A BRIEF HISTORY:
I've owned this car for about 5 years I guess. Originally it's an '84 SC Camaro. The previous owner put on the 82-84 style gfx Z/28 hood, and (ugly) custom front bumper. Shortly after I got it, I found a nice bolt on cowl hood on CL for $125 so I added that and sold the Z hood. Then a friend of mine had the two tone 4th gen seats just sitting in his yard, so he gave them to me and I cleaned them up and installed them. Then I parted out an '86 Z and an '84Z that had a brand new front bumper cover and a nice set of gauges. So I changed the bumper and my old idiot lights to gauges. I bought and resold a 91Z parts car, but kept the gfx, tail lights and rear spoiler off it and changed them out for the 82-84 style that was on it. That's pretty much where the car is to date.

CURRENTLY:
My plan is to do a mild restore to the body and interior including new carpet. The engine will come next year hopefully. I know, not necessarily the right order, but it runs good, so I'm going to concentrate on making it look great. The previous owner had the car painted, which still looks pretty good, but the doors are wavy and have a couple door dings in them. I got a quote for $2750 for the body work, base coat clear coat paint, including the jams if I strip the car and reassemble it. There is zero rust or real damage to the car. I took off all the gfx, spoiler, rear bumper, weather stripping on the doors and t-tops, mirrors, window sweeps, door panels, interior plastics, gas door, and rear carpet so far. I plan on driving the car to the shop, so the lights will stay in for now. I still have to take out the seats, carpet and console and it will be pretty much ready to go.

Shortly after I got the car, but added the hood, tail lights and seats already..




Changed the bumper, rear spoiler and gfx.

 

Taking her apart....

 

 

So I still have a little bit of work. I need to get the handles and locks out, the seats, console and carpet too. I have a friend that's gonna weld the old spoiler holes closed too. I'll be ordering new carpet for the cabin and new weather stripping for the doors and t-tops. I will leave the lights in for now. because I'm driving it to the paint shop. I will take them out there. That's pretty much it for today. The carnage so far...

 

I'm doing the same thing car is disassembled in the garage I would be shooting primer but summit gave me acetone instead of reducer for the etching primer. oh well you can alway use some more sanding until i get the reducer. every place i called on this side of atlanta wanted 1500 or more to shoot it. so i figuredi shot the iroc so i will shoot this one too really didn't want to but oh well. put up thefinished shoots when it gets done. what color are you going.

 

Cool. Thinking I'm going to go two tone red and black
with a single red stripe on the Hood and deck lid. Not set in
Stone though. Gotta still have money left for the carpet and
Weather stripping + the little stuff

 

I don't have to get new carpet ssince i already got some new in teh box with a parts car but weatherstripping i have to get I got some for the iroc thru summit softseal i think is the name of it and it was only 158 for the t-top seals mine is going black also. I already have the paint bought it last week also got the primer but summit messed me up Oh well only thing lefton the car is the dors and deck lid right now. body wise I was hoping to get the parts in primer today and sanded back out this evening then shoot the loose parts black tomorrow. but that isn't going to happen now

 

Dropping her off Wed. afternoon for paint. Was told they would have it for about two weeks. We'll see how it goes and will update with pics as I get them. It's going to be two tone red and black. Should look pretty sick.

 

Dropped her off today. I'll probably stop by around next Wed. to take some pics.
He said that they'd be in it pretty good by then.

 

No one's interested? Dang, thought you guys would be at least a little excited to see another 3rd gen getting painted the right way.

Stopped by the paint shop and was happy to see 3 guys working on my car. Well, not technically the car, but they were sanding on all the stuff that was pulled off the car. The guy in the back is sanding on my grille, while the guy in front is on the gfx, and the kid on the rt is working on the stuff under the front bumper.


Here's the rear spoiler and back bumper.

 

Looks good can't wait ot see it done
I went to prime mine don't want the whole car outside while painting the pieces so i went ot pull it out of the garage. wouldn't start out of gas went and got 5 gallons went to start it just cranking no start thinking now what checked pump can hear it run pulled off the fuel line have gas but now pressure time to drop the tank and replace teh pump errr

 

Oh man, that sucks. What a PITA. They told me today that I may be able
to pick up all the parts that are off the car by Monday. Unfortunately, the
car won't be ready for another week and a half after that.
At least I'll have some pretty parts to take pics of.

 

...

 

Thank you. I will probably be driving them crazy, stopping by after work everyday for the next too weeks to take pics. I don't care though. I'm really excited about it.

 

Polished and painted my taillights today. Cleaned and repainted my door panel top plastic pieces. Cleaned and painted my front fenderwell plastics as well as the plastic piece that goes under/behind the chin spoiler. Cleaned and repainted my foglights/brackets and the plastic cup that goes inside the gas filler hole. The tail light and foglights are both still fogged up a little from washing them, besides that, they look much better IMO.

 

Stopped by today and actually have a couple painted parts. The rear spoiler and mirrors are painted black to match the top color that the car will be. All the gfx, mirrors, gas door, and rear bumper will be painted today or tomorrow the bottom color of the car. (Red) As far as the car itself, it hasn't been touched, but that will change tomorrow. So I should have some pics of some work on the body tomorrow. Here's what I have so far.

 

...

 

Just finished repairing my door panels. The P.O. obviously didn't know how to remove them and tore all the holes across the top panel. I had some roof flashing laying around from getting my new roof last year, so I cut a 1" strip, folded it in half and hot glued it across the top of the panel. I then re-attatched the top piece and it worked perfect.
Also, across the bottom of the panels, the vinyl had come loose over the years so I used my glue gun again and pulled the material tight and re-glued it. Now my panels are perfect once again.

BEFORE:


AFTER METAL STRIP INSTALLED:


PLASTIC REINSTALLED:

 

Have some more updated pics of what they painted today. They also started all the bodywork on the car. They filled in the old spoiler holes and marked all the imperfections in the body to fix. (alot). They have started on the passenger door.

Between the flourescent lighting and my flash, the paint looks pink, but it is the original red that's on the car. Damn it looks smooth. The pics don't do it justice. They also painted the chin spoiler, gfx for doors and the gas door, but I forgot to take pics of those.


Rear Bumper.



Rear GFX extensions.


GFX.


Grille.

 

Looking good man.

 

That thing is gonna look badass when there done!! Are u gonna run the irocs or the other wheels?

 

Looking good so far! Is this a two tone? Top black or what?

 

Thanks guys. I'm probably going to put my chrome wheels back on. I like the Iroc's and everything, but they belong to my Iroc. I just wanted to get some use of them since I'm still working on the Iroc mechanically.
He was hoping to be done with the body work by the end of tomorrow, but it's probably going to be more like Thursday. I'll stop by again after work and take some more pics tomorrow. The pics don't do these parts justice at all. They were fresh out of the oven and are slick as glass already. I can't wait to get her home and put her back together.

 

Thanks and you are correct. It's going to be two tone, black on top, red on bottom. I know some of you don't care for that scheme on the camaro's and that's perfectly fine. I happen to love them and think the third gen has perfect body lines to pull it off.
I can't decide how to break up the paint line though. I don't really want to put a pin stripe on it, but IDK how it will look without one.

 

Gotta say man, you're making me jealous. Your pics are making me want to get to just tearing the interior out of my IROC and get to body and pain work.

I'm trying to decide if I want to pull the engine and repaint the engine bay etc, or if I want to leave it driveable for a little longer so I can get to doing things like fixing exhaust, struts, etc.

Cheers on your project none the less though!

 

Thank you man. Believe me, I know the feeling. I've been wanting to do this for a LONG time. I've owned about 10 camaro's over the years, put several engines in, redone several interiors, but in 24 years of owning cars, I have NEVER had one painted. To say I'm stoked is an understatement. My only problem right now it that it's taking every dime that I've saved to get her painted the way that I want. I still have to order weather stripping for the t-tops and doors, carpet, emblems and new parking lights / side marker lights. So I've gotta come up with another $4-500 to get her put back together.

 

I have a little money set aside from back to back trips to Afghanistan and South Korea ... but I promised myself I would be one who would get back and blow big cash on cars and TVs etc. So I'm being a good kid and setting aside a certain amount each month, as well as diverting money I'd normally blow on other things and making a "project stockpile".

I've owned a few cars as well, but due to moving around and work and other stuff I've not had a chance to have a true project... I've just kept whatever my daily driver is good enough to get me to where I need to go. So this is my first, but I want to do it right. I plan on having all the plastics, weather striping, glass, etc all purchased and set aside and ready before I even move into the sanding phase.

Hope you get what you need done to get your hands on the parts ya require. Where about are you putting the split on the two colors?

 

Yeah, that would be ideal to have all the parts ahead of time.
Just didn't work out that way for me. The paint is gonna break
At the top of the fenders, doors, etc

 

About like [THIS] ? In red and black of course.

 

If youre going to two tone your camaro thats about the best way to do it.

 

Wow! Nice Camaro. That's exactly how it's
Gonna be. (in red) Change the gfx and rear spoiler
And that's gonna be mine.

 

That is going to look awesome. Can't wait to see it. Subbed!

If you don't mind me asking, coolwheels84, how much did this set you back? This is very intricate work!

 

I found this...It will look a lot like this.

 

I'm coming in right at $2500. That's with me taking everything apart and putting it back together. I'll have another $4-500 in weather stripping, carpet, lights, etc...

 

Nice looking project man. Can't wait to see it finished!!

 

Maybe a dark grey pinstripe to break it up? I think I would leave it without a pinstripe but if you wanted one I think dark grey would look good but not noticeable standing back cause it would blend with the black.

 

Nice color combo, those parts look great, can't wait to see the car finished!

 

...

 

Thanks! Me too

Yeah, idk that it needs one either. Don't really want one. Just need too see what
It looks like once finished.

Thanks!

I checked out several cars that they were working on and was impressed.
I think the price is very fair.

 

Well, boring pics today unless you like body work. The passenger door is pretty much done. The old spoiler holes are filled and sanded. The drivers door has been skimmed, but not sanded yet. The doors were WAVY! The passenger door feels great. Once they get it in the high build primer and block it, they will know if it needs more work. Hopefully the bodywork will be done by tomorrow or Friday. I'm not rushing them. No hurry.
Passenger door


Drivers door.


Rear Deck with filled holes.


That's all for today, nothing too exciting.

 

^ This is actually not a bad idea.

And yes, that price is not bad at all! I'm quite surprised. Gave me an even better estimate because you live close to where my family is thinking of moving. (Kennesaw, Acworth, etc.)

EDIT: I like that blue 'Vette in the background... Almost mistook it for a 2nd Gen Berlinetta.

 

Well, it does have charcoal and red interior, so a dark gray pinstripe wouldn't be bad. I'm not gonna decide until I see it finished though.
I don't know if I mentioned, but it's being painted in Acworth. Actually the paint on that Berlinetta helped make my decision to paint it here. That car is gonna be B-E-A-Utiful.

 

When I asked two tone this was the car I was thinking about... It appears to have no pinstripe other than the graphic area behind the door. Very sexy car. ENJOY! Can't wait to see yours all finished up

 

Wow, that is sexy! Doesn't look like the headlight buckets are painted
And mine won't have that stance but Damn I can't wait! Thanks for the pics.
That car is sweet

 

So it is a 2nd Gen Berlinetta.

 

It is and the paint is gorgeous.

 

I have a soft spot for Berlinettas, RS's, and Sport Coupes. Poor things don't get enough love.

I don't know if you have said this already, but where are you getting the PJ and body work done at?

 

I agree with ya. They don't get much love. This car is originally a Sport Coupe, which it looks nothing like it did now. It's getting painted at the Maaco in Acworth. Believe me, I checked out their work before making the decision. They just finished a red Iroc a couple weeks before mine and it was beautiful. It's on their website actually if you look them up on FaceBook.....Maaco Acworth. Then I saw this Berlinetta transform from original dark blue to a full color change to that Metallic Blue and that was it. I could see the care and good work they do.

 

Looking good!!

 

No real updates today. Sorry.