FueledSoul

iTrader: (18)

3 sets of doors, 3 sets of fenders, 3 hatches, 2 deck lids, 1 hatch glass and 1 hood later...

Its really amazing how you can end up trying to get the best parts and still end up doing the same amount of work you would have done on the crappy parts. iv been going up to my dads every weekend since early April to work on these panels. its the only time i had since i worked a M-F 5am to 5pm job basically. I put everything on hold, friends, family, even had a few good dates that just got sick of it, that and not being to spend time during a weekend together, i made a lot of sacrifices along the way. that said everything posted here is progress made from April till now.



I went on a quest looking for a rear hatch with no defrost. i found one with no deck lid. I had a hatch with a perfect deck lid but it had defrost so...
I pulled the deck lid off.






I cut work and time down by sand blasting my parts NOTE: (GOOD READ) I was originally going to soda blast my parts, i bought eastwoods soda blast conversion kit for $130. 3 bags of soda media for $35 per bag. I never even got around to using the soda and at $35 for a 50lb bag what a waste, i ended up using sand for $3.50 for a 50lb bag. lucky i bought sand when i first did some scrap steel peaces the sand blasting pot was rich with moisture after running for about 15mins, i was running 2 water traps one on the compressor and one on the blaster. i ended buying more water separates now running 5 water traps it work pretty good the 80gal single stage compressor couldn't keep up with the blasters needs. I was able to blaster for 3 to 5 solid minutes before the compressor PSI drop to the point the blaster wasn't doing a good job. i would occasionally let the compressor rest if you didn't you get to much heat build up and your lines and traps are full with water. My honest opinion is that the blaster is great for a hobbyist doing small parts (in sand). To take full advantage of a blaster you'll need at least a two stage compressor with a large capacity tank and a air dryer setup its hard enough with sand so good luck with soda.

FueledSoul

iTrader: (18)

Doors, I wanted to shave my locks and handles but to be legal at the track i decided to come up with some french in door handles i looked on a lot of cars for years but didn't seen anything i liked so i started to fab up my own till i seen some as a car drove passed me one day they looked like they were going to work perfect for the look i wanted ...

i used a combination of a high speed body saw (couldn't do with out it) cut off wheels, die-grinders, grinders, sanding disc's.

FueledSoul

iTrader: (18)

Doors = Evil. Like i said i went threw 3 sets of doors, i picked what i thought were the better ones. But turns out they needed some work, The lower portion of the doors were rusted but it looked fixable till i hit it with the blaster... then thoughts of doubts came but after just paying ($300 for a set of doors and fenders) i wasn't going to turn back i decided to fix them. Oh and they had perfect glass and tracking but sand doesn't care how much covering you put over things, i didn't want to make a this a year long project by pulling the glass and tracking but that turned out to be a very poor decision i had to pull it all out anyway now minus the mint door glass. Got a little blast happy and accidentally etched the glass. live and learn i guess.

After blasting i had to tack the outer door skin to what was left.





Then i blasted the outer shell spots.





After that i tacked some screen on the inside shell of the doors in areas that had holes( so i had a strong area to build off of using fiberglass) i used a self etching primmer on everything that was bare The lower edge of the doors i lay down fiberglass, and fiberglass filler to complete the job. even though you will never see this area i did it as if you were looking at the outer side of the door. Here they are all the jambs are all done.



I sealed and painted the the inside of the doors.

FueledSoul

iTrader: (18)

Fenders, didn't need to much work. There were some areas that had to be dolled out and fixed. The lower exterior were the ground effects cover had some surface rust same with the inner's, there was also a few places were bolts were rip out so i had to weld in new metal. I made short work of everything with the blaster.



You can see how this would be a pain to get by hand, short work had with a blaster.



i painted the back sides of the fenders.



Some other parts that i blasted, Intricate parts like this would be a nightmare to do by hand







Everything in etching primmer

FueledSoul

iTrader: (18)

I restored my T-top bar. It wasn't bad to begin with there was a bit of rust but the sandblaster fixed that, it had hail sized dents on the top rail, I sanded the entire rail down using a 50 grit wheel on a air tool
(dark spots are dents) after i got the entire rail down to bare steel i used a fiberglass filler followed by bondo for any imperfections left, DA and hand sanded after that.





Got the underside of the hood done, i tried to smooth it out as much a possible using caulking to fill in areas that the factory glue missed and created gaps between the outer and inner layers and i sand all of the caulking and huge globs glue down to smooth it out much more. i filled in some chips and scratches on the underside and around the hood lip using a fiberglass filler.



The top hinges on the doors are good the lower ones not so much. One of the detent pin rollers was broke. so i order a few parts from TDS, after i bought my parts i found out both lower pins where worn out along with the bushings so i bought the lower pins at auto store you'll need another bushing kit because the ones provided with it wont work. Had i took them apart before i ordered id just buy the lower pins from TDS.



A press makes easy of install.

FueledSoul

iTrader: (18)

jambs are all done, now exterior body work, My goal. to get everything 90% perfect body wise because the entire cars getting a guild coat and block before paint anyways.







All of the of the deeply pitted rusted ares were blasted to bare metal, i went over the areas i planed to fiberglass and use a fiberglass filler with a 50 grit air sanding wheel to prep the areas prior to laying up or filling them.





After knocking down what needed to be, i used a skim coat over on bondo over both doors.

FueledSoul

iTrader: (18)

Shaping











The doors, fenders, and deck lid got a high build coat and a bock sand.

FueledSoul

iTrader: (18)

I painted the handle with a color that match the build coat to see just how awesome my handles will look.



Here is some wet angled pics

Deck lid



Door



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Just put a make shift paint both together lasts Monday with the help of my dad. Im spraying a PPG sealer coat down on the major parts, and painting all my Jambs. I should have update soon!

Coolwheels84

iTrader: (5)

Nice work. Can't wait to see it come back together.

DeathMetalTony

Keep up the good work man.

Tony.

406z

Nice job frenching the door handles. I kick around the idea of using c6 hidden handles on the next project thirdgen I get, but recessed handles seem like half the work and look pretty good.

FueledSoul

iTrader: (18)

Last week i got things in sealer and this weekend i painted, i took some pics of the painted peaces but they didn't turn out to well still to much over spray floating around.... But all get some better ones.
but here some pics for now.

1bad91Z

iTrader: (1)

Maybe I missed it, but what year/make/model door handles did you use?

Sonix

iTrader: (1)

...And now you tell us what car you took the door handles from

Also - was it difficult to connect the new door handles to the existing linkage to open the door? (or have you gotten there yet?)

And finally - How did you ensure the new handles were aligned vertically and horizontally? ie eyeballed it? Measured from the top of the door, and back of the door, etc?

Looks very nice. I wish I had air tools... Nice weather... a spray gun.... sigh...

Kory-88Iroc 350 tpi

iTrader: (1)

Nice work, also interested in the door handles. Are they from a gm truck?
Thanks,
Kory

krzyz

car is coming along nicely i like those door handles.

Camrs89

Looks like great progress! Im doing pretty much the same thing you are, so I can appreciate the work you have put into it!

FueledSoul

iTrader: (18)

1bad91Z

iTrader: (1)

Lookin' good!

I'd do the cowl's screens in black though...

What make/model door handle did you use?

87bluebird

what did the door handles com from?

FueledSoul

iTrader: (18)

There rear door handles from a 90s + Cadillac... The reason why i picked the rears is they look clean with out door locks im going run a key-less

krzyz

its funny cause i have been trying to figure out what those handle are from and i knew i seen them somewhere before, also i have 2 caddys sitting in the back compound at work that are cash for clunkers so i wounder if ill be able to snag the rear handles.

The Project

iTrader: (6)

Very nice build.

Looking forward to the updates.

Keep up the great work

Camaroguy6984

iTrader: (2)

nice, ill keep watching this

Daytona_83

Bad-*** dude! Those handles look really nice!

Duane's 91 Z/28

iTrader: (1)

great work. Love the door handles.

FueledSoul

iTrader: (18)

Thanks guys, last week i spent a hour cleaning ALL the internal door part. Im debating whether i want to order new window regulators even if my current ones work.

Heres a before pic of one of my window tracks


After

krzyz

what did u use to clean the window tracks?

radical82

That is some really first rate work Fueled!!!! Really great to see someone take the time and effort to get a really first rate job and not just slam through things to see how quick they can get it done!!! IMO fit, finish, and detail is what separates a first rate car from all the others!!! Very well done, keep up the great work and the updates!!!!

FueledSoul

iTrader: (18)

soapy water and some shitty rags

FueledSoul

iTrader: (18)

Thanks that means a lot.

Primetime91

iTrader: (15)

You do really good work, everything on your car looks great from what I've seen

I looovvve what you did with the underside of your hood Looks 10x better

I've gotta ask though, what sandblasting kit do you have/use? I think it's time I invested in one of them

IROC212

iTrader: (1)

Looks great! Keep the updates coming!!

FueledSoul

iTrader: (18)

Thanks! the sandblaster i got from harbor freight.

FueledSoul

iTrader: (18)

I still need both doors glass, i need a set of door grommets,
im going to buy in new window motors. i plan to get the doors hung soon

BlueMagicSS

Nice, a lot of attention to detail keep the good work coming!!!

Camrs89

Im recycling my spare parts, had a couple of doors left over from my 4th gen Camaro that I took the door handles from. They fit without modification. Smooth handle on the 4th gens. Minor detail that most would overlook...

Tafsky86

what year would the handle be from? It soulnds like something I would like to do to sharpen up my third gen which you can see here

Camrs89

Any 4th gen from 93-02 should work...

krzyz

any updates?

FueledSoul

iTrader: (18)

Not really, I will be painting the body jams and touching some things up I'll probably roll the rear quarter lips and get all the panels on and lined up.