1973 Camaro Restoration/Build- Bein Bad

[7/3-SplitRS]

So after a lot of personal debate and a ton of reading on this site, I have decided to tackle the body work and paint on the car myself. Hopefully with some help from the neighbor, who is a paint and body genius (owns his own shop). There will be some things I need to sort out to take this on, but I really want to be able to say I did the work. Its all my own. I know that anything can be done, just a matter of understanding the concept. So with that I made some purchases today from Summit. Included in the order was a set of Brodix cylinder heads (IK200) for my engine build, a set of Global Midwest Body Bushings for the car, a set of DeVilBiss paint guns and some accessories for painting. This ought to be fun!

Front end hopefully going to blaster next week, now that I have the spring compressor in hand to finish the sub frame. On the body of the car, what are my options? I am struggling with the thought of completely gutting it so it can be blasted (removing windshields and interior). I know the car will never be a show car, because that isn't what I am really going for. But I do want it to be clean. can the car be done without gutting? I have looked in the body forum but cant find too much on it. I am guessing you could just grind it all by hand.. Thoughts?

Thanks for reading. More to come!

 

[Chevrolaine]

Don't be afraid of the painting. Base Coat Clear Coat is really simple compared to the old single stage enamels of years ago. Bringing back a lot of memories of my 72 project! Fun stuff!

 

[hoppin5478]

Like Chevrolaine said, don't be afraid of painting base coat clear coat is pretty forgiving. Honestly the hardest part is the prep work, which can be very time consuming but with the neighbor guiding you with some of the tricks of the trade you'll be fine. You don't necessarily need to gut it to strip it, I didn't, but it's still a lot of work. I use 3M stripping disks, some guys use aircraft remover and I've seen guys use regular sandpaper. I prefer the 3M pads because they do a pretty good job taking it down to metal without damaging the metal but be prepared to seal the panels pretty quickly because rust will form quickly. Good luck, you'll be really proud when it's all done.

 

[CasperCasper]

You can do it! My paint looked god awfuk after I sprayed it. After wet sanding people are constantly asking me which shop painted it!

 

[7/3-SplitRS]

Thanks for the information. I looked into the sanding disks and they seem to do a pretty decent job. May still pull the windshields to clean and paint the lip. Just didn't really want to go backwards to far with the project. I'm excited, should be an adventure. Stay tuned! Lol!

 

[Bandit723]

I am sure you will have fun with this can't wait to see what you come up with...As hoppin mentioned it is all in the prep work. Glad you have a good body person to lean on that will go a long ways.

You should be able to get this repainted without blowing the whole car apart. I like the fact you are looking at pulling the glass.

If you go the route of a full resto i would have the car sand blasted in my opinion is worth the money and the build would go a lot quicker. Also may want to look into dustless sandblasting "wet sandblasting" rumor is it easier on the metal. http://www.dustlessblasting.com/case-studies

 

[7/3-SplitRS]

Well, made some progress. Not much but some. Subframe completely bare and ready to go to blaster. Need to take a few more pieces apart on the front sheetmetal. Also started rehabbing an old industrial rack to use for all my parts I am taking off. Don't want to lose track of stuff if at all possible.

 

[7/3-SplitRS]

 

[camaro6662]

Plastic bags and markers for the smaller parts . Pictures will help later putting it back together. You can find a GM assembly manual on ebay that also helps. Good luck

 

[7/3-SplitRS]

Yeah, I am finally realizing that you cant just throw it all in coffee cans. Need to have some rhyme or reason, and less mess. I need to keep the momentum going and having misc parts laying all over the garage will just make it slower.

Thanks for reading.