I totaled my silver 2000 Trans AM back in January. Hit some black ice on the interstate and ended up tangled in the cable divider.

This is what she looked like before the wreck. Fresh engine, trans, rear, suspension, paint, interior. Pretty much a brand new 13 year old Trans am.





And this is what she looked like after the wreck





After the insurance pay out and buying the car back as totaled I went searching for a replacement. My mom drove a 2001 Formula with 65k miles and offered to sell it to me for $5500. So I bought the bone stock gold formula and got to work. She ended up in a 2013 Camaro that I painted blue SS stripes on.

Didn't take pictures of the Formula before starting work but here it is without front running gear.



Dropped the whole subframe, engine, trans, and suspension.



Did the same with the built engine from the Trans AM. Got a few more goodies in the process. LS6 intake. Long tube headers. 9mm plug wires. 42lb injectors. SLP lid. Already had ported TB, LS6 PCV, I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff. 243 heads are waiting on machining currently and a good cam comes next.



1.5" lowering springs. All new ball joints, tie rods, bearings/hubs, and bushings.



I also put a 3.42:1 posi under the rear.
Power train addressed now on to appearance.



She needs a new color.



Parts from 4 different firebirds came together to do this conversion. Formulas have the regular firebird bumpers and hatch and no rocker panel extensions.









The color is a modification of Mitsubishi's Rotor Glow Orange. I added some extra gold pearl.



After many hours(Approximately 135 hours into the conversion/repaint at this point, many of these blasted out on 35 hour weekends) I have a car I am proud to drive again.



Waiting on the glass guy to put glass in the TA hatch and havent done the rockers yet.





TA hatch, rockers, and lettering on but Arkansas weather has prevented me from getting good pictures.



License plate bird painted and punisher pontiac emblem.



All I have left to do is CETA style black paint on the rear bumper and get decals cut for the sail panels.

This color is a little brighter/more yellow than SOM and reflects a beautiful gold color. Being an automotive painter it was very hard for me to settle on color but i am extremely happy with the results. I might have a procharger setup lined up for pretty cheap. If that deal goes well blowing it will be the next step.

 

I cheated a little on the engine bay to save time. Moved a few things off the strut tower and shot it.



Can't tell unless you're under it.

 

Ah, that was a PEWTER formula, not "gold". Personally I would of kept the Pewter it is a great color, not worth the time and effort to change to another color.

 

As a painter im used to just calling it the simplest color I can. If I ask the boss about a merlot jewel traverse he has no clue what im talking about. It was a nice color but I had to repaint everything but the quarters for the conversion anyway so I went with the color I like most. I do have tons of hours in it but money wise I spent about $400 on the paint job. I would charge $8k or more for this job so it is very well worth it to me.

 

That is an awesome job & a great color. You are quite talented.

 

You really have a skill, wish I could afford to get my car repainted Jet Stream Blue.

 

What paint and clearcoat did you use? And what gun and how much colorsanding? Looks good but I too am partial to pewter. I can't believe it only cost you 400 for a whole car. I spent almost that just to paint half a car.

 

I used Sikkens Autobase Plus paint and Lesonal Universal clear. I bought the clear and the boss took the cost of the paint(knowingly of course!) I use an Anest Iwata W400 for primer and sealer, a DeVilbiss Tekna Prolite for base, and a SATA 4000b digital for clear. I'm a little spoiled with my choice of spray guns. I put down 3 coats of clear and wet sanded the whole car with 2000 grit then buffed it(3 step with 3M Perfect-It compounds). Basically I paid for the clear and nothing else. However I did have the help of my two brothers. One is a machinist and the other is a mechanic(ASE and all that) and I am a painter/body man so we all 3 team up on eachothers cars, so I will be paying for this in labor down the road.


Love this color...

I agree pewter is a very nice color. But if you had a blank canvas in front of you and any color you can possibly mix, what would it be?

Thanks for the compliments!

 

very nice , time for some 17s . And whats with the non functional shaker , if you made it functional it would be sweet.

 

so where you able to save the rear hatch from the original T/A or was that another one that you just removed the glass from for painting?

eventually when I get my car repainted (currently have parts from 2 other Firebirds and a Superhawk Hood) I'm thinking of doing like what you did with the rear wing and doing the underside in black but I'm curious what that looks like against the pewter, I haven't seen anyone do it to a pewter T/A yet.

 

Car looks great, I look forward to seeing it around

 

The hatch was saved from the wrecked TA but the wing was destroyed. The black bottom wing looked great on the silver TA (black sail and CETA bumper) so im sure it would look killer on a pewter one.

 

You should sell me that firehawk hood....

 

Nice job and Awesome color!

 

Came out nice! I like the orange/black shaker style hood. You have any pics of your moms 13 camaro with the stripes on it?

 

Thanks! I have a few pictures of the camaro...


Just a base model v6. She wanted to order the SS style vinyl stripes but as a painter I am sworn by oath to hate vinyl. And I do.


Took some measurements from another camaro I had in the shop and laid some lines out.










The color is a Renault blue that is almost teal.


Painter emblems and added punisher decals. I have bought 3 cars from my mom. 2000 Trans am. 1994 3000gt VR4. 2001 formula. She is a hot rodder at heart. She loves flames, skulls, and anything mean looking.

I did use vinyl for the quarter panel louvers. I am also looking for a cheap set of chrome SS rims!

 

OK fly to Michigan and paint my car Jet Stream Blue Metallic.

 

LoL I am a painter too and prefer paint also LoL. Camaro came out nice too, don't think you could get vinyl in a metallic color that would look that nice!

 

Great work! Got a question for you. How are the TA rocker extensions attached? Are they integral to the rocker panel, or do they screw or bolt on over the base Firebird rocker panel? I know the latter is the case on the W68 V6 cars, but the TA extensions look different.

 

Very nice