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Well I took the radiator out of the 86 and put it in the 89 today, and everything in that department works perfectly. I took it for a drive tonight and the alternator crapped out. The 86 has a brand new one.....and of course, they are different. At least they're cheap, lol.
New alternator has been in a few days, too. The car runs up and down the road great.
Next step is to replace the differential oil and gasket. The gasket has been leaking, so I'm gonna get that fixed asap. It's the only thing that is leaking on the car
And........in case you're wondering if I feel any remorse for parting out this 86 IROC.....I do not. The car actually looked super solid when you walked up to it. But the floor pans are rotted out, and the rear quarters under the ground effects are gone, too. The doors are actually nice, and the front fenders look like brand new. It's a great parts car, but that's it. She's just too far gone to mess with.
Here's the car before when it was complete....and a close up of what was hiding under the ground effects.
I got the new tires put on the wheels yesterday, and got them mounted on the car today. I'm hoping to get the front fenders and bumper covers from the parts car painted BLUE this weekend!
I got the new tires put on the wheels yesterday, and got them mounted on the car today. I'm hoping to get the front fenders and bumper covers from the parts car painted BLUE this weekend!
I was trying my best to get the front bumper cover painted, too......but I found a very small crack on the driver's side top corner, so I have to get that repaired
I drove the car to a buddies shop today to use his pressure washer that has a burner, and blasted the engine compartment. And, just as I had hoped, their crap black paint blew right off. Now I have a blue engine compartment! I did not worry about the edges of the fenders, because I have the new fenders already painted.
ALL the black paint blew off?! ....i woulda been scared it woulda made it worse than before! -guess you were able to evaluate in person though. BONUS! Very nice. So are you going to leave the underhood alone?
ALL the black paint blew off?! ....i woulda been scared it woulda made it worse than before! -guess you were able to evaluate in person though. BONUS! Very nice. So are you going to leave the underhood alone?
Yep, it all blew off (under the hood, not the entire car). So, the black was peeling all over, and I could see that the blue paint underneath was nice and shiny. They didn't sand or prep it at all, so it didn't stick. So once the black was blown off, the blue is actually in pretty good shape. It isn't showroom new by any means, but it definitely presents itself nicely. It looks like a 65k mile should.....so I'm not going to do anything with it under the hood.
Hood vents got an overhaul. Unfortunately, they were painted silver so I couldn't bring them back to their natural, plastic finish. So, I ended up sealing them and painting them with the closest to original looking paint that I could. PPG Hot Rod Black. It's kind of an egg shell black. Same paint I used on the Headlight buckets on my RS, and when I get that far, I will use the same paint on the headlight buckets on this car, too
Love this thread Darin! Do you think you can powerwash that black paint off the rest of the body?
Thanks Charlie!
I tried to get the rest of the black paint off of the body, but it wasn't happening. Evidently the body was sanded relatively good before it was painted. I was mainly concerned about the engine compartment and door jambs. The black blew off of the jambs, too. I will just have to sand the rest off.
The front bumper cover, chin spoiler, and the hood are next on the paint list.
Here's how the hood louvers turned out after curing. They actually look very close to how brand new ones would look. For being painted....I am happy with them, and I didn't really think I was going to be lol
On the last coat of paint on these, I just did a dust coat, to dull the finish a little bit. When you run your fingers across them...they don't "feel" painted.....they kind of feel like bare plastic.
I just got another one bought. This one is gonna sit until the blue car is done, but I couldn't pass it up. I've been trying to find out the location of this car for 2 years, and FINALLY talked to the right guy who knew where it was at.
1987 IROC-Z, 5.7, 3.27 rear end, 4 wheel disc brakes, posi, Bose, t tops, power seat, power mirror, auto dim mirror, overhead console, power antenna, etc. 74k miles. The wheels are in great shape. An old lady has it, and the fuel pump went out years and years ago and she said she couldn't find anyone to fix it, so she parked it. The car is super straight, all original, and it's all there. It's sitting on a concrete slab. The car is super solid, and super straight. She said it was beautiful when it was parked. I will start a separate thread on this car later on when I get working on it.
I just got another one bought. This one is gonna sit until the blue car is done, but I couldn't pass it up. I've been trying to find out the location of this car for 2 years, and FINALLY talked to the right guy who knew where it was at.
1987 IROC-Z, 5.7, 3.27 rear end, 4 wheel disc brakes, posi, Bose, t tops, power seat, power mirror, auto dim mirror, overhead console, power antenna, etc. 84k miles. The wheels are in great shape. An old lady has it, and the fuel pump went out years and years ago and she said she couldn't find anyone to fix it, so she parked it. The car is super straight, all original, and it's all there. It's sitting on a concrete slab. The car is super solid, and super straight. She said it was beautiful when it was parked. I will start a separate thread on this car later on when I get working on it.
I just got another one bought. This one is gonna sit until the blue car is done, but I couldn't pass it up. I've been trying to find out the location of this car for 2 years, and FINALLY talked to the right guy who knew where it was at.
1987 IROC-Z, 5.7, 3.27 rear end, 4 wheel disc brakes, posi, Bose, t tops, power seat, power mirror, auto dim mirror, overhead console, power antenna, etc. 84k miles. The wheels are in great shape. An old lady has it, and the fuel pump went out years and years ago and she said she couldn't find anyone to fix it, so she parked it. The car is super straight, all original, and it's all there. It's sitting on a concrete slab. The car is super solid, and super straight. She said it was beautiful when it was parked. I will start a separate thread on this car later on when I get working on it.
You know, this car has a cool patina........................
You know, this car has a cool patina........................
I just found out that the car has been sitting in that spot for AT LEAST 21 YEARS!!!
The dude that told me where it was, tried to buy it in 2000....and it was in that same spot with the fuel pump inoperative.
What's surprising is the condition of the interior. It's actually pretty nice. The headliner is even good. There's a crack in the dash pad, but there are no tears in the upholstery, no real wear on anything.
I will try to get it to run and drive before I start on the body....so I'll get a few miles on it with all of that patina
I got the bodywork done on the front bumper cover today, and got it in primer. I'm hoping to paint it Blue tomorrow night after work. Once the front bumper cover is painted, and the chin spoiler, the entire front clip will be done. Then it's gonna be super fast to get the rest done. I'll have to crank on it really hard so it's not taking up shop space at work. I have a buddy that does PDR work, so I'm gonna have him take a few dings out of the doors for me. The bodywork will be VERY minimal on this thing. The rear quarters are super straight.
I also drove it quite a bit today. I haven't really put many miles on it yet, so I got it out of the garage and did all of my running around today with it. Even had to drive it out to, and make a lap around the lake with it. I have to get the exhaust system repaired, next. I have a leak on the passenger side of the engine. Between the exhaust leak and no muffler, it sounds like an old beat up farm pickup lol. But she sure runs down the road awesome. Everything is nice and tight, nothing rattling, etc.
I got the front bumper cover painted tonight. I'll try to get the headlight buckets painted black tomorrow night after work. I'm gaining 1 piece at a time!
Where'd you order the parking lights from? They look pretty good.
I bought them off of Amazon. I looked at the different ones on there and picked the ones that looked the closest to the factory ones. I might have gotten the last ones for the time being, Now it says they're currently unavailable
I lucked out and found NOS GM parking lights on eBay a few months ago when mine was being painted. Yours look very similar to the GM ones. I didn't realize how many different aftermarket style parking lights they make for these cars. The blue is awesome. This is one of the threads I follow for updates because you're doing such a good job.
I lucked out and found NOS GM parking lights on eBay a few months ago when mine was being painted. Yours look very similar to the GM ones. I didn't realize how many different aftermarket style parking lights they make for these cars. The blue is awesome. This is one of the threads I follow for updates because you're doing such a good job.
Thanks man!
Ya know, if your red car would have been closer to me, that would be the one I'd be working on right now, lol
My Phoenix Graphics decals, stripes, and emblems all came today....but unfortunately this is all I can put on for the time being. But it gives me a boost of motivation!!
