Camaro paint job...after almost 10 years

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weba
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Re: Camaro paint job...after almost 10 years

Post by weba »

Taking your time with this I see, can't wait for the 'final' product :)

I sneered a bit to aerodynamic modding for something that's has the aerodynamic design of a barn to begin with, but I guess everything is improvement then :)


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ifixalot
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Re: Camaro paint job...after almost 10 years

Post by ifixalot »

I admire your attention to detail in getting the flaws out of the body. I remember we had a 73 Camaro
we took for paint. The new parts didn't seem to line up well and the body shop said there was nothing they could do.
When I put a spoiler on, I used a heavy coat of auto wax on the mating surface and applied bondo to the spoiler
and pressed it against the trunk and quarter panels until it hardened. The wax prevented adhesion of the bondo.
Good idea with the tape and then trimming off excess just before it hardened.
Your car is going to be both awesome looking and performing.


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woody90gtz
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Re: Camaro paint job...after almost 10 years

Post by woody90gtz »

I actually don't know what the coefficient of drag is for an 80z. I gotta think it's better than most muscle cars. Or really most any car of the boxy 80s era.

The front airdam, wheel spats, fender vents, tall rear spoiler..that was really GM's first attempt at aero mods, and they are all rooted in function. Kinda cool to learn about.

Berettas were certainly a huge improvement though, and also ahead of their time I think.


91 "SS" - WOT 3400/5spd - 13.29@101.6 - World's fastest N/A FWD Beretta
96 "T56" LS/6spd/8.8 RWD swap - 13.45@104.7 lol
GEARHEAD dezign youtube
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woody90gtz
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Re: Camaro paint job...after almost 10 years

Post by woody90gtz »

Crap. Forgot to get the pics of my hood hinges. Got a bunch on my phone but it won't hook up to the computer. I'll do that part later. But...they work AWESOME.

Made a date with my body guy to get this damn thing painted! And he's running behind schedule...so I'll post these for now. But it's in queue. I have the body work done to basically the best of my ability and he's going to finish everything up perfect and spray it. (I did my Beretta last year and a couple spots that I thought were perfect showed slight flaws a few months after fresh paint).

I really like how the fender vents came out. It was difficult to get a good decreasing radius bend that was smooth. My old landlord has an English wheel that I used and that's pretty tedious, but it worked ok.
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91 "SS" - WOT 3400/5spd - 13.29@101.6 - World's fastest N/A FWD Beretta
96 "T56" LS/6spd/8.8 RWD swap - 13.45@104.7 lol
GEARHEAD dezign youtube
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woody90gtz
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Re: Camaro paint job...after almost 10 years

Post by woody90gtz »

I also got my rear bumper project done. It's something I've thought about for quite a while. It has always driven me nuts that the bottom of the rear bumper isn't on the same plane as the bottom of the quarter. I photoshopped it to match and it looks so much better. So I cut up the stock one to try it out and fit a basic rear diffuser idea to match the aero package I'm going to do in a year or two.
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I was happy with the results, so I bought a Glasstek rear bumper and cut it up. I used the car as my jig and some ABS sheet as a backer to slop some kitty hair on it and make it one piece again. I also made some studded steel plates to eliminate the metal "straps" for the urethane bumper ends and duraglassed them in. Then I took it off the car, removed the self tappers and peeled the ABS off and hit it with fiberglass cloth and resin to give it some strength.
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I really like the "fatass" look. I think it helps with the really short and wide back end. I also like how the metal strap delete cleans it up. I got a 12" LED bar that will serve as the reverse lights right above the license plate and it can tint the whole taillight lens smoke red which will work with my "amber delete" tail idea. I also welded a much better mount for my kill switch than the one I cobbed when I was 20. haha. I'm going to make a license plate holder/trim piece out of ABS that looks much better when the plate is off and the switch is exposed.
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91 "SS" - WOT 3400/5spd - 13.29@101.6 - World's fastest N/A FWD Beretta
96 "T56" LS/6spd/8.8 RWD swap - 13.45@104.7 lol
GEARHEAD dezign youtube
EPfiffner
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Re: Camaro paint job...after almost 10 years

Post by EPfiffner »

Badass, I was looking at google images of how the rear bumper looks from the factory, and that is going to be a big improvement.


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woody90gtz
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Re: Camaro paint job...after almost 10 years

Post by woody90gtz »

Only been about...forever since any updates. But I've been working on the stupid Beretta for a while but my Nasty thread got bumped so I'll bring this one up to speed with my old posts.

Photoshop of the final bumper, LED reverse and LED tail idea.
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Finally got some time to finish modifying my subframe. Got a bunch of stuff from John at Lab-14.com to strengthen it. Plates and studs for the UCA mounts, thick washers for the LCA mounts, plates for the body mounts, adjustable braces for the UCA studs. Saved a ton of time. I wish I had seen his site before I had done so much of the same stuff myself. I wanted to do the sway bar plate because I think a welded nut is a better solution than drilling and tapping a plate like I did, but I was not cutting off the plate I already fully welded on. But I did cut and weld the big UCA/shock mount as suggested.

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I also scoured through the depths of McMaster for some other mods I had planned. I welded a coupler nut inside the cross bar at the front of the frame horns. I figure I can use the bolt as a jacking point to get the front end in the air. Might work for a tow hook mount, too. I'll find out soon. The only problem with that big bar I welded in is the access to the radiator mounts, so I welded in some cage nuts.

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I've got some more stuff to update, but I'll wait until the new parts are here on Tuesday. I will say that the deep spring bucket of the DSE arms made it impossible to install my Hotchkis coils - even with a coil cut and compressed as far as my compressor would go. So you can probably guess where this is going...

BTW, anybody need some Hotchkis coils?

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91 "SS" - WOT 3400/5spd - 13.29@101.6 - World's fastest N/A FWD Beretta
96 "T56" LS/6spd/8.8 RWD swap - 13.45@104.7 lol
GEARHEAD dezign youtube
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woody90gtz
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Re: Camaro paint job...after almost 10 years

Post by woody90gtz »

I actually tried to get the compressor stud through the shock hole but it's too big. I may have been able to cut the stud off shorter and get it to work, but my dad has a first gen that is gonna need the coils R&R so I just gave the tool to him. My fix is more expensive, but I really wanted to go adjustable shocks anyway...and I picked up what I need during a Labor Day sale so the price wasn't too bad.

The body mount reinforcements are welded on the bottom side, so the height of the body bushing is not affected.

Those knurled bolts are ARP wheel studs for the UCA shaft mounts. John has it all figured out and they come with instructions. I welded washers on the inside too since my adjustable arms won't need shims and I can keep the studs shorter. The washers are welded so I still get the full knurl strength even spacing them back. This pic shows how it all works together with the braces to keep it all rock solid with the g-braces. The cantilevered subframe needs a lot of bracing to be stable.
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And since I'm adding more pics I'll show more of the progress to where I am now. I hit the chassis stuff with epoxy and Raptor Liner. Made a couple changes to the firewall after my last mockup too. The Raptor really gives a nice look, and the texture hides some imperfections.
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The bracing is a tight fit, but it works with the stock PS lines and the AN-6 setup I'll be running.
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91 "SS" - WOT 3400/5spd - 13.29@101.6 - World's fastest N/A FWD Beretta
96 "T56" LS/6spd/8.8 RWD swap - 13.45@104.7 lol
GEARHEAD dezign youtube
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woody90gtz
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Re: Camaro paint job...after almost 10 years

Post by woody90gtz »

I picked up a set of double adjustable Viking coilovers from UMI. Went with the 550lb springs. My old Hotchkis were 600 (which I still have if anyone is interested) but I can adjust the shocks stiffer when racing with these. (And way lighter for drag racing.)

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I also did have to change the stock 6" length idler from ProForged to the Howe on "for threaded sleeves" meaning heim-style tie rods. The PF piece is really nice, but caused the tie rod bolt to hit the LCA bolt on the crossmember.

I also got some bumpsteer studs from Speedway for the knuckles. With the locknut barely catching threads they are really close, but I'm sure the correct adjustment will not be at the very bottom.
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91 "SS" - WOT 3400/5spd - 13.29@101.6 - World's fastest N/A FWD Beretta
96 "T56" LS/6spd/8.8 RWD swap - 13.45@104.7 lol
GEARHEAD dezign youtube
EPfiffner
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Re: Camaro paint job...after almost 10 years

Post by EPfiffner »

Looks awesome man, thanks for the update. SPI epoxy I assume, since I saw a can of grey in one of your previous posts. Stuff rocks, I'm sold on it now too.


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Godlike
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Re: Camaro paint job...after almost 10 years

Post by Godlike »

Such an awesome build! I feel like im gonna see this thing on display someday. Im interested to know how those Viking coilovers work out. Ive been told to run those on my G body. Don't forget to tighten that castle nut, lol.


90' GTZ 189whp NA 14.00@99 / 237whp 50 shot 13.3@104
95' Integra 240whp / 04' Z71 Tahoe/ 85' K20/ 15' IS350 Fsport
projects: 86 Bonneville 6.0 swap / MkIII Supra 2J swap / 91 Volvo 740
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themixer
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Re: Camaro paint job...after almost 10 years

Post by themixer »

when will it do burnouts?


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woody90gtz
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Re: Camaro paint job...after almost 10 years

Post by woody90gtz »

Oh there's a lot of stuff yet to be torqued. Like basically everything. Haha

Yes, SPi epoxy. I got the gray and the black. Had rave reviews on NastyZ, but I liked the Omni stuff we used on my dad's last project a lot better. Lays down with less peel and not as prone to pinholes. This car is getting a coat of featherfill and then blocking, so the peel shouldn't be a problem.

Burnouts are tomorrow.


91 "SS" - WOT 3400/5spd - 13.29@101.6 - World's fastest N/A FWD Beretta
96 "T56" LS/6spd/8.8 RWD swap - 13.45@104.7 lol
GEARHEAD dezign youtube
EPfiffner
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Re: Camaro paint job...after almost 10 years

Post by EPfiffner »

Interesting on the Omni, I'll keep that in mind. I had difficulties with pinholes also. Cranked the air pressure and light on the 1st coat. I like the SPi but I have nothing to compare it too, first project.
I used slick sand for poly, hadn't tried featherfill. These old cars could never have been straight from the factory, I couldn't get it without poly.


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themixer
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Re: Camaro paint job...after almost 10 years

Post by themixer »

themixer wrote:when will it do burnouts?


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