Cleaning up a 3rd gen Trans am!

[Curt_irocz]

So a friend of my dad brought me a 1984 T/A he picked up. Looks like a solid clean car. 59k original miles. And looks mostly stock. With original paint. The quarters had some rust forming under the paint. No holes. Mostly what you would call surface. So he wants the car cleaned up. I'm going to be repainting the rear quarters deck lid and spoiler, along with a new full stripe kit. And a headliner. So I thought I would share. I started on it today. And here's what I got done.


I know everyone likes pictures. So I took plenty!






after I removed all rust. And was able to metal finish all the dings out.



primed!

[ruckusz28]

Looking good

[Dave]

Nice work! My brother has a black and silver 84. It too is getting fresh paint this fall.

[DynoDave]

Hey Curt. Looks like it's going to clean up nicely.

How many F-bodies in the shop now?

[92conv]

Dang you don't waste time, nice work Curt.

[meissen]

Awesome progress thus far!

[Curt_irocz]

Hey Curt. Looks like it's going to clean up nicely.

How many F-bodies in the shop now?

Thanks guys!! There is currently 4 3rd gens in the shop right now.

[DynoDave]

It's a third gen. farm. They've multiplied in just the few days since I was there!

There's going to be a population explosion...one of these days, you'll open the shop door, and f-bodies will come tumbling out like tribbles.

[Curt_irocz]

Lol. Yeah. There is more on the way.

Guide coat.

blocked with 220 then 400. Ready for spray.


base coat clear coat.

[hoogiesngrinderz]

Looks great!

Question for you though. How do you get new clear to blend to with the old on large panels? I've have limited luck when it comes to that.

[Gregs_gsxr]

back tapes it to have a soft edge, then wet sand and polish

[hoogiesngrinderz]

back tapes it to have a soft edge, then wet sand and polish

I've done that but never came out seamless. Also tried thinning the clear then feathering around the transition...even after curing the new clear never wanted to blend in. This was always on older cars though, the SRT-4 and Jimmy came out well.

[Curt_irocz]

Looks great!

Question for you though. How do you get new clear to blend to with the old on large panels? I've have limited luck when it comes to that.

That's a secret! Lol. But it will never be perfect. Or if you get it close. Let it in the sun a couple months and it will show. This car being the factory paint is single stage. It will never be perfect. But I wasn't going to paint the roof.

[hoogiesngrinderz]

Hence the reason why I thought about going single stage on my IROC I do like single stage for solid colors for daily drivers, and it buffs well.

[TB2]

Looking Great. Almost seems like it wouldn't take much more work just to paint the whole car though.