Trans Am Jam

iTrader: (7)

Made this thread for tmc2k1....took a couple of pics along the way. I don't really have any after shots but I'll take some of the finished product this weekend. It came out great!!











took the 8 screws retaining the ttop bar, gave it an honest pull at the edges and it popped right off.





cleaned it up w/ some rubbing alcohol and put it on a shoebox as illustrated so that the glue underneath is not contaminated w/ dust and dirt.






used whatever I had in my spraypaint collection

Photochop

iTrader: (74)

Cool looks good man, I may do that here before long as well

black_sheep454

iTrader: (9)

Nice work, did you scuff it or just shoot it

Trans Am Jam

iTrader: (7)

no scuffing, just prepped and sprayed.

black_sheep454

iTrader: (9)

I never chance it, always scuff because I hate having to fix peeling paint, even on little parts

LS1_Sean

iTrader: (1)

Looks Better. Yea i always scuff parts that im painting just takes a minute.

tmc2k1

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for posting this man! Definitely will have to do this very soon

Trans Am Jam

iTrader: (7)

the oxidized surface felt fine for paint to cling to and the rattlecan I used said no sanding was necessary so I just went ***** deep and did it up. I'm sure a light sanding would do no harm.

jb98camaro

iTrader: (1)

sweet man! easy as pie huh!!

Trans Am Jam

iTrader: (7)

yeah man, pulling off that ttop bar is a cinch. I made a video of me pulling it off, but it unfortunately got deleted some how.

Twotonefreak

iTrader: (11)

Looks good. Did the same thing to mine a couple months back.

1995blacktattop

iTrader: (2)

hmm. I'm tempted to do mine since its a little faded. I've had the bar off before since i replaced one with a missing end piece with my current one when i was in FL several years ago. i just don't know if i could paint it without having runs or something in it.

1995blacktattop

iTrader: (2)

did you have to wetsand it? i'm trying to paint mine and the paint doesn't look like its going on smooth at all. If there are bubbles when the paint is wet do i just let it dry then wetsand it?

Trans Am Jam

iTrader: (7)

I just wetsanded very lightly, but yeah if it's bubbeling up in the paint it's going to come out bad. and I don't know if sanding would be a great idea to get it off...cause I have a feeling if you start sanding you're going to have to sand the entire thing down reallll good to make it even. what i would recommend is to buy black vinyl and just put it on that. I'm thinking about doing that for mine...but w/ flat black vinyl to match my stripes.

EDIT: or I might just use my left over faux cf vinyl.

1995blacktattop

iTrader: (2)

ugh i sanded it all down, used paint thinner on it and repainted it. the bubbling is still there but not as bad as before. i'm either gonna have to deal with bubbles in the paint, buy a new t-top piece, or try to sand them out after the paint dries.

1995blacktattop

iTrader: (2)

i gave up and bought a used one for $35. it isn't in as good of shape as i had hoped but with a good bit of wax its not terrible. cleaned up its about as dark as my old one was after i painted it so at least its not faded. i at least was able to get the junkyard to throw in a couple of missing door panel screws i needed. sucks because i spent ~ $12 in paint/clear but i can return the clear maybe since i didn't use it, and then another $10 at ace for some sandpaper and paint thinner to try to fix it the first time. after it came out about the same the second time i knew i wasn't going to get it looking good. Hopefully i don't have the same kind of trouble next week when i replace a loose door handle, although in that case i bought a brand new handle and there will be no painting. i was thinking of painting my door locks but after all the trouble today i think i'm gonna leave them unpainted.

1995blacktattop

iTrader: (2)

I got the new one put in. its a little bent but hopefully with the t-tops sitting in there it bends itself back to normal. the bend is between 2 of the screws. There's a round stain on it i couldn't get out. i probably spent $50 to get myself back to only slightly better than the one i had, go figure, ugh.

here's pics of the botched paint attempt (or 2 attempts) and the used one on the car. I had to glue the ends off my old one which fell off while moving it during painting onto the new one.

Irish350

iTrader: (14)

yeah man, you cant touch it when its wet

time to bust out the sandpaper

Trans Am Jam

iTrader: (7)

damn I feel bad bro, if you give me like a buck or two. I'll mail out some faux cf vinyl for you.

1995blacktattop

iTrader: (2)

well, the new used one is already on the car and its not too bad. I just wish i didn't spend $50 for only a minor improvement. it's not faded like the old one was but there is a scratch in it and its bent in one spot (can't be seen unless the t-top is off) and there is that ring looking stain that won't come out. I just hope i h ave better luck changing the outer door handle i ordered last night. i wasn't even going to spend $16 to do that and here i spent over $50 today, ugh. such is life i guess. no thanks on the CF vinyl. I've never been a fan of CF especially on body parts. looks ricey to me. looking back i should have just had the body shop paint it since they took it off to paint the sail panel. i didn't even think of that when i had them paint the panel and hood.