Scott_H '77 Camaro

[Scott_H]

I made the decision to do the repaint part of my Camaro early 2013. Now I've finally started to get somewhere an so I'm gonna get a thread started for it.

I made a video to bring the project up to where I'm at now with starting the restoration. http://youtu.be/J7vayoSBZg0

I started off by scraping off the old repaint apparently lacquer.

 

[Scott_H]

Getting it pulled apart.

Found some rust in the floor, not bad, but more than I remember after getting the car. Then the worst of it was the pass rear quarter. An no Camaro would be without the rust holes at the bottom of the front fenders.

 

[brooksman9]

Man that looks familiar. My first build thread.
http://www.nastyz28.com/forum/showthread.php?t=128603

 

[RS1979]

Good car to start with. The big block will make it fun to drive too!! It'll make a nice car to play with. Good luck.

 

[Scott_H]

brooksman9 I remember that thread from the TA metal donor hood. Had a lot of posts to go through, an yeah they did look similar. Only I plan to stick with a gold on mine, it just grew on me.

RS1979, I actually had the BB in there for a few years driving it around. Yes there was way more than I needed on the street. I miss it an that's the motivation to get it back on the road.

Did find it had a side swipe hit on the drivers side that was buried in body filler. Was old school repair with the drilled holes an the cave-n-pave style repair. I bought a patch panel for the dog leg, but wasn't crazy about cutting into the car an the patch didn't look like it was gonna fit. So I worked the metal into a respectable shape, welded up the holes, then used body solder to rough in the shaping. That proved highly difficult with the bottom part being slanted an solder was liquidy.

This looks like after welding up the holes an grinding them down.

An with some lead solder. As you can see on the floor I wasted quite a bit, still hoping to remelt it an use it again.

Then filed/roughed out. I just couldn't get the lead on to get it close. At least it's sealed an filled with lead as opposed to half inch of body filler.

 

[Scott_H]

After getting the body shell stripped I got some primer or was sold a primer an attempted to get some of the bare metal covered up.I wanted red-oxide to match what the factory, but was sold a cheaper high build epoxy HBE 400. I taped an area to shoot some of this gray primer an it just wasn't spraying so hot. It wasn't want I wanted or needed, I just wanted a base for body filler not something so thick. An after a month or so I was scratching it an it acted like it was chipping off. I would end up sanding this primer back off in favor of SPI red-oxide. Lesson learned, don't buy what they want to sell you in the paint store cause it was cheaper an can get more. Do some research, I googled best epoxy primer an found numerous recommendations for SPI.

 

[Scott_H]

It took 5 months to get back on track after spraying the gray primer an not being happy with it. I was running out of warm weather so I got my butt moving since I don't have a heated garage. I sprayed almost all of the body shell this time around, minus the back area against the garage door. FYI those Harbor Freight dollies don't roll so smooth on a dirty floor. Also had the trunk lid an filler panel stripped an got them ready in case I had extra primer mixed. I used a 10 to 1 ratio of red to black to darken the red primer down closer to factory look. Still wasn't close to what my 77 has but I'll be fine with it. I ended up mixing 64oz an with two coats on the shell, trunk, an filler an had maybe 2oz left over. This primer sprayed freaking awesome even out of a Harbor Freight $15 spray gun. Major difference in the two primers, this SPI primer actually feels like it's stronger. Putting on my filler panel afterwords the scratches I was making where within the primer an not cutting to the metal.

Youtube spray video: http://youtu.be/xtJdUlT6IcA

 

[brooksman9]

Nice work. That gold tended to grow on me a bit as well. Kind of missed it after it was all gone.

 

[RS1979]

Is that red primer? I'm not a body man; but, that is the shiniest primer I've ever seen. Looks like you could buff it out and move on to the next phase.

 

[Scott_H]

It occurred to me why people do their sub frame an engine before the body, the bushings for one. So this weekend I got the engine pulled out to start with restoring the sub frame. An why I was hesitant to do this is now I'm even shorter on space in the garage.

I liked the look of black oxide arp bolts, but these aren't that old an look like crap. So looks like I'll have to go with the SS bolts.

A bit extreme, but could finally change that spark plug.

RS1979, yep that is epoxy primer. Does look shiny in the photo, but it has some texture to it. Can't remember if manufacture did that on purpose, but it helps to site any dents just like you can with painted cars. Even some current manufactures have this shiny primer an they paint over it. Surprise it sticks at all cause it's a bear to feather paint on this type of unsanded primer.

brooksman, the factory color under the trunk an package tray actually looked pretty good, but I made the choice to go with HOK Solar Gold. Seen a Camaro with that color on the cover of Camaro Performers November 2007 issue an it's been my choice since.