Hey folks...

After a long wait, I finally decided to get some ground effects for my 1983 Firebird SE. I am combining a 85-90 Trans am nose and rear end with side rocker pannels from a 1992 Camaro RS.

Today at the bone yard, I managed to pick up both sides from the Camaro for only $13. The passenger side rocker pannel is in cherry condition, just needs to be sanded and painted. However, the drivers side effect is cracked and is somewhat warped... (the stands the car were on were under the rocker panel causing it to bend).

Anyways, a few questions:

First one, I was wondering if a little bit of bondo or whatnot would take care of the crack.

Secondly, I was also wondering if I could make this peice true again with maybe some heat and some elbow grease or something. Its not seriously out of shape, but just enough to make it look bad.

Thirdly, my Firebird is currently a car without ground effects. I noticed on the Camaro I was working on today had flares coming off the sides of the car under the door for the ground effects to screw into from the top. My Firebird lacks this peice, but I was wondering if anyone has fabricated brackets for a non-gfx car, or if someone knows how I could go about mounting these things up.

I have attached a picture of the rocker pannel.
Any help would be greatly appriciated.

Thanks!

 

Come on guys, I know somebody has some ideas....

 

Id go with the heat idea. It sounds like thats your only option. Just dont put the gun too close to the work you might melt it makin it worse

 

i put gfx on my old 86 sc. the piece u are lacking is not needed at all. i went to the hardware store and bought 10 " L" brackets and formed them to the contour of the rounded body. make sure you measure down from the door sill correctly or your door gfx will scrap or even break. well anyway, i drilled holes right into the body and screwd in the l brackets and mounted the gfx right on top of the brackets, resting right on top. Then in put self tapping screws through the top entering from the door sill. Finally, i i found a long screw and screwed it in right behing the emblems and put a final bracket on the rear of the gfx to support the rear. Let me tell you, when i was done, you could put an elephant on those things and they would not break. Strong as an ox! good luck, fell free to ask me details . Ryan

 

Hey Ryan.

Yeah, I thought of doing that, but I wasnt sure if it would work for sure or not. I would have probably ended up trying it, but it's nice to know that it has and can be done with no problems.

I havent had the time with my school schedual, but tomorrow I plan on cleaning up those rocker pannels and taking some heat to my drivers side one and seeing if I can mold it back to its origonal form.

I will post the results...

Thanks!

 

go back to the donor car and bring a drill with a 3/8" drill bill and drill out spot welds use those i had to do this to my 84 camaro

 

I was not able to fix a crack in mine. the gfx will flex at some point and the repair you make will probably crack. This will mess up a nice new paint job. If its bad enough, replace em, or live with the crack. Max, Its nice to se another 3rd gen frankenstein like I used to have. Heres what mine looked like before paint. I used body parts from 14 different cars, only the "best" junkyard parts were good enough to be on mine. HEH HEEE

 

I was actually going to use a fiberglass compound on the inside to reinforce it and then use a little bit of bondo on the outside to cover up the crack. Hopefully the fiberglass will be enough to keep that part from flexing and reexposing the crack.

And, I noticed that one of the brackets with the studs that actually holds the rocker pannel to the car isnt there, I was probably going to make another trip down to the junkyard this week to grab those, I may just take a drill with me and get those other pecies as well.

 

I don't know about the crack, but as far as the GFX being warped, I know someone that remanufactures bumper covers. I brought my GTA front bumper cover to his place to get straightened (was warped by the front plate brackets). He told me the secret was hot water. They had a big tank, and dunked the covers into the hot water (I'm assuming there were no other chemicals in there). The bumper covers just go back to their original shape. I don't know if it was that simple, but my bumper cover is as good as new. It's worth a shot for your GFX.

 

yup thats right pick thru what i want and install as i find hell i dont care what it looks like now I know what is going to look like and most of folks with nice looking cars don't mess with me multi color cars are not ones to mess with muuuaaahahaha

 

Go to your local paint supply store and pick up some "SEM Problem Plastic Repair". This will fix the crack and remains flexable. Use a heat gun to straighten out the piece first, then use the SEM on the crack and use it to fill any low spots from the reforming of the part.

 

GTAProject, I have the same issue with my bumper cover being warped where a license plate would be attached. The ground effects are also pushed up under the car from improper towing. did they have to remove the paint before reforming the bumper cover? also, do you have an idea of what temperature the water was? I figure i have nothing to lose from trying it. what'd it cost to have them do it for you?

 

Morley, I am going to have to get some of that stuff and give it a shot. I think I might try the hot water first to try to straiten it out. I havent messed with it much lately, but will probably start to tear into it this week.

 

Fellas, I'm sorry but I wasn't there when it was done, and a friend did it for free. If water does work (and it is only water), I can't imaging there would be much effect on the paint . They did in fact primer and plastic weld some of the connection points for me, so I got it back ready for paint, but I don't know if it was just part of the procedure. If you PM me, I can give you the phone # of the manager of the place (I might be able to find it at my office). Maybe he'd be willing to help out and answer some questions that would help everybody. I'm trying to attach a picture of the front of the car.

 

Whats up everyone. I just finished up a concept of what I would like my car to look like after I get my new body parts and paint and everything all finished.

Let me know what you all think!