Hello everyone,

I've owned an 85 GT for almost 20 years and since then I've performed the following work on it:

Conversion of Auto to 4spd Muncie
1998 L67 Swap (port and polished, 3.5" pulley)
C4 Corvette Brakes
Aircon added
Power mirrors added
All poly suspension, lowered
stainless lines all around
Aux Gauges added, boost gauge added
Auto dimming rear view mirror
Mr Mikes Seats
Late style headlights swapped in
Strut tower brace added
decklid shocks added
Recovered shift knob and steering wheel. Dyed interior black. Replaced carpet with black.
Short Shifter


There is probably so much more I am forgetting now. The car sat for almost 10 years as life got in the way and as of a couple years ago it has become my summer daily driver. It made it to the 40th last year (3600km trip) with only a couple issues.

What is happening now is I am preparing all the panels for paint and installing an AusFiero Stage II body kit. First I am repairing all the damage the car has accumulated and ensuring the whole car will be sanded smoothed and primed prior to painting. All panels will be removed except for the roof panel as I am not interested in removing it.

The plan is to paint the car "Watkins Glen Gray" with midnight black lower rockers.

I will try to keep this organized as I go detailing all my steps. I will follow up shortly with the next post with what has been done already.

As the car looks now:

[This message has been edited by Matthew_Fiero (edited 07-24-2024).]

There are several damaged body pieces:

1. the hood being destroyed by the front fascia screws:


2. Crack in the rear bumper. (I've always wanted to fix this!)


3. Broken off corner of notchback clip.


4. Cracked passenger side door.


5. Cracks in the decklid and provisioning for clearance for the strut bar and decklid shock-struts. I accidentally bent the decklid back snapping the hinge cables. Sorry I don't have a better pic.


6. Damaged decklid key lock cylinder hole.


7. Sneak peak of Aus Stage 2 scoops.


Over the coming day's I'll be spraying all repair areas with a 2K epoxy primer and then coats of high build primer. The inside and out of the decklid will then be entirely sanded in preparation for paint. I am opting to keep the inner surfaces black.

[This message has been edited by Matthew_Fiero (edited 07-24-2024).]

Just discovered a hole in the passenger side A-pillar. I spent the past few hours preparing the roof skin for removal.

Looks like I'll HAVE to remove the roof skin to fully access the area and weld in a patch.





Sourced a replacement passenger door skin. It only cost me 10+ mosquito bites and a tick in my abdomen. Noticed it is cracked at the bottom rear corner however it is much less severe than the cracking on the original door and this door didn't have lower moulding so no holes to fill in!


Tried to use one of those hot staples that melt in however the material here is too thin. I will use J-B Weld 50139 Plastic Bonder Body Panel Adhesive to fill in this door crack and I will also use it on the rear bumper crack.

[This message has been edited by Matthew_Fiero (edited 07-15-2024).]

quote Originally posted by Matthew_Fiero:

Oh **** ... that's some old-school 2nd-Gen TransAm rust right there. At least it's not in an area that you can see, but you'll definitely want to fix that since it'll make your car's interior miserable.

The only thing I'd suggest out of all of this is... fiberglass of course is easy to repair... but that rear bumper will never be the same with a repair. It'll eventually flex and contort to the point where you'll see a depression in there.

The rear GT / SE Aero bumpers are common enough that... unless you're concerned about matching VIN stickers... (that might have not even started until 87), then you'd be better off swapping out the rear bumper when you do the paint work.


I have the same issue as you with the fiberglass decklid on my daughter's car. Curious to see how you not only fix it, but shore it up...


EDIT: Have you looked in the upper-rear frame rails? That's an area that usually gets pretty bad on these cars.

[This message has been edited by 82-T/A [At Work] (edited 07-15-2024).]

I started with the decklid. Cleaning up all the cracked areas and cut out material that was hanging up on the strut towers (reversed perch), strut tower brace and the gas struts. These aren't necessarily finalized pictures there was more cleanign up to do. The cracks were all ground to have a rounded bottom for more strength and to allow for more resin buildup.



Using some FR601and standard fiberglass sheets I applied them to the exposed areas.


In this photograph I actually didn't like how I set up the weights to hold the decklid in it's proper location. I opened up the repair areas to ensure fiber and resin wasn't touching paint. The portion of the decklid that is directly against the back edge of the passenger side decklid vent was sitting high and not contacting the rubber bumper. I removed the repair and reglassed and now the decklid sits as it should. I applied one layer first by brusing on a layer of resin only working up to bared material. Then applying one piece of fiberglass cut to the size I determined best for the repair. I applied additional layers when required. For the cracking that did not break fibers I grooved the crack and applied resin only.








I was lucky that the cracking did not ever extend into the skin itself or the decklid could have been considered broken beyond repair.

I took notice that whoever installed the spoiler drilled into the fiberglass and didn't seal the exposed fibers. I drilled the holes larger to remove any fiberglass rot and sealed them up with the resin and a bit of lightweight gold filler.



For the hood I applied the same method with brushing the resin and adding small pieces of fiberglass cloth to build up the material. Then sanding and finishing with the same filler as mentioned above.



The decklid is rigid and the repair seems to hold during torsion tests (wiggling back and forth in my arms) of the decklid. Alignment is simple and easy now that it sits flat and doesn't have interference from the strut towers etc.

[This message has been edited by Matthew_Fiero (edited 07-15-2024).]

I glued the corner of the notchback clip back in with the same SMC resin. I then applied some filler. Just needs some epoxy primer. The corner is strong and held up to some good whacks of a mallet.




Next up is removing the roof skin and attending to the crack on the back bumper.

For the back bumper cover I used some Plastic Surgery from Sure Seal. The crack tore open with ease. I'm going to try the hot staples like I used on the lower rocker and then fill with the plastic adhesive weld kit. Unless I can find a rear bumper cover in time for the paint job.

[This message has been edited by Matthew_Fiero (edited 07-15-2024).]

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Astronomy says we will find a coded signal from outer space. Then we'll KNOW that life exists there, for coded signals aren't by chance.

Biology says there are coded genetic signals in every cell, but we KNOW that no intelligence created life.

I'm the original owner of a white ' 84 2M4 purchased Dec 10, 1983 from Pontiac. Always garaged, no rust, 3800SC, 4-wheel drifts are fun!

There were a few more rust spots to clean up.

This passenger side windshield wiper area:


Turned into this:



A spot on the roof here:


Was much larger than I thought. Likely caused by water leaking through sunroof.


The driver windshield wiper area also had rust but not as bad.



With these particular areas I'm either going to spot weld the holes shut or most likely apply a rust inhibiting primer and apply weld seam sealer throughout the area. It's what the car originally had and should add a bit more strength and protection.

With the roof panel off I can now re-bond the one stud above the driver. It was loose and spinning. Once I figure out how to safely handle the roof I'll flip it around and clean it up.

[This message has been edited by Matthew_Fiero (edited 07-17-2024).]