This weekend I did some sanding. Lots of sanding. Fingers are raw and dust is everywhere. Next weekend I'll put on another coat of primer and I think it'll be good to go. I'm only making it decent. not perfect. Yes, I need to remind myself of this, or I'll noodle this for a month...

Looking pretty awesome! It's hard to know when to stop, I keep looking at parts I've "finished" and get pulled back in making adjustments here and there. I've already worked on the gap between my hood and front bumper in 2 separate stages. I may go back for a third before I'm actually happy with it.

Thank you! I know the feeling. It took me a month to align my front end sheet metal, and it too needed improvement. I just can't wait to go do it again, ha ha.

Interior painting part 1
 

I did more sanding last weekend and this, as well as a little more patchwork. My driver door came from a car with the remote mirror. I don't have this so I had to plug the hole, as well as repair my rear corner trim piece that had rusted away.

Then I cleaned up the garage and lined it with some plastic (does anyone watch Dexter??), installed furnace filters over the openings, as well as along the bottom of the garage door with some cheapie fans and painted some of the interior. The dash and panels came out OK, but my doors will require a do over. I spilled sweat on one (rookie mistake), and the other had some sort of reaction, so they will be sanded down next weekend and I'll try again. I'll be taking a few days off and hope to get more of the insides and chassis parts painted before my bi-annual work trip to China. The goal is to have the parts be drying while I'm gone...

Nice job patching those rear corner pieces. It came out good.

Painting part 4 and take 3 steps back
 

Thanks, Wayne!

I took a few days off this week to try and get some painting done on the interior and chassis of my car before I head to China for work on Friday. I'm not sure which of the gods I've angered this time, but it feels like it's been one setback after another.

I did get the doors painted finally (this was the second attempt as I had setbacks with them last weekend). Then today the KBS Rust Seal I sprayed reacted with my car. It beaded up in numerous places. Whether I sprayed it wrong, or prepped the car wrong I'll never know. So I spent some time sanding paint back off. I'll try again tomorrow. What paint didn't bead up ran. So I spent some time sanding paint back off. I'll try again tomorrow. Then I went to open my brand new can of KBS Chassis paint- and discovered that the paint inside had congealed. Half the can was a solid rubber-like goo that won't mix or thin down with the rest of the liquid paint inside. I spent ten minutes trying to mix it an all I've done is break up some of the rubber chunks and made a mess while doing that. I've come to the conclusion that it's no good and I have my doubts that I'll acquire another can of this before Wednesday (my last day off) Grrr.

At least the low gloss paint I purchased at my local paint supply worked well. It laid down properly and is providing a nice low gloss sheen on the loose parts I painted today. I'll ultimately use this on the rest of the interior and engine bay area. My goal is to get these parts all painted up and let them thoroughly dry & cure while I'm out of town, then scuff up the exterior and clear coat that when I get back. And clean up the mess I've made...

No rest for the weary. The time away might give you a boost when you get back.

This is sound advice. If I were any more patient/ less stubborn I could heed it and be the wiser for it. Instead I went back at it determined to make the most of my time while I have it. Fortunately for me today was a much better day. The folks at KBS credited me for the congealed paint- kudos to their service dept. Turns out the stuff I had already (Rust Seal) is sufficient as a chassis paint. The top coat is only needed to protect against long term UV exposure. So my chassis paint is all set. I also applied more of the semi gloss paint on the fire wall, and interior and now the car can sit for a few weeks and the paint can harden while I'm away.

I still have a few small parts to paint, but the major part is taken care of for now.

Travel safe buddy

Brendon, first off great work so far. Your build is truly a inspiration for guys like me.
I am a little bit suprised that with all the work you put into the cage you didn't add a door bar that would run from the main hoop and run under your armpit. I'm laying out a cage that is almost exactly like yours and so far it doesn't seem to hinder seat entry/exit.

Thanks, Ron! You'll be glad to know that when I dropped my engine off @ Superior yesterday for their 383 stroker kit, included with it was this shiny new slick aluminum flywheel...

Thank you. The reason I didn't build the cage closer to me is I intend to also drive the car on the street. As such I don't want to have to wear a helmet and 5 point harness every time I drive. That's why the main hoop is further back than usual. The bar parallel to the rocker panel is tightly tucked under the arm rest- allowing that to provide some cushion between it and me. I know it won't pass NHRA spec...

Measure three times, and once more to be sure.
 

OK, a month later and I'm finally back in the garage for a little bit- only to discover that somehow I botched my fabrication while building my car. I swear I mocked this up, but when I went to fit my hydroboost unit to the firewall it wouldn't fit. It interfered with the hoop support tube in my engine bay. d'oh! So the cut off wheel came out and I spent most of my time notching the tube to make enough clearance. Now I'm concerned that when I install a master cylinder it will interfere with my inner fender. I just know it will...

After notching the tube I painted it again, and a few more parts today, as well as some foam insulation on mt roof.

Also, in my haste- I've installed my kick panels and e-brake (remembering those go in early), but now I'm thinking they need to come back out as I didn't install the door jam switches for the dome light. While it may be possible to install those, it'll be a lot easier to fish the wire where I want it with them out. So out they'll come again :p

Nice job! Your car has come a long way!

dont you just hate it when you think you have everything perfect and it just wont fit?

oh well, looks like you got it resolved very nicely, good work as usual

Nice job its looking great. Its coming together now...

Car is looking great. It's pretty cool that your doing it in your garage.

Thanks, guys. The kind words are motivation to keep going

Speaking of which, I was able to get a little assembly done yesterday. Those door jamb switches are non stop hassles. After first buying a set from local parts stores (and traveling to 4 different ones to locate two switches) I brought them home to discover they didn't even fit. So then I ordered a set from Classic Industries, and installed those this weekend, which did fit. Then I found my originals, and they are shorter in length than the ones from CI. Considering they are original to the car, I know they work. I'm now concerned these other ones will be too long, so I'll need to take them out yet again :P

Redline
 

Ok, my gauges came back in from Redline gauge works today. I'm stoked. So I put them back in the IP.

I kept the gauge faces stock, as I like them, and they were in fine shape. Redline updated them mechanically- it now has the digital speedo, updated tach, and volt meter. I also painted the back lit areas orange/ red as I don't care for the old GM green lit color. I much prefer more modern red as seen in newer Trans Ams.

If only I could take decent pics...

Sweet gauges!

The pictures look nice and the gauges look great . They do nice work at Red Line. I'm hoping to send mine there.

Brandon nice work, love the home built cars!!! Keep the pictures coming,

383 Stroker and various other pics
 

Thanks, guys!

One thing I am conceding on doing myself is the build of my engine. Sure, I could throw parts onto it, but I don't have equipment or experience to really build an engine right. So I took my engine to Superior Automotive Engineering for one of their LS 383 stroker kits. I stopped by on Sat to see the progress, and I am excited. That shelf is a combination of the parts I had collected for it, as well as their parts to be used in the engine. That ziploc bag is just some of the metal shavings removed from porting one of the 243 (LS6 heads).

I had a few more hours to play in the garage so I decided to build a spanner wrench for my coil over shocks. I've had cheap ones bend on me, and didn't want to special order an expensive one, so I figured I'd build one.

Today I assembled my front coil overs, and recovered my rear armrest panels. I used some of my foam insulation as padding and reused my original covers. They're in decent enough "driver shape" for now, as I have to save $$ somewhere to pay for my engine :p The areas that used to hold the ashtrays now serve as the cut outs for the rol lcage. I will need to build some plastic trim pieces to go over them.

Great pics. Looking good! I like your weight.. Looks like you put everything you could find on there but the kitchen sink ;). I do the same thing haha!

Thank you, yes, it was all within reach

Painting part 5 and lots of curse words
 

So I took advantage of the holiday weekend we had to try and get the rest of my car "temporary" painted. One day this car will go back to the Verdoro green it originally came with, but for now, it'll get a coat of clear to keep it from rusting and let me drive it/ tweak it/ tune it/ and ease the burden on my wallet. (still have many parts to buy) Besides, I'm more interested in driving my car than making it a pretty show car. Been there, done that, and this will have a nice "raw" look to it, with gouges, dents, weld marks and all. I gave my "clear" parts a quick sanding to give it a consistent grain, and used KBS diamond clear as they advertised it could go straight over bare metal. If only I knew how to paint... I'm sure the fact that I don't really know what I'm doing didn't help, painting in my garage didn't help, nor did using a new gun (not used to it, etc) and it was clear which made it difficult to see. Needless to say there are many runs, fisheyes, and orange peel all over the place despite my best efforts to seal the garage up, use filters, clean everything and wipe it down before spraying. Good thing this can always be removed and repainted. I only put on 2 coats, so there isn't a lot of material to polish back down, though I may attempt to practice the process of fine sanding, cutting and polishing the runs in the paint just for the experience of it.

I also painted more pieces black (I seem to have better luck with rattle cans) and I installed the trunk weatherstripping, and put more weight on it to help train the seal.

Nice! it will be great to see it all one color..

dang, you rocked that metal work out! very very nice!

That's for sure. Huge progress. Looks great!

Great thread.. I am a firebird fan..

I like your fender vent mod. Makes the car look aggressive! You've put a ton of good work in this car.

Thanks, guys. I need to learn how to gas weld so the next time I do sheet metal it will come out even better (and get a planishing hammer, and an english wheel, and a shop to put it all in....)

Got a little bit done this weekend- I put some of that foam insulation inside my doors. It helps take the "tinny" sound out, and unlike dynamat it's really light, and some seam sealer along the bottom edge, and hung them on the car. I had to drill out and tap the door mounts on the bottom to the next size up as they were stripped out. I also put the rear bumper on, but it's not quite aligned yet. I'll need to mess around with that, after I take the clamps off the trunk weatherstripping. It didn't seat well so I'm taking a different approach this time.

It's coming together ya big stud :thumbsup:

OK, had a little time yesterday and today. Just a few little things. First off- I decided to experiment with that tinted paint to see how it would look darkening the taillight lens. I had an extra lens that became the sacrificial tester. I painted half on the outside, and the other half on the inside, and it's sitting next to a stock piece. I'm quite happy with the paint on the inside, so I'll end up doing that. I'll be using LED lights so heat won't be an issue.

I also spatter painted the trunk, and installed the trunk latch. All I had to do was shorten the rod that connected to the lock cylinder, and I was good to go (the result of recessing my tail panel required modification to the lock system)

I also cleaned and polished the roof rail weatherstripping pieces, as well as the interior trim pieces. I had built my roll cage so close to the body that I was not able to install the trim in the rear area- so I had to grind back a section for it to clear.

While working on my car I discovered a spider web in the interior- guess I'm not working on my car fast enough.. :)

I also got the door handles out and put the push buttons in rust dissolver to get rust off the spring and shaft- only to have one of my buttons crumble apart. I need an new one. anyone have any extras they don't need?

Looking good!

Thanks, Wayne!!

This weekend I got a little progress in as well- I installed the roof rail weatherstripping, those screws around the window frames to replace the broken trim attachment studs, took the car off the body dolly onto some jack stands and installed the rear axle.

The body dolly isn't really suited for the weight of the entire car, so it had to go...

When I had the car done he put the weld on clip holders. I knew with my fat fingers it would be a disaster trying to use those little screws. Nice progress.

Thanks, Wayne. Not to worry- my fat fingers flung them on the ground a few times myself...

Looks good Brendon. The trunk turned out nice. The cross brace between the 4-link mounts is awesome!

Thanks, Ryan! I still need to build the bottom half of it- a driveshaft safety loop.

Engine update
 

I picked up my engine this weekend from Superior. They built a 383 stroker out of my LS1. They also broke it in and made an initial run on the dyno with a basic tune. once the car is fully driving and has a few thousand miles on it then they will do a final tune. Now I just need to get the car together...