77 W72 trans am Restoration (roof swap)

4SPEED · April 02, 2010, 12:41:21 AM

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.

4SPEED · April 08, 2010, 12:40:52 AM

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.

gorin002 · April 13, 2010, 04:48:16 PM

no heating at your garage ?
you could put on a ipod or some phone with music ear phone you only hear the music

not your wife yelling

and wowwww that motor looking good

4SPEED · September 26, 2010, 02:28:31 PM

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.

4SPEED · October 15, 2010, 08:17:40 AM

more work done

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

4SPEED · November 06, 2010, 08:40:08 AM

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.

4SPEED · November 10, 2010, 04:12:07 PM

I'm good!

I would hate to pay someone to do this. there is about 20hr's in it.

4SPEED · November 13, 2010, 06:21:05 AM

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..

talady · December 14, 2010, 12:19:46 AM

::)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'!!

4SPEED · December 15, 2010, 10:46:12 AM

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

4SPEED · January 05, 2011, 04:30:02 PM

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

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

4SPEED · February 19, 2011, 04:40:48 AM

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.

4SPEED · March 10, 2011, 09:30:39 PM

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

http://www.gaugemarks.com/

4SPEED · March 14, 2011, 02:54:27 PM

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.

4SPEED · April 04, 2011, 12:24:47 AM

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.