james94

Hey guys,

I bought a 1990 Iroc around this time last year for $2700 and have been fixing it up ever since. It is a 350 TPI car, 4 wheel disk, all stock car, minus previous owners questionable "body work" to the rear quarters. There was also lots of rustoleum spray paint touch ups all around the car. I didnt start taking pictures untill I started taking it apart, so I will start this thread where the pictures began.

Paint Thread Here : https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/thir...paint-job.html

First picture is of the fixed trunk lid. There must have been a high rise spoiler on the car at some point as there was 4 holes in the middle of the hatch. Also, the idiot who owned it then must have pulled something from the spoiler as the back 2 holes were pushed down, and the front 2 were lifted up. After some hammering and some filler it was nice and smooth.

Second and third pics are from when I started taking pictures of my progress. Fenders and hood removed, gfx...

james94

The 2 pictures are of the rear quarters. You can see the holes from the gfx are bigger then they should be from the rust eating away at them. I never had to unbolt the fgx from the back, only the top and bottom, because they came right out. I cut out the metal in all these spots and replaced it, but I never took any pictures of the new metal It all got a scuff and a healthy layer of rocker guard though.

james94

Next I moved to the floor pans.. theres some good news.. A previous owner cut out a piece of sheet metal to cover a hole the was big enough to fit a foot through. They screwed the new metal to the floor using self tappers, and roofing tar to seal the hole. They didnt even cut out the rusty sections around the hole, but they decided to screw right in all the rust, so the "new floor" was held in by pretty much nothing but the tar.

First picture is the ghetto patch

Second picture is after the ghetto patch is removed

Third picture is after I cut out all the rusty surrounding metal. And yes, I cleaned the rust out of the sub frame channel and gave it a nice layer of rustoleum.

james94

First picture is of the floor I did. I didnt have a press or roller to as the grooves that strengthens the metal, so I used a few smaller pieces and welded them together with over lapping edges welded on both sides to keep the metal stiff and prevent warping and bending.

Second picture is after I covered all the welds in seam sealer to ensure it was water tight. I fogot to mention when I ripped up the carpet, it was all soaked because the previous patch was so poorly done.

Third picture is after a rust paint spray bomb. Sorry its a little dark

james94

There was also a few little holes here and there, I will let the pictures explain themselves...

james94

Again...

james94

And again... both rear drains got welded shut

james94

Another reason for the water inside under the carpet was hidden until the car was taken apart. The area infront of the driverside rocker, under the back of the driverside fender, was also rotted out. It was all cover in mud and leaves, and it is where the windsheild drains lead to, keeping the mud nice and wet, giving the rust a good area to grow. Once I cleaned the area up I was able to see the extent of the damage. It was a continuation from the floor, and a bit into the front of the rocker. The only thing that survived was the pinch weld as you can see clearly in pic 3

First 2 pictures are of how it was, and the third if of when I started cutting looking for solid metal

james94

First picture if of the rocker patched.

Second and third are of the rebuilt area. I couldnt use one piece of metal because there was so much bending, but it is still solid. I hit it with a hammer a few times and a few good kicks with steel toes and it didnt budge. Again all the welds got a layer of seam sealer along them to ensure waterproofing and the whole panel got a layer of rockerguard.

james94

Next I moved to the engine bay. The was a small quarter sized hole in the passenger side shock tower. Great.

The first picture is of the hole. I went at it with a grinder to find solid metal, and luckily the damage was no worse then it seemed.

Second picture is of the patch . I used a fairly thick piece of metal because I heard the shock tower is an important part of the cars rigidity and structure or somthing

Third picture is after a light layer of filler because i tried my best to get the metal itself smooth, but again, im a newbie, and I will be re-doing the whole engine bay eventually.

james94

And here is the finished shock tower. I just used some engine enamel, good enough untill i tackle the engine bay project.

james94

Next on the list was rims. The clear coat was flakey and it had the white oxididization under it. Now matter how much I cleaned them, they didnt get any better. So I went to the store and got some paint stripper, etch primer and gray and clear duplicolor wheel paint. When it comes to stripper, be sure to stay away from the spray, it is weak crap. Get the brush on stuff.

First picture is of the supplies I used to refinish the wheels

Second picture is of a wheel before I did anything, other then clean it the best I could.

Third picture is of a wheel with paint stripper applied

james94

First picture if of a wheel after the paint stripper, sanded with 150 grit paper to get rid of the machine marks.

Second picture is after I sanded my way up from 400-2000

Third picture is 2000 grit wetsand on left, polished on right

james94

First picture is Old Vs New. The new gray looks darker then it really is in this picture.

Second picture is the inside of the wheels. All I did here was go over them with paint stripper, then a wire wheel.

I will get a Third picture of the wheels in daylight on a car, once I get my car back.


If you plan on refinishing your wheels, be prepared to spend alot of time on them. Make it a winter project. Doing This is a pain in the nuts, but in the end it is worth in IMO.
Tip: do all the wetsanding and polishing before you repaint the painted sections. Use a higher speed buffer rather then a cordless drill and a mothers power ball. Use a corded drill with a buffing wheel or a dremel, the higher speed they can reach gives you a nicer finish. The lower speed cordless and powerball can bring back the good finish, they just cant start it. If you use a higher speed polisher and accidentily hit your painted sections, it can easily melt your paint, ask me how I know.

majobis

iTrader: (3)

I have a set of rims that I'll tackle sometime in the future but my question is regarding post #13; when you said that you "polished" the rim what products did you use specifically? And also, based on your #14 'finished' wheel, has that already been clearcoated? If you get a chance, I'd love to see photos taken outside of the finished wheel. Great job!

james94

The product is called Blue Magic metal polish cream. Post #12 pic one, its infront of the paint cans. I got it at Canadian Tire, you could probably get it at an autozone or something.

As for the clear coat, I only cleared the painted section, the polished section is bare aluminum.

Outdoor pics comming soon...

camarosrock1989

iTrader: (1)

You do great work! Nice to see you restoring a Iroc Keep us up dated on your work.

6SIX6

iTrader: (35)

Great project man. My first car was a 85 Z28 and ended ou scrapping it as it was too far gone. Everytime I patched a hole another popped up somewhere else. It was just structurally unsafe anymore to keep going. Glad to see your saving this one

james94

Thanks guys. Updates will keep coming until the car is finished, even though project cars are never really finished..

The_Wraith

Nice work, and before you spray that rocker guard on anything make sure you paint the surface first. Cars will rot out right underneath that stuff and you wont even notice until way down the road.

james94

Red rustpaint spray bombs on everything, and I rocker guarded it once it was all painted.
Thanks

james94

Update..

Cut out the louvers and the hood. I used a dremel with a cutoff wheel on the louvers, and just tin snips on the hood itself. It looks badass when you can see the tpi through the louvers.

First pic is of the louver cut out
Second pic is of the one side of the hood cut out
Third pic is of trying to get the peepshot to work with a camara, didnt work out too well..

james94

Also finished up the polishing

james94

And for the guys who wanted some pics of the wheels..
I didnt repolish the wheels until i brought it back inside, I will get outdoor pictures with the rims soon

85_ZED28

Cool

shortyskater

so far! I'll be following this. Makes me want to work on mine but I have a few months before I'll be home Keep up the good work though!

james94

Well I started my winter project for this year, cleaning and painting the engine bay, and eventually dropping the gas tank to replace the sender. I pulled the motor out a couple weekends ago and got it all cleaned up, then painted it up. I took the intake, valve covers, and pretty much everything off but the heads and valvetrain, because it was running fine, so why mess it up, right? I cleaned up the manifold and left it bare aluminum. The valve covers and TPI got painted and cleared and will be getting a new gasket set. I painted and cleared the a/c compressor, as well as all the pulleys and all the nuts and bolts.
The engine bay itself was painted with spray cans colour matched to my colour (GM victory red) from the local napa. I sanded out all the rust, went over everything with a wire brush and simple green, and primed areas where needed and finally a light sanding. After that, I taped off/ removed parts I didn't want to paint and went to town.
I still have not done the top of the shock towers because that is where I step to get in and out of the engine bay.


First 3 pics are of the engine bay before the motor came out, and taking off the smaller parts to make the motor easier to remove.

james94

First pic is of some silicone that was on about 1/4 of the rockers. They probably spent the same amount of money in silicone as a real gasket set would have cost for the rocker covers

Second and Third pics are of the motor stripped down..

james94

First pic is of the battery tray before I touched it

Second pic is of the charcoal canister area after I painted it

Third pic is of the bay with the corner closest to the camera painted, everything else untouched

james94

When I painted the motor, I put some grease on the head bolts so they wouldnt get painted, then I wiped off the grease and cleared them. Looks alot better imo and takes and extra 5 mins so why not

james94

Finished engine bay painting, but not the shock towers. They are my step to get in and out of the engine bay

james94

First Pic. Took out the screen and plastic under the the wipers and sanded out rust, primed, seamsealed, and rocker guarded

Second Pic. As the motor sits now. Edlebrock emissions legal shorties on the floor behind the engine stand

Third Pic. The garage currently, waiting to get the engine hoist back

Updates will come when finished

The Project

iTrader: (6)

Nice work so far.

Don't forget to install the headers.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Cool thread!

james94

Thanks guys. Headers are going on a soon as I grab some new bolts and shorten/lower the old exhaust to fit with the new headers

Awesome-X

Very nice! I have a 91 with floors that are in the same condition. What kind of welder did you use to patch yours?

james94

I used a Lincon 180 mig welder.

I wrapped the headers because of the tight fit. The plug wires were pretty close and I dont want them melting, so i figured I might as well wrap them instead of having a bunch of the wire *socks*. And no, I did not use zipties to hold down the wrap, I used stainless wire

james94

Got the motor back in. Almost ready to fire up. Just need to re-attach some vacume lines, refill fluids, and sort out an ignition problem in the steering column. I still haven't painted the shock towers and a few other things yet, but it will all get done eventually

The Project

iTrader: (6)

Nice work so far James.

james94

Thanks Bill.

onthedownlow

iTrader: (4)

Hey James looking real good man! Wow that car has come along way since you started giving her the TLC. Amazing how hard the Canadian weather is on these cars, was the car driven several winters? Just asking as the rust seems like alot for a 90. I have an 84 camaro and live in Ontario and when I bought my car years ago there was some major rust then and the owner said his wife had driven it for two winters. Well anyhoo looks like a new car! When you get the car repainted you aren't going to want to use your light buckets for a tool bench as the buckets will look like crap being all scuffed up from tools. Nice car and keep the updates coming.

james94

Thanks.
Ive already repainted the car. Because the headlight buckets are satin black, I just quickly re-spray any scratches and it will blend almost seamlessly.

The guy I bought it from said it wasn't winter driven, but once I started ripping it apart is was clear it had been driven in at least a couple winters.

vintageracer25

Great Job James. Hopefully that car will be well respected for the next 100 + years and stay as good as you have made it!
David