Hey Ked I'm in San Diego now visiting my brother and must I say there are so many beat up third gens down here. My car would look like a g-o-d if I brought it down here. My Bro kinda lives in the downtown area in some apartments but man its so ugly looking seeing all the waist of good third gens. I have now seen 2 TA's with sunroofs lol what a waste of cash.

 

Funny, whenever I visit my buddy at USD I always see 90-92 thirdgens in GREAT condition. Don't see that many 3rdgens down there.....but there is an abundance of 4th gens in San Diego.

 

Ya ought to visit up north (LA-Sun Valley)!
I'll show ya wrecks in the yard.
Have your bro take ya to the local pick your part down there.
Only costs $1 for the show!
How do the local SoCal women look on the first day of spring? Go to a grocery store at end of business day for best sights!
I saw a temp of 87* degrees today.
Perfect day to paint/detail this factory Fresh Air set up for a 3rd Gen Camaro I'm gonna sell on Ebay.
The satin black paint stuck and cured so perfect.
Hope we don't give ya the shakes (earthquake) while ya visit.
Run to the NEAREST door way and brace yourself standing.
DON'T GO OUTDOORS UNTIL OVER.
Use sun tan lotion!
Hope ya "score" while visiting.

 

ive always been anazed that there wernt more ppl from the central/so cali area on these boards (w/ as many of them as there around here).. but then again most of them are barly runnin.. most of them i see in the cental valley (sorry if i affend anyone w/ this) my friends call "beaner" mobiles.. losts of farm workers drive them lookin like they just learned to drive.. the car looks like it too usually..

after goin to school for engineering and working w/ structural engineers & architects, thats the last place ull find me during an earthquake.. unless it was an interior shear wall (load bearing wall)..

 

Where I am now, I see PLENTY of REALLY NICE 3rd Gens.
Even in the yards!!
Except front fenders!!!!
All I need now is an air tank source to run a few body tools to fix the front & rear bumpers of my Firebird. Then "Jennifer" won't look like a beaner mobile.. My Wife has complained that the unmatched front nose color does bother her!
I'm debating to repaint my car Metalic Green in honor of my 1968 Firebird 400/400 or Aqua like my Dad's 1963 Grand Prix 421.

Right now spray cans work great.
Body Shop Beige in the open driveway!!
I'm "Earl Scheib" for $29.95!

Your description of the load sharing door frame is EXACTLY where I was SURFING INDOORS in Santa Monica at 4:31 AM 1/17/94.
I lived one mile south of the third highest force of shift of gravity (WITHOUT DRIVING A TOP FUEL DRAGSTER-damn!).
I experienced a 1.03G force.
Northridge had a 1.07G force.
The quake was a 7.2+.
That's TORQUE, my friends.
HORSEPOWER (or horse sense) was me running out the door after Northridege Quake stopped!

 

Geez; glad you're alright! You guys are used to that over there, though... we had like a 0.5R quake out here a few years ago, it was a major headline!

How well did that paint job come out?? I was thinking of doing the same to my car this summer. Some jerk whapped his door into mine a few years ago, and took off a good slice of paint, right down to the primer. (He must've gotten in, bounced up and down in his car, then closed the door.) I finally fixed it this summer- I sanded the edges down with a block, masked it off, sprayed a thin bit of primer, sanded that with 320 grit paper, masked the area again, and shot it with paint & clear. The paint was those little "color match spray cans", the ones that are $5 for a can half the size of a normal can!

Anyway, when it dried, I pulled the tape off, and wet sanded it with 600grit paper and a block. It came out awesome! The color didn't match perfectly, but man, did it shine! It's still shining, by the way. (Too bad the rest of the door isn't!)

So that got me thinking... how well would this paint last if the correct prep was done? I could do a body panel a day!

Either that, or I'll buy black paint, some hardner, and shoot it myself with the air gun. I just know that'll create more fumes & dust than a spray can. I also hate to know that I'll lose my "black sapphire (dark blue) metallic" color- I hear metallics are a bitch to spray. The spray can seemed to do alright, though.

 

tom, isn't that because you can't always get the same EXAXCT mix when you do metallic jobs, it's hard to get enough metalflake in their. either too much, or too little.

 

To me, it's acceptable.
NO DO NOT PAINT YOUR CAR THIS WAY!
I had to do a "quick fix" & I'm pleased.

 

Well I went to Big Bear today to go Snowboarding and it was beautiful so nice and sunny but my @$$ hurts so bad haha ya it was my first time. I'm gonna go to the pick apart lots tomarrow and see what I can find and saturday I'm off to tiquana haha gotta drink tonight make my pain go away too. KED my bro lives off of 24th and Broadway on Golden Hill. Where are so close pick apart lots to goto that are decent? Thanx

 

Ecology Wrecking
1180 Heritage Rd
619-409-9200

Chula Vista
800 & 825 Energy Way
619-409-9200
I have a card from these guys.
I know pick your parts out there, but I have no numbers to offer.
Happy hunting!!

 

There are a few decent 3rd gens around,mostly military guys passing through.The problem is (not all,but alot) of mexican guys around here are putting 100 spoke rims and gold flares above the wheels, kinda looks like there from a Cheech and Chong movie.You will see more of them the closer you get to the border.There is nothing funnier than listening to a 1000 watts of La Bamba

 

SlowC, I guess it could be that; the job I sprayed was a much deeper & shinier blue than the area around it. I just figured the Maaco stuff has faded to hell by now. Even when I polished & waxed the door, the Maaco paint "lit up" again, but my job was still shinier.

And Karl, I don't know... if this can would work that well for a half-dollar sized spot, why wouldn't it work for a whole panel? I don't know how I'd spray a metallic on the roof with a spray can, though.

 

Haha, and ya know what? The paint I'd spray can't be any worse than the neglected paint I have on the car now!