National Firebird and Trans Am Club Message Board

A month ago I found this 77 t/a. #'s mach W72 400 auto. started on it today. I got the interior out, and the back glass, and the old seam sealer scraped off the floor.  its better than I thought. the left front must of had a bad heater core . full of pin holes. but ware the seam sealer was still looks like the day it was put on.  I'm going to try to get this one done by August. I hope.  This one is my wife's car so you'll see pics of her working on this on.  not today thou, she's getting ready for turkey day.


junk pile

I had some time this morning to go out (sneak out)  and go work on it . I crimped the edge of the hole were the sunroof was. and cut  a pattern out of some sheet metal. now I will take that to the camero roof and lay it out on the roof and cut my patch.  I wish I had an English Wheel, then I could use the pattern I just made.  but I realy like cutten on a camero.  ;D

some don't like to lap the sheet metal, but doing it this way makes it a lot stronger and its flush when done.

Donor car, it was cold out there so took my time on the lay out and cut it big. I'll clean it up at the shop.






I thought it was thoughtful of this old camero to give it's life to spare the life of my trans am.

a moment of silence for the donor cars that give there life for others to live on............................................................................

I got some more done to her today. the floor fixed and the roof tacked on.

spent about 5 hours today on it. got the dog house off and the motor ready to pull. I need to cut the exhaust and that will be out. next weekend hoping to have the front frame off and broke down and ready to go to powder coat. my sub frame connectors came late last week and will go for powder coat to.

This is the type of resto that is NOT for the faint-of-heart.  You're doing a lot in a very short time and this is going to be a killer restoration!

thanks guys and gals for the kind words, it's really good motivation to keep on it. witch is hard to do when its cold in the shop.
here is some pics of some of the stuff I found

build sheet  ;D



Hurst top

ehhhhhhhhh i am with a open mouth :D like at dentist aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
okay
i wish i could do all of that i can t,i hope you keep update.
so how fair are you ?

 I got the rear end out, brake& gas lines off. its really not to bad under there. surface rust, that's it . rear tail panel does not have a pin hole in it. it has never been undercoated. oil and trans fluid up front. I still need to weld and grind the floor patch from underneath to make it right.  well I guess it time to start scrapping and wire wheeling. uuuuug I hate this part of it.  need to start on the left side rocker to.

here's a bunch of pics

just messing around today and found some graffiti on the firewall. I no what 2 of them are. but what is the 055 or Q55 stand for?

well today I think I'm done taking parts off. other then the dash. that's next.  got the bumper off, trunk lid, doors, all the weather stripping and rear wheel spoilers. \

so far 38 hours into it.

 I pulled the motor and got the frame off and ready to go get sand blasted.






took a wire wheel and knocked off most of the gunk.

today I started some body work. I think it came out pretty good.

This is going really well, it seems, and you're gonna have a monster build on your hands when you're done!  Keep updating this!!

thanks Bethany. how's the new 95?  I will be posting my 89 for sale soon. I dont realy want to sell it but going to need the room for this 77.

picked up the parts from being sand blasted. called the other place to set up a date to get all the paint cooked off the body and glass beaded.  that was way to expensive. it not in the budget. so I called the the sand blaster dude. so I took it over there today. firewall, floor, wheel well, door jams, window jams, trunk. fame rails and tail panel.  100.00 bucks cash.








here is some more for your viewing pleasure   8) 

tomorrow I go pick up the parts car with the Hurst roof.

we got some snow last night. so I didn't go get the parts car. going in the morn. Randy emailed me. he told me my bezels showed up and will be done with them in a few weeks.  heehaw

I did work on it for about 4 hr today. I what to get it back on its wheels soon. thats the plan any way. here is the pics

the worlds most expensive car lift.








here is a good spot for a plug for my business

parts going to Randy Combs to get restored






NEW parts  ;D





going to Randy to make it gold

well just got back from picking up the 77 parts car. here is a few pics.

so this new car project ???????

well today was the day. I did it. ( the roof swap)  it's really not that bad to do. easy really.  I don't no if the way I did it is right or wrong. but here go's

first I measured 15" up the front posts. marked them the best I could. on the donor car I measured  up 14 15/16" due to the cutting disk is about 1/8" thick.  and cut one car on one side of the line (top) and cut the other car on the other side of the line (bottom).



on the sail panel , I took a propane torch and melted the led out to get to the seem.  and cut above the seem about an inch. after the roof is off , then take off the 1" piece of roof on the seem. 
do the opposite for the donor car cut the sail panel about an inch below the seem. and lay it on some saw horses to clean it up.









after you get the new roof and the car cleaned up your ready to mach them up.

I forgot , first I put some steal in it to strengthen the body





here is the new roof.

its ground up start from scratch restoration right

frame off , ground up ,  any thing that will come off , will come off and be fixed or replaced.
here is a quick recap of the work done so far.

(http://s846.photobucket.com/albums/ab27/4_SPEED/?action=view&current=2009-11-24.flv)

today I  got the t-top track out, welded the inside of the sail panels,  stripped all the paint and cut the bad part of the rocker off.
tomorrow I will epoxy prime the body except for the rocker

be original or a modified ?

Quote from: gorin002 on December 31, 2009, 10:10:50 AM
be original or a modified ?

all original.  ;)  only cleaner, no seam sealer slung all over the place and no over spray under the car. things like that  :)

another way to fix a hole  ;D

cut away the rust


get a 1/4" bar of copper. clamp it behind the hole. the wire weld will not stick to the copper and makes the weld on the inside smooth.



done


other spot I fixed today



finely done with sheet metal work, time to make it RED. ;)








got the glass on the welds and seams

today I worked on the sail panels and got the car moved back into her corner of the shop.  and started work the front frame.










I work on the steering rod (what ever its called) 

I took it apart cleaned it and painted parts of it.


got the rod from Jegs , its a polished s/s steering rod.


I drilled the hole for the pin and noched out the rod for the shim spring.





and put it back together.

Looks like quite the restoration. I,ve Started a restoration on a 79. I got very lucky today and bought a pair of rust free fenders for $125. I'm going back Sunday to get the quarters., They are solid and the guy only wants $150 for the pair. He said he bought this car to restore and then told me he's not very mechanical. This car was pretty much beyond the point of no return, except for the quarters. The fenders were from a donor car.

Quote from: cwi inspector on January 01, 2010, 11:53:38 PM
Looks like quite the restoration. I,ve Started a restoration on a 79. I got very lucky today and bought a pair of rust free fenders for $125. I'm going back Sunday to get the quarters., They are solid and the guy only wants $150 for the pair. He said he bought this car to restore and then told me he's not very mechanical. This car was pretty much beyond the point of no return, except for the quarters. The fenders were from a donor car.

very cool. and a very good buy on the parts. I would like to see your progress on your bird.
if you need any help, that what we are all here for.

Thanks for the help offer. I'm sure I will need it as I progress. I'm not getting as involved as you are with yours because I simply don't have the room and my budget is pretty limited. Luckily I won't have much to do to the interior, it's in excellent condition. I will only need to recover the drivers seat, ;D everything else is like new. If you have to be a member of NFTAC to post pics I will have to join, otherwise if you have an e-mail I can send you pics.

llester3@woh.rr.com  for the pics.

work on some more parts


took apart and sand blasted

painted and put back together. I like it.




and did some more work on the sub frame.

The ics of my TA are to large to e-mail. The setting on the camera was on the best setting. You can friend me on facebook, they are posted there. Bill Shadwick

witch one there are 2 of you but look different

I'm the one with my wife in the picture and I'm wearing a blue striped shirt

okay lets see we can track bill

Thanks for asking!  Sorry I've been away for a while.  The 95 is doing just fine.  Runs like a top, although I need to clean the fuel system good.  I replaced the cracked tails, did a full tune-up, and will be doing the brakes here shortly.  Some other minor things to do, but for the price I paid, I've been really happy with her. :)

Quote from: ThunderChicken on January 11, 2010, 06:35:44 PM
Thanks for asking!  Sorry I've been away for a while.  The 95 is doing just fine.  Runs like a top, although I need to clean the fuel system good.  I replaced the cracked tails, did a full tune-up, and will be doing the brakes here shortly.  Some other minor things to do, but for the price I paid, I've been really happy with her. :)

do you have a name picked out for the 95 yet, and are you going to make this one your driver?

i tracked down bill
i saw thunder chicken
and in  a way of speaking i am jealous cause fair away from evrything
am happy to see other fellow member get his project read other trans am or firebird came to life

Quote from: 4SPEED on January 12, 2010, 07:57:24 PM

Quote from: ThunderChicken on January 11, 2010, 06:35:44 PM
Thanks for asking!  Sorry I've been away for a while.  The 95 is doing just fine.  Runs like a top, although I need to clean the fuel system good.  I replaced the cracked tails, did a full tune-up, and will be doing the brakes here shortly.  Some other minor things to do, but for the price I paid, I've been really happy with her. :)

do you have a name picked out for the 95 yet, and are you going to make this one your driver?

Yup...her name is "Ellie", short for "Elise".  She is indeed my daily driver as a V6.  The brakes didn't need replacing, they were just noisy...and still are.  >:( Oh well...she drives.  Now I get to have some fun with the EGR.  *sigh* ...but at least I get to drive a Firebird every day!!!  ;D

worked on the a/c box.  I think it came out better then new.  :o I hope,  you guys are the critics. let me no what you think.

I used paint stripper on it, only about 5 min. and presser washed it off. then put it in a sand blast cabinet ( low air presser) , then washed it with water.  and sprayed some clear on it.









well this week I got a little more done.
got the rocker done.







dash out of the car



sanded the old tan die off the black dash to re-die it black

Geez....no wonder your white '79 looks so good.  You have some serious talent!

the die and primer is all DUPONT







been working on the shifter off and on for a few days , here is what I got.








the last few days I worked on the steering column. the batteries in the camera went dead, so no pics. I took it completely apart. cleaned it, new grease, stripped and re-paint. then put it back together. wet sand it and cleared.   I did that after it was together, just in case I got scratched. here is the after pics.
now all it need's is Randy's gold spoke wheel. and this part is done.

4speed your dash is looking awsome. Do you know of anyway to repair the opening for the radio. Mine was cut out for an after market and I would like to put an original back in.

Quote from: cwi inspector on January 31, 2010, 07:35:43 PM
4speed your dash is looking awsome. Do you know of anyway to repair the opening for the radio. Mine was cut out for an after market and I would like to put an original back in.

yes find a old cheap cracked dash that has the radio not cut. cut it out of the dash ( big ) . then using a grinder trim it until it fits. use a good epoxy to attach it to the dash.  you need to take your dash out to do this, so you can see the fit of it on the inside. then you can lay fiber glass & resin around it on the inside.

you may find one on here. post it in parts wanted.  just ask for the radio part you need. cut it big . and will save on shipping. 

I have this in the parts for sale to

from an 80 t/a
Greenville , Ohio 45331  llester3@woh.rr.com

its like a big scale model kit
man i wish i could do it allll

here is ware I'm at with the motor  77 W72 . once I get the motor done, I will start the rebuild of the th350 trans. It will take the rest of the winter and spring to complete. I will be gasket matching , port and polish on the heads. gasket match the intake. and paint the inside of the block with Glyptal  http://www.caswellplating.com/aids/glyptal.html
   

so first you paint it all with this primer ?

Quote from: gorin002 on March 02, 2010, 04:23:28 AM
so first you paint it all with this primer ?

you dont need to but the block ,after it has been shot blasted is not smooth any more.  the Glyptal  fills in and smooths out the block so the oil will run back to the pan better.

so whats primer for ?
paint primer the body first ?

you do not put the Glyptal on the smooth machined area of the block.

whats the primer for ?
also notice you have a big garage
we have garage wich so small

the primer on the dash?   it bites into the vinyl on the dash , and gives the pant something to bite into. if you didn't  prime the dash first the paint would flake off, in time.

okay.only for the dash
and body metal work how do tread that only paint ?

got the 400 built last weekend and painted. 

This is one of the most insane restorations I've ever seen!....I am absolutely berzerk with envy!! :D - to have such a great car, the facilities, the cash and the know-how all under one roof is a rare combo indeed. Hats off to you pal and keep up the great work...sooo looking forward to this sweet machine's happy ending  ;D♦

thanks , this was all the easy work. now to putt every correct nut and bolt back in her is the tough part. 


I'm working on the a/c brackets now. just to be sure I have them all.

today I moved the 77 to my house.  I needed the room at my shop for my semi.  I wanted to get it home any way.  the shop is cold ,damp and dark.   now I dont have to go very far to work on it. 
the down side is the wife is about 500' away, no more ignoring my cell phone  ::)   at my shop. she'll just yell out the door now    :-\   
I was wondering why she told me it would be a good idea to bring it home.   >:(
heres some pics of my day.

no heating at your garage ?
you could put on a ipod or some phone with music ear phone you only hear the music ;D not your wife yelling ;D

and wowwww that motor looking good

currently , I have this car for sale.  see it in the cars for sale section



added 10-15-10
tire kickers and guys looking for a deal, so I will keep working on it ,for now.

more work done

first coat of urethane 2k primer , for block sanding.

the roof was just too wavy for the color its going to be.






bullet proof,  the new eaton diff is installed  :)




the body is about ready, so I thought I would prep the under side for paint.  I started  to dry sand it with 400 grit. to take the smooth off the epoxy so the paint will stick.   the frame had rust pits in it.  and the more I thought about what it would look like painted , the more it bugged me.  so now I'm filling the pits.
the paint is a Dr. jekyll mix from my paint supply place.  a base/clear and the clear is a semi gloss.




no more pits.   and I tryed to get a pic of the paint.  the pic doesnt really show what it looks like.  but its really close to a piece I have with 70's primer on it. one pic with and with out the flash.








I also worked the front floor toe area that I replaced.  it looked like crap.
before



you can see the lap of the toe and floor is backwards.  so with a little trimming ,welding and the magic of glass work , it looks like this now. 

I'm good!  ;)    I would hate to pay someone to do this.  there is about 20hr's in it.

Me and my wife's uncle finished up all the body last night. And I got up early and washed it and gave it a quick coat of epoxy w/reducer to fill the 220 marks and seal the body work.   Next it will get dry 180'ed  then a reduced coat of urethane primer and wet sanded. 
it might see paint before snow..

 ::)Hey Doug:  It's your Trans Am loving Friend, TA Lady, Kelly Powell!  Very impressive work!  Do you have a shop?  Is this the type of work you do for a living or just on the side, if you don't mind my asking?  My husband is an auto body technician at Glockner Chevrolet, a local dealership.  He does some body work in our garage here at home, although it's limited due to the fact that he does not have an actual paint room so he does a lot of buffing once he paints one. 

Anyway, my old baby ('79 TA) which now belongs to my son, is in need of restoration.  My son just got his first job at Kroger's so he's looking forward to fixing up his car in the near future.  What is your procedure on giving a price for full restoration, if you indeed do that type of work. Just asking...

Also, are the pics of the three TA's yours?  They are very beautiful cars!  Hey, we'll have to become friends on Facebook.  My son just set me up with one a few months ago and I love it!  Love to chat with ya'!! :)

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Kelly,   yes I paint or restore cars on the side.   
my white 79 I restored (frame on) last year.
my wifes 68 bird is on a rack for a full resto.
and my 77 t/a,  I hope will be done by spring.

and I do all my work in my garage too.  but I have it set up to paint in.  I just wash it down really good the day before.
most good shops charge up to 75.00 per hr. + materials.
I charge 30.00 + materials.  (but) I work on them when I can. like a few hr's a day. 
a good restore will take about 3 to 6 months, just depends on how much it needs
a paint job about a month or so.

I'll look ya up on FB

Fbodywarehouse   this is the 2nd set Pete had done for me.

http://www.fbodywarehouse.com/fbw/product.php?productid=837&cat=51&page=1

I worked on the tail lights today.  I took apart the one and cleaned and painted the inside with silver caliper paint. and on the lens I used s silver paint marker.  the other lens is the original chrome, but will still take it apart and clean and paint the inside. and touch up the chrome





I havent seen her with her clothes on in so long . I almost forgot what she looked like.  ;D

I just got a pic of my cluster for the 77. thanks Daniel

http://www.gaugemarks.com/

here's some pics.  most all still needs 1200 wet sanded and buffed. but it should look like a black mirror when its done

done








needs sanded,  but still looks very good. no dirt or junk in it.

this is the last time looking like this.   paint tonight or in the morn.
the blue tape is spots I dusted some primer on where I wet sanded a little to far and found filler ( oops) a little touch up wet sand and it ready to seal.
going to try it with the doors on , I dont want to . but there a pain to put on without chips.  if I dont like it , we'll pull them wet sand the jams and fix them. 





in sealer



has a little dust in it , but it'll sand out.  it feels smooth as glass.   now for the hood and bumpers.

is anyone out there, or am I just talking to myself.   HELLO!!

anyways

update.   ME LIKEY  ;D    I love this part.

a few pics at sun set today.





boot lid painted and cleared an hour before this video.  it still needs sanded,buffed and polished.
(http://s846.photobucket.com/albums/ab27/4_SPEED/77%20W72/?action=view&current=THoward.mp4)


sorry for all the dust on the quarter. ;D

I'll update with new pics soon.   I had some problems with the clear, and had to redo the car.  Im thinking about a color change too.  we'll see.....   black is nice, but is scratches just by looking at it  :'(   

car is about done.  but being Im the only one here , and just talking to myself.  I'll keep the pics to myself too.  ;)

you don t talk there is no voise you write

and i decide to check the forum again

I sold the car months ago  :-[ 

but did change the paint.

It took 1st in its class this year at the TA Nationals.

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