bigchief

I've had a 1989 Formula firebird with t-tops for about 4 years now that has about 260,000 miles on it, and i've replaced just about everything on it..... the car is finally getting painted, so i just wanted to know if there is anything i should be aware of? here is the status of the body:

New rear fiberglass wing from hawks (how should i hook this up to the hatch on the sides? it came with like two J clips, one for each side.... is there a better way to hook it up? like more original?)

Rear hatch lid (aligned a few days ago by my dad so it matches with the quarter panels)

drivers side quarter: completely clean, small amount of rust on bottom near door, but i sanded it down and usd a drill bit to get the craters out, and then used some filler and primer over that

passenger side quarter: decent amount of rust on INNER part where the spare is, i ripped out all the metal that was rusted, and replaced it with fiber glass filler, and reinforced it a LOT, then primered over the inside, and put a small piece of fiber glass on the outside because there was a small hole that rusted through from the inside

drivers side door: replaced with door with very little rust that i took care of, and primered over, door had a few dings, i removed the mirror, the key lock, and the door handle, and outside weather strip along the bottom of the glass

passenger side door: no rust at all, some dings, i removed the mirror, the key lock, and the door handle, and outside weather strip along the bottom of the glass

drivers side mirror: like new, i wet sanded it

passenger side mirror: like new, i wet sanded it

drivers side fender: brand new, came primered

passenger side fender: like new, no dings or rust, i painted it from its orignal black to red, but they will have to strip that off.

front bumper: brand new, came primered, and with no black inserts, i will put them in after it is painted

rear bumper: original, had one small crack that i fixed with rubber filler, smoothed out, and i wet sanded the entire thing, also i took out the black inserts, and will reinstall after it is painted.

hood: brand new ram air 1 from hawks, came primered

drivers side headlight cover: like new, i wet sanded it

passenger side headlight cover: like new, i wet sanded it

roof and trim around windshield: i wet sanded them both, they have no dings or rust on them

any suggestions or warnings? let me know! thanks guys!!! i'll post pictures when i get her back!!! the job is gonna be about 3,000..... they are stripping the car down completely to the primer and doing in the RIGHT way, its a friend of a friend and they are doing it on the side, thats why its not like a 10,000 dollar job

irockid86

sounds like you are pretty aware of everything on the body. as long as everything has been block sanded, or will be, and all your gaps are straight, it should come out good. hope it works out for you.

Tmic87TPI

iTrader: (3)

sounds like you got everything under control, post some pics of the progress.
also, if your only wet sanding to take the shine/clear off you can get it done easier/quicker with a red or green brillo pad.

archemedes

Scotchbrite pad you mean right. Brillo pads are steel wool with soap

bigchief

haha oh man i didnt even think of that guys......

i am having a bit of a problem actually, i dunno if you guys know how to fix this, but i had to install the hooks in my glass on both of the doors that i put on the car, becuase the glass that was in those doors didnt haev them.......

still not sure if you guys know what i'm talking about, but they are kind of a light brown plastic hook, and they are necessary for a correct seal between the glass and the weather stripping, but when i installed them on the glass, i had to take out the plugs that were in the glass, and then do a lot of adjusting

my question is, is it possible for the glass to actually be a different size in these doors? i couldnt get the window to go down once i had put it all the way up on the passenger side, then installed the hooks and the clips that go on the door itself, and adjusted it so that the glass closed correctly.

i hit the window switch, and it would get stuck, and refuse to come down....... i couldnt figure it out

Tmic87TPI

iTrader: (3)

yeah thats what I meant to say I couldn't think of the name so I took a shot lol

bigchief

haha... well i guess nobody has info on my last post. i think its in the final stages of the paint job now, i'm gonna try to take a look over thanksgiving break if i get a chance. i'll try to take some pics of their progress when i get there.

again, any info on the different sized glass in the doors? is it possible for those holes in the glass for the hooks to be a little higher or a little lower on some cars???

TIMMYS89GTA

iTrader: (28)

as far as I know,the glass is all the same from 82-92.I know the hooks you're speaking of.On my old car(87 IROC) I had a problem with the front of the glass coming up a little farther than the rear part.I went to the local j/y knowing it was one of those pieces(without even removing the door panel from my car) Got a few pieces from a car with crank windows,and thought I was in good shape.After all(82-92)they're all the same right?Nope!I don't know all of the diff. year designs,but there are differances in crank and power windows as far as those parts go.Thats all I got on that subject for now.

bigchief

i see........ yeah i think i'm just gonna swap my old glass from my old door into this door and hope everything fits.......

bigchief

sorry about never posting pics, I will tonight 9 years later..... this car has been sitting for a while but now I'm back in action!

bk2life

9 years 6 months later and still nothing...

bigchief

bigchief

again, sorry about the delay guys. This was already 10 years ago.
The car is still in good shape now, however the paint has faded on the hood and spoiler a bit (the sun wasn't too kind on the fiberglass panels).

Ron U.S.M.C.

The car in the photo looks great and love the colors. Black and red are my favorite combination.

The sun is not real kind to paint. The rear of mine gets some even under the car port and after 10 years that way you can really tell the difference front to back.

I even use a Synthetic product as protection for the paint but what are you going to do.

Ghettobird52

Looks great. What supplier did you go with for the RAI?

Tibo

iTrader: (15)

Red colors oxidize the most so, you had that going against you already. However I'm curious to know what brand and line of paint were used to paint your car. In my build thread I made mention how I personally painted my Camaro Arctic white back 10-12 years ago using DuPont's Nason series and when I painted my other camaro last summer with Arctic White from DuPont's Chroma Premier series it was a brighter white. Supposedly the Chroma Premier series has more UV blockers and that's its big selling point.