getting my 89 z painted

[camarocrazy42]

hi just thought i would put a thread on my progression and prep on my car. I have started to prep it for paint. I am doing it the right way, taking everything off. I will post pics later, but so far what i have done is this:
-took off rear bumper
-took off impact bumper
-sanded down the whole passenger side
-filled dents and chips on passenger side,
-took off ground effects
-took off spoiler
-treated and removed any rust
-taken off any seals on the car

what im going to do

-take off fenders
- take out windshield(ON 5/11/12)
-take off the nose
- possibly take off doors
-take off hatch
-take off t top stuff(on 5/11/12)
-etc.

I am going to be getting it painted matte black, may get some red racing stripes with it. idk. but i will update the thread asap.

i am also detagging the car, accept for the bumper emblem. then im getting custom fender embems that im going to design and cnc.

check out some of my other threads to see some pics of what my car looked like.

hope to hear from u guys soon.

[1320B4U]

You seem pretty handy....use some 'gorilla hair', then finishing putty of your choice and fill in the rear bumper and side skirt emblem coves etc...a few of the guys from my club did that and its subtle but really packs a punch....smooths out the whole car.

[camarocrazy42]

thanks for the tip but i already did it with some high grade body filler. i agree with you that it does pack a punch

[1320B4U]

[camarocrazy42]

update:
bangin the body filler out of the gfx and using fiberglass resin

[camarocrazy42]

so i started off with taking off the tail lights and i saw some rust in spots that were hidden by the bumper

[IMG][/IMG]

so here is what i did:

[IMG][/IMG]

and then took off the impact bumper

[IMG][/IMG]

and found this on the impact bumper

[IMG][/IMG]

its much worse than it looks in the pic. it was hangin on by a thread with hand sized rust holes everywhere. i then got a new rust free impact bumper off of a 50xxx mile camaro from my parts guy, and began to repair rust on the car: it turned out good.

[IMG][/IMG]

after i got that done, i moved onto taking apart the front.

[IMG][/IMG]

i then began to sand

[IMG][/IMG]

next is bodywork: filling dents and chips in the body

[IMG][/IMG]

I began to sand the drivers door, didnt finish it yet

[IMG][/IMG]

worked on the nose even more

[IMG][/IMG]

and more

[IMG][/IMG]

i still need to

take off the front bumper cover

take off fenders

take off hood

take out windshield

etc.

ill post more as i go along

[camarocrazy42]

[IMG][/IMG]

[chrisfrom nj]

the car is looking good

[camarocrazy42]

yea haha. im doin all this and i still have 2 more years until i can drive. i've got alot of time to make it look good

[L695speed]

Nice work, its looking good. I was going to do my paint and body first myself, but then realized (mainly due to lack of proper tools and my Mom would kill me if I started welding in the garage) that I wasn't gonna be able to pull it off within a reasonable time frame. Abandoned the work and went with the mechanical restoration first. I have holes in the rockers which is the worst of it, along with doors needing to be replaced and holes for GFX needing to be relocated blah blah blah. So I'm leaving that for someone who is willing to do the work for me. I could do with replacing the floors as well.

You look like you got off easy compared to me. Are you doing the paint work, maybe I missed it if you already stated it.

[camarocrazy42]

yea im painting it. man ur car sounds like it needs alot of attention. mines pretty much solid accept for a rear quarter being rotted out around the edge of the wheel well

[L695speed]

Originally Posted by camarocrazy42

yea im painting it. man ur car sounds like it needs alot of attention. mines pretty much solid accept for a rear quarter being rotted out around the edge of the wheel well

Believe me, its not as bad as it sounds, but it was a lot better than I expected. My rear quarters are just about perfect save for slight surface rust and maybe a one inch patch. The T top bar was just about perfect, the front fenders were pristine. My car sat outside for a good 10 years at least some of it was covered, some was exposed to the elements. I need a new battery tray, which seems to be a common issue, the floors are likely just patchable. Hell POR15 might fill in the pinholes I found. I am just planning ahead just in case I'm told I'm better off replacing the floors. The biggest problem is the rockers under the car ahead of the doors. But that is easily patched.

I was expecting to have to part it out and get another shell or better starting place for a project. Turned out I could have easily done a lot worse, besides we've had this one for over 20 years. Its not leaving anytime soon.

[Jersey Mike]

I'm going to be tackling paint-prep myself shortly, so I'm glad to see people sharing their first hand experiences. I got a lot to learn about products, procedures and tips before diving into mine still.

Good luck, and can't wait to hear more about how this project is progressing.

[camarocrazy42]

Originally Posted by L695speed

Believe me, its not as bad as it sounds, but it was a lot better than I expected. My rear quarters are just about perfect save for slight surface rust and maybe a one inch patch. The T top bar was just about perfect, the front fenders were pristine. My car sat outside for a good 10 years at least some of it was covered, some was exposed to the elements. I need a new battery tray, which seems to be a common issue, the floors are likely just patchable. Hell POR15 might fill in the pinholes I found. I am just planning ahead just in case I'm told I'm better off replacing the floors. The biggest problem is the rockers under the car ahead of the doors. But that is easily patched.

I was expecting to have to part it out and get another shell or better starting place for a project. Turned out I could have easily done a lot worse, besides we've had this one for over 20 years. Its not leaving anytime soon.

kinda sounds like mine now. i hav that same huge rust hole on the drivers quarter near the foot area. i treated it, and used an old lisence plate and silicon to patch it lol

[1320B4U]

Get some cheap rollers so you don't mess up your rims.

[camarocrazy42]

yes i hav a set of old rallys

[L695speed]

Originally Posted by 1320B4U

Get some cheap rollers so you don't mess up your rims.

crap...forgot about that part LOL LS1 front brakes wont fit on the original 15 inchers. Oh well I'll likely have my wheels painted as well so..... Back on topic.

[camarocrazy42]

does anyone know if vette brakes would fit on 16 inch rims?

[1320B4U]

c5 brakes??..most likely will need to run a 17" rim and depending on offset, spacers may be needed too.

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by L695speed

crap...forgot about that part LOL LS1 front brakes wont fit on the original 15 inchers. Oh well I'll likely have my wheels painted as well so..... Back on topic.

If you are not driving the car you can use spacers and such.

[wretched73]

Instead of filling the emblems in with body filler on your GFX, you can get an old bumper or GFX, cut it up, and melt it, than pour it into the hole

[L695speed]

Camarocrazy42, depends on which brakes you're talking about. I did the very same digging on brake upgrades. They need to be able to fit inside the wheels you want to use. But be aware, they all require some modifications to the spindles. I initially went about trying to get bigger brakes to fit inside my original 15 inchers. While someone got a set to fit under Turbofins I believe they were a pricey set. I wanted a cheap off the parts store shelf upgrade. There was hardly anything out there for 15 inch wheels. So I dug around and remembered the Formula wheels were 16x8 while resembling the original wheels. More options opened up. Could use LS1 F body fronts, different combination of rotors and calipers, etc.

Wound up going with LS1 F body fronts because they were cheap and plentiful. I found with the C4 12 inch brakes I would have had to find a caliper and have it rebuilt or rebuild it myself, and I didn't know if I would have found them with the carrier. I use rock auto and they didn't have any options for the drivers front caliper. Only rebuilds. No carriers. The 13 inch ZR1 brakes require 17 inch wheels. All will need a hub and spindle mods with a new bracket.

I believe people run C5 calipers on LS1 F body rotors. I didn't go that route because I found out about that later. Straight C5 brakes will need 17s. Here is a sticky over at TGO that is a good starting place. It gets confusing sometimes, but you can get a basic idea of what fits, what doesn't fit, etc. Its also a good example of not all wheels are created equal. Some 17s like the Ronals used on firehawks are not easily accepting of brake upgrades.

[camarocrazy42]

yea what i've got is 16x8 american racing torq thrusts

[1320B4U]

I needed extended studs, spacers and a little more to run the 17x9 ronals on my bird in the front...nasa tolerances.

[L695speed]

Whoops I left out the link. DOH!
Here it is, I'm sure you'll get the gist of it. Be careful because even 16x8s are not all created equal. The 16x8 Formula wheels fit, the 16x8 crosslace GTA/TA wheels don't without spacers.

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/br...l-fitment.html

If nothing else its a good place to start.