different car, and also clearly photo shopped, well at least according to my lawyer ..
Just wait until I have the “Industry Experts” talk to your lawyer........then you’ll be in big trouble......so big, I can’t even tell you what the trouble will be. Just know, that it will be BIG!
Just wait until I have the “Industry Experts” talk to your lawyer........then you’ll be in big trouble......so big, I can’t even tell you what the trouble will be. Just know, that it will be BIG!
Very nice work !!!......and I dont see any claybar residue
It looks even better than before, car looks pristine!
Thanks! But there is wax residue on the parking lights that I still have to clean. The old dude I bought the car from must have waxed it all the time, and he waxed absolutely EVERYTHING. I still need to give it a good detailing. I've gotten most of it cleaned up. He had wax all over around the ground effects, rear spoiler, emblems, and even the door jambs. He even waxed the damn tail lights! I kept the car in a storage unit most of last summer, so now that it's in my garage at home I'll have to get busy with a toothbrush lol. But I have to hand it to the guy......the car has 22k miles, and it could seriously pass for a 5k mile car...or less. Even the front wheel bearing dust caps look like brand new. It's pretty cool to look it over in person. I really hated to paint on it.....but I just had to make I look better.
You can mask off parts and avoid overspray if you take the time and do it right. The guy that did my IROC apologized for not removing the windshield, but he said it was definitely the original windshield and is in mint condition so he didn’t want to risk breaking it. I asked how he got the pillars so perfect and he said, “very carefully”
Sometimes it’s not worth pulling things apart and those stripe kits aren’t cheap. The IROC one ran me $600-700
I was originally going to only paint my nose and hood but did the whole car because I was worried about the paint looking consistent. One of the few IROCs I see around has a painted front spoiler and it doesn’t match perfectly and is also more shiny than the rest of the car. I was worried about that..
Yours looks really great though. Looks to be a perfect match in the photo!
I’d have been most worried about taping off the headlight buckets.. You want those lines to be crisp and clean..
Thanks for the compliment! Yep I can definitely sleep better now lol. I wasnt worried about the headlight buckets at all......I used to custom paint motorcycles for a living, so taping clean lines is my specialty lol
Thank you, Darin, for sharing some of your silver paint with me. It's a perfect match for the Pace Car.
Like an idiot, I was holding a new front brake hose for the '82. The box was crap and I put the hose back in the box, closed the top and went to put the box on the lift above the '82. The bottom of the box opened and the brake line fell out and chipped the paint on the driver door, above the Indy 500 decal! Darin even sent me a very fine tip hobby paint brush that filled the chip perfectly inside the damaged area. I need to put some clear on it, sand and polish and it should disappear.
Thank you, Darin, for sharing some of your silver paint with me. It's a perfect match for the Pace Car.
Like an idiot, I was holding a new front brake hose for the '82. The box was crap and I put the hose back in the box, closed the top and went to put the box on the lift above the '82. The bottom of the box opened and the brake line fell out and chipped the paint on the driver door, above the Indy 500 decal! Darin even sent me a very fine tip hobby paint brush that filled the chip perfectly inside the damaged area. I need to put some clear on it, sand and polish and it should disappear.
Do I see a reflection in the paint of the tent bars above?
Beautiful car. My first love of third gens were the early models and I am so pumped that there are fine examples like this being maintained. Well done.
Do I see a reflection in the paint of the tent bars above?
Beautiful car. My first love of third gens were the early models and I am so pumped that there are fine examples like this being maintained. Well done.
Those look like ceiling tiles!!!! You people should mind your own business!
You people should mind your own business! 
