Some DIY bodywork/ paintwork with the help of a friend...

[slammin86]

I hate you......brah

GJ as always

LOL I know you guy.

Very cool project. What kind of mods do you have? I see that fast intake...!

Well right now I have the fast 92/92 combo with the OTRCAI. Kooks catless longtubes with flowmaster catback. UDP. Stock 243 heads w/ patriot springs. 229/234 .600/.612 111+4 cam. Forged bottom end w/ mahle pistons and callies rods. ARP bolts. Blah blah blah.

Few weeks ago at the track I ran 12.7 @ 118 w/ 2.3 60 on 245 street tires. I launched really low and bogged first to hold traction but then blew off the tires in second and had to pedal the gas a bit. Then third kicked pretty hard and 4th too. It pulls strong up top.

The car used to have a bottle and 3.91's back in 2010.

Very nice thread and great looking work so far. I worked in a body shop for a few years and do realize the amount of work it takes to do nice work like you guys are doing. Can't wait to see the finished work. Subscribed

Thanks for taking the time to take all of the photos and write up such an informative thread.

Thank you. Yes it is crazy hard tedious work. The prep work is the key I just hope the $130 gun and homemade booth do not let us down.

 

[BobbyG]

Great update and thanks for posting the photos in progress....rops:

 

[slammin86]

Had a lot of issues through this whole process. Was starting to look sketchy towards the end. Ended up having to paint the whole fenders and were not able to blend into the door. There is some dirt in the paint that needs to sand out.

I will not attempt anything like this anytime in the near future...and I think my friend feels the same way. He did a great job painting it but the whole process was crazy stressful.

 

[slammin86]

Door to fender color.

 

[slammin86]

Here are the grills from yesterday.

Sanded smooth with 2000 grit.

Here are the auto x grills. They were sanded with 2000 grit then buffed with a lake county hybrid wool/ foam pad and menzerna compound. Sanding scratches gone but some nice swirls from the compound.

This is a neat picture if you can actually tell what is going on. You are seeing reflection from the top clips in the bottom of the grill...or something like that.

And my friend came over tonight and started wetsanding the car with 2000 grit while I watched my 25 children.

Tomorrow night he will finish that up and I will knock out the deck lid. We will then go onto the car with something finer than 2000 grit. Probably 2500 or 3000 depending on what we can find.

 

[shoeless89]

This is crazy awesome! The Batmobile is coming along great!

 

[slammin86]

Tonight my friend got the rest of the hood done. I got the top of the deck lid and the drivers side of the bumper done. Spent about 2.5 hours on it and called it a night.

This thing is gonna be sweet with no orange peel. Just smooth as glass paint. Can't wait.

 

[slammin86]

Jesus christ will this ever be done.

I started sanding at about 7:30 am. My friend got here about 10:00. We took about a 30 min lunch break. We called it a night at around 8:00.

Everything on the car is now wetsanded except for the plastic side skirts. Tomorrow I have 3 rock chips to touch up and sand smooth and hand sand a few hard to get to areas on the front bumper. Today was the first day of week 4 of basically devoting all my spare time to this crap.

This plastic back panel really has no texture so I do not think I will mess with it. IDK for sure yet.

 

[slammin86]

Just another normal carwash. IDK why the neighbors were staring.

I get some strange looks driving this thing around.

 

[slammin86]

Hit a few panels with the wool pad and powergloss today.

Legit.

 

[Jomax]

AMAZING work!!!!!! It's like glass!!!' what grit did you use to wet sand the whole car?


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[slammin86]

AMAZING work!!!!!! It's like glass!!!' what grit did you use to wet sand the whole car?


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2000 grit hand sand with blocks on everything except the mirrors and a pillars. We used 2500 on those spots.

 

[SkateForGirl]

WoW! Looks freaking awesome. Good job man.

I can't wait to see the whole car.

 

[slammin86]

Made some good progress today. Powerglossed the hood. Found out that the curved transition at the back needed more sanding. Sanded it. Buffed it again. Found some dirt knots. Sanded them. Buffed them again.

Buffed quarter to trunk area. Found out that the quarters needed to be smoother. Sanded them again. Buffed them again. Found more dirt knots. More sanding and buffing.

Buffed the pass fender. Found that some areas needed more sanding. Sanded them. Buffed them again. Found more dirt knots.

Buffed rest of deck lid. Found that curved transition on top had too much texture. Sanded it again. Buffed it again. Found another dirt knot. Sanded it again. Buffed it again.

As of right now the following things still need to be gone over with a wool pad.
75% of roof.
All of drivers door and fender and sideskirt.
Part of pass door.

Also got the grills and scoops and fuel door re assembled.

Christ make it stop.

 

[slammin86]

Got the rest of the car compounded today. Polished out the bumper and areas around it with p083q and a orange pad. Got the bumper assembled and on the car. After 4 weeks the bumper is reunited with the car. Suck a glorious day. Got the fuel cap on too.

 

[slammin86]

Went out this morning and attempted some buffing. Prior to about a week ago I had never used a buffer and until yesterday had never used foam pads on a buffer. I have used a pc since 2005 but the buffer is a whole different animal. Anyway, I was afraid I would be unable to finish hologram free with the buffer.

I tackled the decklid first. Using a white pad and PO83Q followed by a gray pad and P106FA. I finished hologram free. Now I just have to get my towels washed up so I can wipe polish off without inflicting scratches.

Here is a pic.

I then worked through the same stage on the upper quarter to check color match. It is actually very good in direct sunlight.

 

[Jomax]

For being a beginner in using a rotary. You did amazing! Your GTO is coming along great!


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[wgilles]

Fantastic work!!!

 

[slammin86]

Door to fender color match under harsh lighting.

I just finished the whole passenger side with the white pad. Pulled into sunlight. Holy hell hologram city. ROFL. Luckily the deck lid looked like this too prior to the black pad so hopefully that cleans up the pass side too. If not I have my trusty PC to fall back on.

 

[slammin86]

Switched from the white pad back to the orange pad with the PO83. Got this stage finished and cleaned off the car and pulled it into sunlight. Found a few spots I missed and decided that I needed to sand the back trunk upper panel where the arrowhead goes some more. Took care of that and then moved onto the gray pad and PO106FA. I have one pass on the trunk roof hood and sides down to the middle bodyline done.

I was really struggling with keeping the 7.5" pads from hopping on the side. Any tips here?

Tomorrow my smaller pads arrive so I will switch to them. Then make the determination on if I can finish with the buffer or if I need to make another pass with the PC. Upon inspection of one pass with the gray pad everything looks very good. I do not think I will mess with PO85RD and a blue pad this time because I cannot wax the fresh paint yet. Yay I get to redo all this in a month.

Here are some pics.

This was after the orange and PO83

And these are all after one pass with the gray and 106.