Del suggested I create this thread after I sent him a little spy shot of my work in progress.
Since it will be a while before I have the money to afford the holley hp system(december if im lucky), I decided to get the body work out of the way so when I am ready to drive it, it will be very presentable finally!

Lets start with the overall body..

Look at the terrible gap between my new drivers reproduction fender and the door. This will be fixed by re hinging the door and fixing the lower mounting point where previous owners decided to jack it up from and tweak the fitment.
The original fender had this same gap..


..And the rear bumper alignment. mounting bolts need to be snugged in.


Passenger door has the same damn gap..


..And a little damage from pulling into the garage a little tight.


Some of you might remember when I had a hole in my hood for the supercharger pulley..



I have already started repair work on that..


Little more flush, it is a fiberglass resin support with light bondo to smooth it in.

 

I dont have any before photos of the trunk, but I have already removed my spoiler and I am going to work my way from the back to the front. the bare metal/low spots are where my oxidized paint was peeling away, and it was already really thin in those areas, most likely I need to sand most of the car down to primer/metal to get a very smooth paintable surface

 

Very good. I like to see this play-by-play stuff, especially on a long-term project.

It's been so long since I've seen your 3rd gen Travis I had forgotten about the awesome license plate and the body work it could use to tidy it up. Keep the thread going with updates and what you're learning along the way.

I'll leave my GTA to the professionals, but whenever I get to my Firebird I'll definitely be wanting some more hands-on experience and advice.

 

i like how your wrote TGO in the dust...haha

 

Keep it going Travis. Dont stop till its finished.

 

Off to a good start! I got some of the same issues to battle. Would definitely appreciate a play ny play. Good luck....

 

Nice to document all the little changes, something I wish I would have done but I think I've lost track already

"git r dun!"

 

About time

 

I found a place called American Stripping, they quoted me $600 to "Soda Blast" my latest project. They take it down to the metal, even works w/ plastic bumper covers. They even spray a sealer coat of primer on before it leaves, they said it takes about 2 days.
I'll be sending my new toy to them soon.

Travis, if you need an inline sander, give me a call, remember to wear a mask.























'

 

Looking sweet bish. Nice to see a build thread and pics as it comes along And the TGO dust is for sure awesome! That damage from pulling in the garage too tight is so funny. Sorry, I just have to lol because I only know women who have done that.

So after I just made some fun of you will you help with my surface rust lol?

 

how many times have you driven a power steering-less car and tried to park in my tight *** garage?

After I see you covered in my paint dust first


Todays work:

hatch lid is sanded smooth and ready for its next step.



..And now it is sealed until the car is ready for primer

 

Similar happened to me 5 years ago pulling into a tiny 1-car garage when I was in a duplex. My driver mirror bent a little and pushed in the door. Ugh, on the to-do list still.

 

Yes your right Bish, and don't worry I will get nice and covered in your dust so you can help me

 

Is it really bad surface rust? Or just some crap you can sand down some? I'm dealing with a lot of surface rust issues on my '66 El Camino and have used some rust dissolving gel with great results. Takes a while but it gets the job done.

 

Took a few days off, but this morning I got some work done on the passenger rear quarter.





gotta pull the lower rockers still so I can get down low enough, also need to fix the damage near the door. thats gonna be tricky.

 

That seems well worth it. I hate all that sanding that is what I would do.

 

Todays work:





do you guys think I should sand off all the red? or is that overkill? I removed all red paint from the trunk lid, it was either primer or metal before I sprayed it.
Should I do the same on the rest of the car?

 

whatever is left on there has been stuck there for 20 years, if you use a quality paint over the top of it i don't see it being a problem

 

Lookin sweet TraviZ, awesome work. I can't wait to see it in person.

I wouldn't take all the red off, that's way overkill! I agree with the fact that since it's been on there so long if you use good quality primer and paint you will be fine. All you need to do is exactly what you are doing, smoothing out the dents and what not, and roughing the paint up so the new sticks

 

any of the two above posters have first hand knowledge of your advice?

 

well i painted my '91 in december 2008 and didn't take off all of the old paint, just sanded down the whole car like you have taking the bad spots to metal, skim filled and blocked to car, used self-etching primer on the bare metal, ppg shopline epoxy primer on the whole car, ppg shopline sealer, ppg shopline base, and then ppg deltron clear over it and in two summer's of texas heat (garage kept though) my paint is showing no bad signs of peeling/cracking. EDIT: used a hvlp gun to spray the paint at 74 degrees air temp

if you want to take off all of the paint (not a bad idea just a lot more work) i would use a chemical stripper then sand after to get it perfectly smooth

 

That's sanded down more than most body shops would do. Just make sure theres not too many highs & lows. The Primer/Sealer should do even things out.

 

Never mind. I was just agreeing with the above post. And looks like Mark does too. But whatever, I will just stick to commenting on your work from now on.

 

Its been a long time since I worked at a body shop, but I started out sanding & masking cars.
I take it youre using a DA sander, before you shoot the primer, I would block sand by hand laterally, then prime/seal it.

 

I am most definitely block sanding before the primer, thats what I did on the trunk
Thanks guys.

 

Anyone here ever knew of this? looks like a brazed weld holding the roof section to the rest of the unibody.. perhaps this is a main reason t top cars crack in this area under heavy torque? just wanted to point it out..

 

Im doing a the same type of refresh to my formula and yes I found the same weld

 

The way the sand marks look, it looks like you have you sander on "direct spin" instead of "orbital", thats a sure way to get an uneven surface.
If you need a DA, you can borrow one of mine. I also have an airboard you can use.

 

I was just chopping away all the paint because it was soo trashed in that area. is your DA electric or air? I dont think my neighbors would appreciate an air compressor running around here

 

Air DA here and I've done both ways for sanding the car down. First time was to get rid of the bad areas where paint would just flake off under car wash conditions and DA the rest to scratch it up. Held up fine, no peeling at all just used some crap clear that yellowed over time. Second time I took it all to bare metal since I didn't want 3 layers of paint. Oh yeah, same seam on mine.

 

TraviZ, I am sure Billy and maybe even Dennis have a DA, one of them I am sure is electric. I will find out for you if you want?

 

If you have time I would appreciate it, but at the rate im moving, i wont need it much longer

 

less chatter, more pics!


Right before primer/sealer..




Right after primer/sealer...



Passenger door is next.. i think its gonna be a pain in the ***
gotta remove weatherstripping, gfx, door handle and mirror.. Probably wont get around to it until sunday night or monday morning

 

what are you using to spray it on.

 

rattle can
But its just the sealer to prevent rust. Once I have the whole body done, I will scuff this stuff and hit it with a real ppg primer

 

Looks sick! I need to see this on your next day off!

 

Thanks to my good friend Tom that came over and helped, he put some good blood and sweat into stripping my doors for me while I sanded the drivers rear quarter.
I still need to finish up the lower half of the quarter panel, but this is about 2 hours work, and its not nearly as bad as the passenger side. We now know what side sat in the sun the most

no mirror, door handle, or gfx. Still gotta remove the body gfx in the morning.
looks like the lock cylinder is held in with a clip similiar to speedometer cables. Anyone have insight? I tugged on it but it would not budge.


and my body work for the day

 

Savages.

Your door lock cylinder Q - This may help. part # 5 is prob what is keeping it on there tight.

 

yes i seen that in there. It looks like it just slides to the right, but I couldnt get it to budge.

 

Del is right it is #5, they can be stubborn, channel locks or a big screwdriver, slide it off the lock cylinder, it pops on and is wavy like a spring to keep it tight on the door.

You will also need to pop out lock rod #7 in the pic from the lock pawl on the lock cylinder to remove the cylinder from the door.

 

Got the locks out, thanks.
and got my first pass done on the door...

 

some late night work.
I hate it, after priming, i found a minor dent that I never noticed before, gotta go back and fix it, cant even see it in the photo, might be able to pop it out.. its right to the right of the gas door...

 

Great work. Cant wait to see it painted.

 

Lookin really nice TraviZ. I really do need to at least get over there and check it out in person, not to mention actually help you like I keep saying I will

My car is next

 

Looking good Travis!

 

I took a break so I wouldnt get burnt out, and now I got a few things done, refering back to my original post, this is before I touched it:



and now I fixed it




and got the drivers door sanded down to find all the little door dings. how many can you count? I see 80billion




any recommendations how to fix them?

 

Filler and elbow grease or sell the car

 

Probably some filler (Evercoat)and a whole lot of blocking. That belt line dent looks so much more obvious now that you have it sanded down so much. Junkyard door an option?

 

Theres a putty that works like bondo w/o the mixing. Its orange and comes in a tube, like toothpaste. Its used for small filler type dings & cracks.

Call Mac's Distributing on Auburn & Greenback.

Dont be afraid, Bondo really is your friend.

 

Don- HELLL NOOO im not yanking another door.

Marc.. Is this perhaps the same stuff as Don mentioned above? Ill check it out next day off, thanks