Well, I went out and decided to paint the then-peeling paint on my Firebird's hood vents/scoops/whatever you want to call them (don't want to get into an argument on the technical term for them ... ).

Call it rice if you want, but it was really getting in the way of the weekly wash/wax I've given that car since buying it (some call it an obsession, idk). Every time I'd go over the hood, the microfiber towels would catch on the peeling paint, and it was just really getting in my way. Besides, I think it gives it a really nice, aggressive look to it without costing a ton of money (really low budget here, thus a turd-gen).

Here we go...






That's the pics of the worst of the paint peeling from before, plus the front hood vents after the first layer of paint. Stupid me forgot to take any pics of the whole thing before paint but you can still see just how badly it was peeling on those side vents. Good for a sleeper, but I have other techniques to sleeper this car some (i.e. Formula V6 stickers for the doors ) so I decided to give it a nice, aggressive look with some black lacquer paint.





Several (at least 4, I lost count / forgot) layers of black lacquer paint, and then I got on to the clear coat. Used maybe 1/3 a can of black lacquer and 1/10 a can of the clearcoat ... so the whole shooting match cost me less than $20 between the painters tape, paint, and polish/buffing wheel wear/tear. Might cost you $40 if you buy all that new (not including the air tools I used to run the buffing wheel).






Now, time to remove all that tape and reveal the finished product!






Now, the next plans are:
repaint that faded black plastic thing on the front bumper (use up the rest of my black lacquer paint). Then, get the red met. paint on the front bumper fixed, and finally repaint the entire silver stripe on the bottom.

So, what do you guys think? She used to run fast and look like shyt, now hopefully she'll look as good as she runs! Sadly, though, very few will get a good look at all that work I'm doing to fix up the look of the front of the car.

 

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Doesn't look TOO bad. better than what you had i guess. I would of atleast taken them off first but oh well. For the front bumper rub strips i would go with a flat black for those. Scuff them up i might add.

 

Scuff it up? How so?

I honestly didn't know they come out ... I guess that's why I build motors / machine parts, and don't do bodywork. I was in a bit of a hurry with this, and considering how little time I spent painting (maybe 1hr total) I think it came out looking fairly decent. As I said, call it rice if you want, but trying to make it blend in with the rest of the shitty paint work from the previous owner (only one layer of red metallic paint, below that it's black) is really hard, so I figured I'd do the next best thing, and paint it my own color. That way, no need to make it blend!

 

You build motors but couldn't figure out that those come off easily?

 

At home. Shady-tree work, but the cars run! As I said, I hate paint/bodywork, and usually when I do the repairs on anything but an engine/tranny/drivetrain, I tend to rush the job (I don't know how, but with engine rebuilds I'm extremely patient). I guess it's that I want to see how it came out.

Besides, I just assumed they're as-cast, and the paint came out okay ... looks very nice from a distance (in racing, nobody's gonna get a real good look at it!)

 

looks better....

 

Theres nuts that hold them on from underneath. Theres holes on the underneath side of the hood to get to them.

 

hmm ... I'll look, didn't see them there, though. If I can get it off, that'd sure make life easier. Anybody know if the front rub strips come off too while we're at it? I found my primer now, so I can get it to adhere real nice to the panels rather than just covering up the old stuff.

Any more tips for bodywork on the car? Anyone else think I should go do matte black or should I stick with the lacquer (for the rub strips)? I mean, if you all think the matte will look better, I'll try it (no harm in trying something ... can always take it off and paint it with the lacquer if I don't like it).

 

I say stop painting while you're ahead.

 

the front rub strips do not come off i'm pretty sure. they do need painted pretty badly, but i'd stop while your ahead

 

Since the body is not perfect I say paint the whole car matt black or leave in primer and get some prostars or the like for a tough look.

 

Looks a lot better. I had some paint damage on rear lower quarter panel
and I rattle cannned it . It looks better than what I had before painting
so I am happy.