When I got around to doing my 91 over I was going to do the same thing with the GFX retainers and do them in stainless. Some flat bar close in width and thickness, cut to length, a few holes and a screw of the appropriate size and tack the screw on the back side to retain it. Bullet nose the screw to make staring the nut in the blind area a little easier, should work like factory, only better and last longer

 

so, spent the day sanding, so glad I got the compressor, I got basically the back half of the car along with the hood sanded in about 3 hours or so, found a couple of low spots that I didn't even know were there and also discovered that the clear coat on the roof seems to be a LOT thicker than the rest of the car, oh, and my front bumper is fully repaired and sanded. progress is slow, but it's still progress

 

10B 4/10/87 RW
found this on the driver side side skirt, though it was interesting.

 

so, been sanding and sanding, removed the side bumpers, dont know of they are going back on or not, kinda like the look without them. still looking for a decent center console and driver side front ground effect. now that im sanding for hours I'm noticing a lot of moisture building up in my air lines, so much so that it's making it past my drip leg and my filter, trying to decide if I need to put a larger drip leg in or another filter, I need to figure it out before I buy paint.

 

my new driver side ground effect is in the mail as of today, I have all of the metal on the car sanded down pretty well, been working on the plastics in my basement, slow progress since its cold. I found out I have to have the car painted before July, that is when baby #3 will be here and I really wont have any spare time left. reached out to a few people both on here and craigslist looking for a good center console, looking for one close enough so we can pick it up instead of having it shipped. also found out TCP global will mix "custom" colors (i.e factory colors that they do not advertise)

 

so my last post stated that I had my ground effect in the mail... it was not the correct one for my car. BUT i DID get the correct one now lol. now that i have a new part and it's not snowing I got some motivation to get back to it, back bumper is now sanded down, there wasn't much clear on it. so question, about paint, what kind of primer or sealer do I need to go over bare metal and body filler? I believe I need to get a sealer then a primer, is this correct? couple of pics of my sanding

cut the bill off the hat to make it more comfortable.
still working on the clear coat

 

thank you to dagwood for the new ground effect, only took 2 years to find this but its brand new, I'm stoked

brand new ground effect

 

been a while since I've gotten to work on the old bird, she's decided to squeal like a stuck pig every time I turn the key now, once she warms up it seems to go away. my daughter helped me to clean up my headlights and the front bumper honey comb, something minor but its bothered me since day one, just never been high enough on my priority list to mess with it. I'm hoping to get my primer next week (?), I'm at the mercy of the USPS and the guy sending me my check, once that get here I think I'm going to primer pieces individually the put them on the car before I spray the base, this seems to be the way everyone suggests spraying metallic colors. I did discover out of all things that 2 of the screws holding my driver side headlight are incorrect, and of course the clips are messed up as well, one of them is a 12mm head instead of a 10 and another one is a course thread. I need to find these while I'm thinking about it, if only there was a place to find random third gen parts...

 

Keep up the good work I look forward to seeing the finished project

 

X2 cant wait to see it painted I like this color- alot
Get R Dun!!

 

ok so I've been researching this for a while and cant seem to get an exact answer so maybe I'll throw it out here and see if someone *cough* tibo *cough* can answer it. I think I think I'm correct in this-
epoxy primer on all metal (not sandable, used as a sealer (reduced more) to protect the metal and the new paint from possible bleed through).
high build primer on top of that ( can use in only problem spots to help even out scratch marks ect).
put the car back together??
base coat (KISS and follow directions on can)
clear coat (refer to previous)

BUT my question is, if I spray primer on all of the parts before I put it back together what are the chances that the paint will be able to get in all of the creases to cover everything? and what about areas like the mirrors which have that gasket? I don't want to paint the gasket, so do I paint the mirrors separately the put them on after the body is painted? I plan on buying at least the epoxy this weekend but might wait til I get a better ling term plan with these questions answered.

 

so, there are a few little things that have been bothering me, when I recovered my headliner I didn't do a great job, but its "ok?" I guess... kinda, but I cut to much out of the corners so some of the foam shows, I've been debating on whether to try to recover it again myself (I still have enough to try 1 more time) and my visors keep falling. a buddy of mine has a 4th gen Camaro and he put in a visor delete, so I'm gonna try it out, it was only $15 on Amazon l, so i figured if i dont like it it's not a huge deal i guess

sun visor delete
its billit aluminum, I sanded, primed and painted it black.

 

so the visor deletes are just a hair smaller than the actual mounting spots for the visor, not exactly what i wanted, hawks has them too but they are more than twice what I paid, hopefully a better fit though. maybe if I like it I will order those ones when I order the new headliner. I finally spent the time to look into why my windshield washer didn't work, check valve was clogged, then I broke it in half...

also guide coated all of my really bad spots on the body, only 1 spot came up as still needing fixed

I went to buy my epoxy primer, internet said open til 4, door to the shop said open til 1... I showed up at 130.... no problem I'll go up to napa and buy more touch up paint, awesome... it didn't match... not even close. the only upside today was that I got the correct screws from firebirddude installed. small win I guess

 

so I got my primer after talking with a big paint shop by where I work they all suggested sherwin William's paint, specifically the sherwin William's that they use, they guy there was super helpful, he said I can come in anytime with questions ect, absolutely awesome.

btw, had a baby 2 weeks ago, that kinda takes up a lot of time.

Joshua Charles

after reading one of the other threads on here I decided to just take the plunge and start priming, the primer goes a LONG way, I was only going to do the front bumper, rear ground effects and fender ground effects but I threw in the side skirt, and probably had enough to do the other ground effect but it wasnt clean.

started priming

 

amazing how once it's all one color how many little pin holes you find...

 

Congrats on the baby boy!

 

thank you, as if things were not going slow enough on the car, he one more little thing to spend my time on, but it's time well spent

 

back bumper sanded with 240 then with 400 grit. it will be primed this weekend. I didnt find any issues with it but it seem as if primer brings out all of the flaws...

back bumper sanded

I also plan on recoating the front bumper and driver side ground effects, and first coat the passenger side and all of the smalls. if all goes to plan maybe do the body 2 weekends from now?

 

my three year old doesnt like the compressor, but he does like his cheese pups

 

I found the source of my squeal, apparently this bolt is fairly important

missing alternator bolt

 

so I got both of my bumpers, side skirts and all the little extras primed today. it seems like in going to have to adjust my gun every time I use it, last weekend it was great, this time it seemed like it wasn't getting enough paint, or to much air, I was having a lot of dryfall (not sure if that's what its called in automotive painting, but in house painting that's what its called).
I plan on taping off the car starting tomorrow and hopefully I can do the body next weekend. I think I'm going to paint all of the unseen areas with my single stage then put it back together (loosely) then whenever I get my paint (it's super expensive lol) I can do it all together as I've read you want to paint metallic oriented as it will be on the car. so it's getting close.
on another note, I rerouted my radiator and overflow lines to make my intake sit a little better.

 

ready for primer
so getting the car ready to prime, I got all of the hidden bits painted with single stage, still need to prime the mirrors and do the final coat on the front bumper.

 

so

primed : )
I did a thing today...
I was planning on doing this sunday, but i was up early and everyone was still in bed so i just went for it. Igot some hairs and dust in it but it needs to be sanded before I paint anyways so it's no big deal. it's at least all 1 color now. and now I can put it back together and drive it til I get thr money together for the paint.

 

so the whole car is is primed and I'm working on getting it all back together, I got the back bumper, rail lights, rear side markers, and rear ground effects, passenger side mirror and lock back on. I WILL be able to drive this by next weekend... legally that is.

 

almost complete again
so spiler is on, passenger side handle, lock, side skirt all on, driver side lock is on, need to get speed nuts for the driver handle, 2 more for the front bumper and 2 screws for the spoiler. I'll put the door panels back on but they really need to be replaced.

 

so apparently I lost the new lock/ unlock buttons I ordered god knows how long ago, so I gotta reorder those, but the bigger problem is that i think i like the matte gray better than the shiney sparkley red... I may look into doing a complete color change, under the hood, hatch door jambs ect and paint it matte gray.

 

;When I lose parts it always helps to look for a DIFFERENT part, then I find other stuff I was missing or forgot I had

 

that's exactly what happened! but not exactly the way I wanted it to... looking for the switches I found my socket wrench I lost like 2 years ago.. apparently there is a neat little pocket right behind the radiator to hide tools in...

 

took the bird and the kids out for a cruise, no more hole in the door, no more squeaks, no more missing spoiler, no more squeal, no more headlights.... wait. welp I know what my next project is... oh and i need to finish putting it together

im in love...

 

On the road is ON THE ROAD. Wish mine was. Someday.

 

got my new lock/unlock switches in the mail yesterday, found my original ones I ordered today... also drove the car again today, gonna try to wash it a bit when I get home

 

Car is looking good, even in primer.

Just noticed you're in Cincy. I'm up that way most weekends.

 

Ha! I just now saw this post! And you're welcome! You would have probably NEVER found another brand new, factory ground effect lol.

 

Hey may I give credit where credit is due lol

 

so I previously posted (I think) that everyone, myself included likes the flat gray, even though it's just primer, but this got me thinkong about doing it 2 tone, probably breaking all sorts of rules and customs and laws and what not but I'm thinking going back to the flame red on top and keeping the flat gray on the bottom, or vise versa... any input?
possible paint combo?

possible paint combo?

 

Well bud, I really think you'll like it a lot more if you painted it like this....

 

Primer looks good by comparison from where you began, but primer does not look good. Paint that baby and it's going to look fantastic!

I'd stay away from the bright cheerful colors like my car. Your color combo will look real classy with a darker, rich color. Two-tone is sooooooo 1980's. The more simple it is the classier it will look.

 

just for clarification I was not going to leave it primer, the plan would be get a gray or silver thr use a flat clear coat over it, I hear flat is a pain to maintain though...

 

 

I agree no lol but one satin color I do like which I really don't like until I seen this one
and only one I have really like

 

Got any updates?

This is one of my favorite threads of all time. It's got so much heart and soul in it.

 

Unfortunately not really on the car. I got a promotion at work, I have a third kid now, the car has to be painted by June though, it's gonna be in a wedding.. My little sister (Chuck's only biological child) is getting married and instead of a limo she wants to be escorted to the wedding by me in the firebird, weird but kinda neat I guess.

June 2020

I installed new door handles when I painted it, then about 2 months later broke the driver side, they are made of a cheap
Pot metal, I need to replace it but I don't want to pull my door panels off again til I have new ones to install, the ones that I have are pretty flemsy and I don't know if they will make it through another removal.

I need to make time to get the little odd and ends wrapped up (center console, new door handle again and new door panels) and get it painted.
​​​​​​

 

Definitely get the paint on! It's not good to let the primer absorb stuff indefinitely.
That progress will inspire you and others. I always suggest a factory color - you can add your own flair to it, but start with factory color as a base to build on. I went with three coats of clear and factory red (Heis Specker). Go for shiny and learn how to wash without swirls (detailing 1001).
Factory vs Solid (same red):

 

Great story, thanks for sharing!

 

So was there a wedding??? Got me all hooked on this story now!

 

Great story, excellent work saving it and its a C&C car.