<Project> 2000 Trans Am

[Lucky SOB]

Blasting!

Started working on the rear sway bar revival

Got a new seat of MOOG sway bar end links ($13 a piece from O'reiley's)



Cut the old end links off and blasted the sway bar - hit it with a couple coats of red caliper paint (sorry no pics as of now)

Blasted the sway bar brackets, mounts and rubber bushings. Also did the caliper brackets. Still need to do the actual calipers.

Before pictures...




After pictures (awaiting POR-15 except the caliper brackets)...

[MP81]

Red caliper paint mod is what we did to Sam's swaybars on the Monte.

Worked well, other than the fumes in a closed garage mixing with kerosene fumes, haha.

Man, that is a cute little swaybar!

[Gottork]

very nice fred..

[Lucky SOB]

Painting

Started work on the rear calipers tonight. I used a wire wheel on a air grinder to start because I am too worried that sandblasting them will get sand in places that I don't want it. For the spots the wire wheel wouldn't fit, I used a combination of lacquer thinner, wire toothbrush, and a standard screw driver to clean it as best I could.

I then hit it with the red caliper paint, and for the most part it worked great. There are a couple areas that must have still had a bit of grease that I missed with the lacquer thinner, but I'll take care of that tomorrow night.

Also picked up a quart of POR-15 for the rear end today... $47 This stuff better be good...

Painted stock rear sway bar



Calipers before cleaning




Comparison



Caliper and brackets drying



I sent an email to Loctite to see if they had any products for adhering a magnet to steel. Their response below in case anyone else runs into this issue down the road...

Loctite 331 with Activator 7387 is recommended for bonding a magnet to steel

[sman]

Lookin good fred, caliper paint is a good idea. Hmmmm, thanks for the idea, lol.

[MP81]

The POR-15 will work wonders, Fred, as long as you prep it correctly (*COUGH* MEISSEN *COUGH* ). You have to liberally spray down the rear end with the Marine Clean (they said to dilute it with water. Sam and I used it straight) and wipe it down. After that, brush on the Metal Ready (now called Prep&Ready) nice and thick, and everywhere and then rinse it or wipe it off with warm water. Then you let it dry, and begin painting after it is dry! That shit works great, and looks awesome - but man, if you get it on your skin, it doesn't come off for a week!

Went from this:



To this:



And we didn't clean it as thoroughly as you did.

Good luck with it, and don't make a mess, cause it doesn't come off of anything.

[Lucky SOB]

Lookin good fred, caliper paint is a good idea. Hmmmm, thanks for the idea, lol.

Haha... ~$6/can at O'reiley's

[Lucky SOB]

The POR-15 will work wonders, Fred, as long as you prep it correctly (*COUGH* MEISSEN *COUGH* ). You have to liberally spray down the rear end with the Marine Clean (they said to dilute it with water. Sam and I used it straight) and wipe it down. After that, brush on the Metal Ready (now called Prep&Ready) nice and thick, and everywhere and then rinse it or wipe it off with warm water. Then you let it dry, and begin painting after it is dry! That shit works great, and looks awesome - but man, if you get it on your skin, it doesn't come off for a week!

And we didn't clean it as thoroughly as you did.

Good luck with it, and don't make a mess, cause it doesn't come off of anything.

Interesting... The guy that painted my car and the guys at GNE paint both said to just take off the BAD flaky rust, rinse it with lacquer thinner - and paint away...

I will clean the rust off pretty well, but I didn't think I needed to buy their special cleaners/prep solvents...

[s.reef]

I think i still have some of the solvents fred your welcome to them if i can find them

[MP81]

The solvent mainly converts rust and non-rusty metal to a zinc coating which I guess the paint adheres well too.

[Lucky SOB]

I think i still have some of the solvents fred your welcome to them if i can find them

Thanks Sam, I'd appreciate it!

[Boost Addict]

I painted the underneath of my car with Chassis Saver and is basically the same thing as POR. I used scotch brite and a little bit of sand paper and it's adhearing fine. Like its been said, WEAR GLOVES!!

[MP81]

And long sleeves. And clothes you don't mind ruining.

[Lucky SOB]

Thanks guys for the tips! Luckily the rear is out of the car, so it should be pretty easy to cleanly paint it. We'll find out this weekend

Can't wait for Friday... I'm treating the car to some new parts!

[MP81]

Oh, one more thing I forgot. Be careful not to drybrush it too much - it splatters. EVERYWHERE.

It was funny explaining to my boss why my face, hands and arms were covered in black paint. For a week. (Luckily he doesn't give a shit and laughed)