1977 LT (32 yrs and counting)

[john77]

So this is the first car I ever owned. Bought it in 1990 when I was 14yo. Drove it through high school and trade school. In about 1998 I decided I was gonna “restore” it. As life goes it ended up being put on hold through marriage and kids and other priorities. Recently my youngest son (17yo) stoked my fire back up, lol. Hopefully I can keep going this time. Here are some pics of what I’ve been doing lately. My plan is to work from front to back. So far I have done a patch panel on front left fender fix a couple dings in driver door. I’m deleting trim and filling badge holes since I’m going for the smooth no trim look. I have done high build and block sanded and sanded and sanded the driver door, fender and hood. I have them in epoxy for now. I’m currently working on the passenger side fender. It has a lot more damage and rust. Anyway, hopefully this is the beginning of me staying on track with this project.

 

[john77]

More pics of the driver side fender patch panel and filler then high build with guide coat

 

[john77]

Pics of the passenger side fender. It had a rust spot at front of tire opening. Had to make a piece to fill that in. Couple of dents I worked out and welding up holes from Camaro badge on the side. I am in the process of putting the lower patch panel on now.

 

[john77]

So I only had about 30 minutes of free time to work on the car today. Did a trial fit of the patch panel and marked for my cut. Tomorrow I hope to get it at least tack welded. Also, here is a picture of the drivers side door, fender and hood in epoxy/sealer. The car is originally a Firethorn red car bit I’m liking the grey and black look.

 

[Twisted_Metal]

It's coming along nicely!

You'll by shooting color soon.

 

[john77]

Worked on the right fender some this weekend. Progress was a little slower, lol. This fender was in pretty bad shape. One dent I had to work out. Two rusty spots on the fender area that I cut out and make small patch and of course replace the lower patch panel. I’m also deleting trim/badging holes while I’m at it.

 

[john77]

Little more work done on the right fender today. It’s a shame that no one sells just the inside fender brace. The bottom of mine is rusted out so it had to be cut off. I made/rigged a homemade brace. It looks terrible but it definitely stiffened up the fender. This fender was definitely in rough shape.

 

[john77]

Who says 30 year old Bondo won’t last, lol.

 

[john77]

Progress has been a little slower lately. Passenger door and fender were very bent up from damage that happened from first owner (I’m the second owner). When I first got this car it was bent up bad on the passenger side. It looked like someone had ran into the rear quarter. The door and fender looked like maybe someone had ran off the road or something. My dad and I did many repairs and body work. I have many memories of spending time with him working on this car. Anyway, I plan on replacing the rear passenger side rear quarter when I get there. For now working on fender and door. Almost ready for high build and more blocking. Also, had to go buy a new air compressor today. The ones I had been using were my dad’s. One is close to 30 years old and the other almost 40 years old. Hopefully this new one will last at least half as long, lol.

 

[john77]

Finally got some high build on these.