As most of the major bugs have been worked out in the motor and drive-train, attention has been refocused on the body. The doors were removed and hinges separated to replace the bushings. The fenders had some bad rust damage in a few small areas. Since they’re not making these fenders yet I have no choice but to repair the ones I’ve got. First the inner fender bracing was removed. The inner fender bracing, fenders, and tire splash shields were taken to the sand blaster. All pieces were taken down to bare metal then sprayed with etching primer. Rust damage wasn’t quite as bad as I first thought after the rust scale was removed. Though mostly solid, some areas will still require patches.
Archive for the ‘Body’ Category
Trans Am Fender Repair Part II
Sunday, August 8th, 2010
Trans Am Fender Repair Part I
Sunday, December 13th, 2009The engine won’t be installed until the starter is back from IMI due to modifications. Meanwhile, another project was started to maintain progress. The passenger side fender was chemically stripped of all paint inside and out. Overall, both fenders are in great shape. No major rust except for a patch where some hood misalignment caused paint wear and consequently rusted through over the years. There was even a small remnant of the original special edition stripes underneath the wheel flair. The inner fender bracing will need to be removed to make the repair and eliminate any hidden rust.
Eastwood Brake Gray
Saturday, August 8th, 2009With the radiator support complete, attention was focused on other front-end parts such as the steering box, master cylinder, and heater box. The steering box and master cylinder each received two coats of Eastwood’s Brake Gray. This coating claims “excellent” corrosion and brake fluid resistance. The color is good as the shade of gray appears to be somewhere between cast aluminum and cast iron. The coating contains particles of 316L stainless steel. The price is not cheap at $20 a can and of course Eastwood gouges it’s customers on shipping. For a single aerosol can the shipping is about $10. Needless to say this better work.
The final project of the day was to mask and paint the heater box. The area was scuffed with a red scotchbrite pad and then wiped down with wax and grease remover. Next a coat of Crest’s Hi-Build Flexible Primer Surfacer was applied to the heater box. After the primer was allowed to dry three caots of U-Pol’s flat black was applied. Next week the blower motor will be painted with a higher gloss finish than the rest. After some drying time the tape on the firewall was removed. The flat black on the heater box breaks up some of the semi-gloss over the rest of the firewall nicely.
Firewall in paint
Sunday, January 4th, 2009Today’s work started by scuffing the entire firewall with a scotchbrite pad. Any loose hardware a clips were soaked in Krud Kutter’s “The Must for Rust” to remove corrosion. The screws were painted using a small brush with semi-gloss black and clips were dipped in the same paint and allowed to dry. Then, the heater box and wiring harness was tapped and Sem’s beige seam sealer was applied to all necessary seams.
3M makes a paint gun setup to spray their rust inhibitor in tight places you can’t reach with a brush or sprayer. It’s called Rust Fighter and includes a gun and a long application want for getting inside places like rocker panels and the inside of the firewall. Although 3M doesn’t mention this, it was found that this gun and wand is able to spray paint in areas you can’t reach as well. This is a great tool for ensuring you get converage in places you can’t see.
After the seam sealer was allowed to dry for about an hour and a half and inside the firewall was painted, semi-gloss black paint was applied to the firewall. The pictures were taken shortly after the paint was sprayed so it appears a little more glossy than it actually is.
Floorpans in Paint
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008The floorpans were finally painted today! Eastwood’s two part rust converter was used on a few small patches of surface rust. Then the entire area was scuffed with a scotchbrite pad. The upper rocker panel was then taped off so Crest’s “Chip Coat” could be applied to the lower section only.
This was allowed to dry for an hour or so and then the floor pans and Chip Coat was sprayed with Sem’s gloss black Rust-Shield.
Next week the firewall will be painted with semi-gloss black and subframe will be stripped down for cleaning and paint.
Rocker Panels Complete
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008Saturday’s Trans Am restoration project included completing the rocker panel bodywork then priming along with prepping the floor pans for paint. A small amount of body filler was needed on each side to smooth out some of the imperfections left from pulling dents. The area should be cleaned thoroughly to remove any residue from the chemical stripper. Metal should be worked as much as possible to reduce the amount of filler needed. The metal should also be sanded to give the filler something to hold on to. Filler is applied to extend well past each side of the work so the area can be properly blended. The filler was sanded using an straight line pneumatic sander to reduce the bulk. The passenger side required a little more than the driver’s side so body glaze was used to fill the scratches and pinholes left in the body filler. The glaze needs to be much thinner than the filler as this can be sanded to a finer finish and is only meant to fill smaller imperfections left in the body filler. As a general rule, body filler should be no thicker than the thickness of a dime when complete in order to avoid shrinkage and cracking later. It’s usually best to apply mulitple coats rather than one thick coat. I’ll be glad to post pictures with more detailed steps if anyone is interested.
Rocker Panels
Sunday, December 14th, 2008Today the rocker panels were stripped to bare metal with Klean-Strip low odor Aircraft Stripper like all of the Trans Am’s exterior body panels have been. This stuff works really well and can be found at your local Walmart.
Apply one small section at a time with a cheap paint brush, wait about 20 seconds and scrape each layer of paint with a razor blade scraper. A new coat of stripper usually has to be applied for each layer of paint or primer. In the areas too small for the scraper a small wire brush can be used to scratch away the paint. Be sure to have a large supply of these because they gum up fast.
The rest of the day was spent patching the side of the firewall and repairing a rather large dent in the passenger side rocker panel. Before the firewall patch was welded in, time was spent blowing out and vacuuming inside the rocker panels as much as possible to remove any dirt and debris that can trap moisture. Some rust damage was discovered in the driver’s side door that can be seen in the picture below. Looks to be an excessive amount of body filler in the lower portion of the door which may be hiding even more damage. New door skins may be used.
More Metalwork
Sunday, December 7th, 2008Work on the Trans Am continued with the completion of the underside floor pans. All the grease and undercoating was removed and surface rust treated. While removing more old seam sealer from the area just in front of the driver’s side door we discovered yet another small patch of rust. Probably from where dirt and debris fell through the cowl vent over the years and collected moisture. This area was cleaned and weak metal cut out. Painting of the floor pans and firewall will be postponed another week in order to patch these small places.
Cleaning Floorpans
Sunday, November 30th, 2008Yesterday, work continued by cleaning all of the old grease and transmission fluid from the bottom of the floor pans. I’m still amazed at the condition of the existing floor pans. Maybe all that caked on gunk actually helped a little. The front section under the firewall is supported by two sets of jack stands and the rear tires are set in a pair of old wheels. Even with the extra clearance it’s still a tough job.
Last week underneath was sprayed down liberally with Gunk brand degreaser and left to soak all week. A paint scraper and small wire brushes took care of most of the heavy stuff. When the thick grease was removed, a thin residue was left and more or less smeared from on place to another. Finally, some paint thinner and rags seemed to work best to remove this residue. Paint thinner was applied one small section at a time with a paint brush and then wiped clean with rags (over and over and over again.) Next week the remaining residue will be cleaned and all areas prepped for paint.
Windshield/Firewall in Primer
Monday, November 24th, 2008The Trans Am restoration continued today finishing up the front end and getting ready for paint. The windshield track and a few bare spots on the firewall was sprayed with self-etching primer. After the self-etch primer dried, a coat of high build primer was applied over top.
