Paint & Body Work - Finally fixing some cosmetic damage

Ive been driving my 98z around for a year now with zip-tie stitches in the bumper, hail damaged hood, a cracked fender and smashed rocker. I bought the car from a friend who lost interest after a minor accident, after I got the car drivable again I ran out of money and have just been rocking it.

The good side ;)

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/camaro.jpg

Thanks to the misfortune of a local f-body owner I finally found an OEM hood and spoiler from a crashed SS, both passenger side corners were damaged but the rest was ok.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120501_185844.jpg

Heres the hood sitting on the car before we started.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120502_170917.jpg

The stock bumper and inner fender was toast so I found some nice oem parts on craigslist for $75.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120507_141756.jpg

Fiberglass repaired

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120507_141833.jpg

I wish I would have taken a before pic. It was smashed in pretty bad.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120507_141815.jpg

Crack fixed

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120508_121219.jpg

Ready for prime and more blocking.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120508_122723.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120509_151719.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120509_151730.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120509_151708.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120509_151815.jpg

Looks a lot better. Good find on that hood.

Looks a lot better. Good find on that hood.

Thanks man! Ive been looking for a long time and finally got lucky, found one 5 miles from my house.

Heres the painted hood, hard to tell from the pics but everything came out smooth as glass.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120509_155456.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120509_170314.jpg

Looking great

Awesome work!

Thanks guys! I cant wait to get it back together.

The car is going to look great man! I really like your wheels too!

looking good

I'd like one of those lifts to stands my car up like that! Lol

The car is going to look great man! I really like your wheels too!

Thanks man!

looking good

Thanks!

I'd like one of those lifts to stands my car up like that! Lol

I said the same thing :D

Hmm. Now I'm puzzled, ima go find one lol

Today while hanging parts it was discovered that the drivers door is cracked by the hinge. I knew it was sagging a little and thought it was just the bushing. Dammit.

Now I need a door :bang:

What wheels are those in the first pic? Cars looking good.

What wheels are those in the first pic? Cars looking good.

Thanks man! Theyre 18" CCW Sp20a

Today while hanging parts it was discovered that the drivers door is cracked by the hinge. I knew it was sagging a little and thought it was just the bushing. Dammit.

Now I need a door :bang:

Can't fix it?

I like those wheels in you Sig are they fikse?

I like those wheels in you Sig are they fikse?

Thanks man! Theyre 18" CCW Sp20a





:burn:

Can't fix it?

Nope, its broke on the inside and cracked around the hinge mount. The car took a pretty hard shot on the drivers front wheel before i bought it. So far on that side Ive had to pull the cowl, replace the spindle, a-arm, sway bar, tie rod end, upper ball joint and now a door :bang:

Luckily the donor car I got my hood from has a black drivers door in perfect condition. I just got off the phone with the guy

Update. Spent most of day today fixing damaged wiring and replacing the fog light assembly. I did manage to get the new door hung and started on the fender.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120521_141906.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120521_144843.jpg

Looking good!!

Looking good!!

Thanks man. Hope I can find time to finish it this week.

Ive been trying to decide for 3 days what color to paint the manta. At this point Im pretty much torn between Silver or red. I think red with red emblems would look pretty cool, Id also have some sort of text painted in the manta on the side of the scoop....I cant decide what text I want either :confused:

Thoughts??

Come on guys Im spraying this thing Monday and still cant decide. Silver or Red??




http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/2483/blacksssilverhoodscoop4pl.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c304/mrbustamove2003/DSC00903.jpg

Silver

Cyber gray.

Silver

Im kind of leaning towards a metallic silver. The only thing is Id have to get silver or chrome emblems, the ones I have now are red.

Cyber gray.

I LOVE Cyber grey but its a little darker than Im looking for. I want it to 'pop'

I think the example you posted of the red looks really good but I generally do not like it as well as other combos. So I say silver for sure.

silver

I cant make up my damn mind. Now my buddy wants me to do Synergy green Berger stripes with ghost flames.

Weve put alot of stripe tape on this hood but no paint yet.



http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120606_163051.jpg

I cant make up my damn mind. Now my buddy wants me to do Synergy green Berger stripes with ghost flames.

Weve put alot of stripe tape on this hood but no paint yet.



http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120606_163051.jpg

I like to see this one when you are done with it.

Looking good! Wish I had your skills!

I like to see this one when you are done with it.

Thanks! Hopefully soon man

Looking good! Wish I had your skills!

Thanks! I work with a couple of guys that have been painting 30+ years so it helps alot.




We had a huge hail storm here a couple weeks ago so its had us really busy. Today I started to change the a/c compressor since I had air tools and a lift around. Heres a dirty pic in the shop today, I still need to wetsand and buff it.



http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120502_170953.jpg

Were finally cought up from the big hail storm that came through so I was able to get a little more done today. I finished hanging the nose and inner fenders then fixed a couple spots on the spoiler. I also finally got around to wetsanding and clearing my headlights.

Tomorrow Ill prep hood, nose, and decklid so my buddy can do the final layout of the stripes. Whenever the booth is available its going in!

Heres a couple pics of the progress today.


http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120625_172756.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120625_182820.jpg

I want some headlights that clean.

I want some headlights that clean.

Mine were pretty bad to, just wetsand with 1000 and have them cleared.

I never had that kind of luck on the headlights on my z, they never cleaned up that clear.. The SS has aftermarket ones on it that I am planning replacing with stockers.

Wetsanded.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120628_130451.jpg

Stripes.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120628_135544.jpg

Tape.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120628_150807.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120628_150830.jpg

Paint. (Synergy green)

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120628_163826.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120628_163842.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120628_163914.jpg

No clear yet because this was the booth temp today.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120628_153543.jpg

Clear.


http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120629_090451.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120629_090440.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120629_090539.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120629_090551.jpg

Damn is it that bad? 60 views in 2 days and not one comment :confused:

Were's all the painters in here?

No not at all I think it looks damn good

Thanks man! I appriciate it

I try not to look at these threads too much because they remind me of what I want to do to my car!

Looks good. I like the green. A little different set of stripes than the norm.

Deffinitely unique in its own way. Im not a huge fan but maybe it will grow on me but I always appreciate the effort that goes into stuff like that.

Whatever suits you is the best :cheers:

I like it. Looks sick man. Keep up the good work!

I try not to look at these threads too much because they remind me of what I want to do to my car!

Looks good. I like the green. A little different set of stripes than the norm.


Haha thats exactly what made me paint mine! Thanks


Deffinitely unique in its own way. Im not a huge fan but maybe it will grow on me but I always appreciate the effort that goes into stuff like that.

Whatever suits you is the best :cheers:

Yeah man it was ALOT of work. I appriciate your honest opinion though, thanks!

I like it. Looks sick man. Keep up the good work!

Thanks Red!

love it! great job, and good choice

it grew on me. i REALLY like this now haha

love it! great job, and good choice

Thanks man!

it grew on me. i REALLY like this now haha

Haha thanks. I like it more and more every day, Im surprised nobody has striped a black one up with a nice green.


Got my newly buffed headlights in along with the SS wing mounted. It needs a bath terrable.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120702_164809.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120702_163835.jpg

Looks awesome! Hope to see it up close one day.

Looks awesome! Hope to see it up close one day.

Thanks man. It'll be in the car show at the LS fest this Sept hopefully.

keep up good work.i know its alot of work but its well worth it at the end.i like the stripes especially with tht synergy green.

In a previous post, you sprayed clear over wetsanded paint.

Did you have a couple of coats of clear and then performed the final wetsanding then shoot clear over it, or was that the base color that was wetsanded before that final coat(s) of clear?

How high of a grit did you go with your wetsanding?

keep up good work.i know its alot of work but its well worth it at the end.i like the stripes especially with tht synergy green.

Thanks! Its wierd man, I origionaly bought this car to part out and now look at it lol

In a previous post, you sprayed clear over wetsanded paint.

Did you have a couple of coats of clear and then performed the final wetsanding then shoot clear over it, or was that the base color that was wetsanded before that final coat(s) of clear?

How high of a grit did you go with your wetsanding?

It was already cleared, the more you wetsand and clear the better it looks. If you sprayed a good layer of clear, then wetsanded with 1000/1500 then cleared again it would look better than the first time. Some people do this 3 or 4 times to get the super slick look. I seen a guy do it 8 times to bury his stripes and make it slick as glass.

In my case I was just going to paint my hood black so we base/cleared it with my other parts. Then I decided to stripe it we went back over the hood and nose with 600 first, then 1000 then 1500 - striped it then cleared again. I started with 600 because I knew there was planty of clear on it, my hood now has 6 coats and we havent touched it with a buffer.

At first I was wtf green? But it really grew on me. Great job man

It was already cleared, the more you wetsand and clear the better it looks. If you sprayed a good layer of clear, then wetsanded with 1000/1500 then cleared again it would look better than the first time. Some people do this 3 or 4 times to get the super slick look. I seen a guy do it 8 times to bury his stripes and make it slick as glass.

In my case I was just going to paint my hood black so we base/cleared it with my other parts. Then I decided to stripe it we went back over the hood and nose with 600 first, then 1000 then 1500 - striped it then cleared again. I started with 600 because I knew there was planty of clear on it, my hood now has 6 coats and we havent touched it with a buffer.

Thanks for the response, car looks great!!

At first I was wtf green? But it really grew on me. Great job man

I wasnt sure about the green until we pulled the tape off haha. Thanks



Thanks for the response, car looks great!!

No problem. Good luck with yours

Finally got a few cell phone pics. I still need to polish the wheels and detail everything but you get the idea.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120801_115631.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/scrubbin627/20120801_115723.jpg

That black is like a mirror.

I really like it :-D now do the cme

looks really good
but i would have wraped the stripe all around the spoiler

That black is like a mirror.

Thanks man. It took hours of wetsanding and polishing

I really like it :-D now do the cme

Thats definitely on the list. Thanks!

looks really good
but i would have wraped the stripe all around the spoiler

Thanks. I thought about it but I really liked the Berger stripes as well as the 35th stripes, none of those wrap around either.