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).]
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).]
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).]
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.
Luckily the frame rails were remade just prior to me owning the car.
It's extremely difficult to find Fiero parts these days. I've been searching for common parts for years with no results. Example is a lower rocker or rad shroud almost impossible to find.
Speaking of which my driver side is cracked so I attempted with some of those staples to hold the crack together. I will epoxy in the staples and it should hold up. Once it's mounted on the car it shouldn't have to many stresses on it.
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).]
You're doin a great job there. Thanks for the photos
------------------ 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!
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).]
I took the exhaust off last night. That was a nightmare I'll never use that exhaust wrap again.
Anyone interested in a set of ceramic coated, port and polished 3800 exhaust manifolds?
Looks like the next week will be dedicated to welding and exhaust.
I'm really not comfortable welding so close to the windshield. I might use a panel bonder on the edge closest to the glass and weld the remaining section.
[This message has been edited by Matthew_Fiero (edited 07-19-2024).]
I've started prepping the roof panel for repair. I carefully removed the sunroof rails by drilling out the rivets and separating the double sided tape (I installed these years ago)
There is some damage aside from the stud being broken out:
(yikes I'll fix the focus shortly)
Found a rear bumper in great shape and a spare 4spd Muncie!
Got the roof section completely sanded. I spent extra time on the sunroof rail area to clean out rusty fibers. I backed with aluminum tape and filled all the holes with resin. The most damage was around the incorporated nut in the previously rotted sunroof rails.
I'll take better pictures of the post epoxy. Just saw they didn't turn out.
[This message has been edited by Matthew_Fiero (edited 07-24-2024).]
I managed to finish the sunroof rail section on the roof and set it aside. The roof section is now ready for primer. This took a surprisingly lot of time.
Drilled out the holes and slots for the side scoops:
For the crack on the lower rocker I cut a section of metal screen that came with the plastic welder kit and I melted it into the back side of the crack. The hot staples held the part in place. Overall it seems to be a solid repair. I just have to figure out how to sand and smooth the visible side to not look repaired.
The exhaust is finished. ZZP powerlogs and 4 resonators with C6 resonating tips. All stainless steel.
I am now in the process of repairing the crack in the acquired outer passenger side door skin with panel bonder and i will be attaching the Aus body panel to the door. More pics to come.
Remember this hole in the pass side A pillar? I cut out the rust. Made a patch out of sheet metal. Epoxy primed and painted the back of the patch and welded it into place. I was very careful welding around the windshield as not to crack it. This took hours of patience.
I will bond the lower lip of the patch once I have my panel bonder activated again.
Next is welding up the driver side jacking area. I cut out some of the spot welds and opened up the frame on the bottom in an effort to get all the rust out before patching. More pics to come!
[This message has been edited by Matthew_Fiero (edited 08-03-2024).]
Finished with the rust hole in the a-pillar and pass side jacking area. It's like nothing happened!
Next I tackled the passenger side AusFiero Stage II body kit.
I had to figure out what to do with the front fender as there is an awkward gap.
So I decided to use the stock molding and cut it to the same angle as the molding that will be mounted to the door.
Marked and cut:
In order for the molding to contact the fender I cut out a corner on the rear edge and melted it together. I didn't take pictures of the completed melted area and it turned out nice.
This is my weapon of choice. It has a 35 minute working time so plenty of time to bond a panel to a door.
Used some fiberglass matting and mixed it in with the panel bonder and filled in the holes on the fender.
Put some adhesive on the back of the panel
And bonded it to the door. Learned lots of lessons here on applying this, how to smooth it and how much to apply.
Then bonded the little molding I modified.
I'll be riveting the molding to the fender in the original location in case it ever decides to come off. The door is on it's own I decided not to resin in studs. The adhesive seems pretty strong. I wiggled the door and banged it around a bit and it is holding well.
Finished cleaning up the front area. I found some new foam (1/2" weatherstripping) and applied to the the cover on the latch. I then proceeded to put together the rest of the windshield wiper area components and is now complete.
The rear bumper I picked up ended up painted 3 times. Originally red, then black then white. Took days to sand.
Same as the wing and wing stands. Sanding off silver, black and red. All the black and red paint was shiny and not sanded. Whoever painted this both of them did the bare minimum. As I was sanding the black layers were peeling off the red.
Had to bond in a new nut on each side as they broke loose when removing the wingstands. The panel bonder (shown in the pic) can be very sensitive to mixing and for some reason I couldn't get it to cure hard to hold the nut in. I tried 3 times! JB Weld worked like a charm and is permanently bonded to the wing.
I will be painting the wing and wingstands together as one assembly. I just had to get all those layers off.
Bonded the other body panels on the driver side. Obviously I cut the fender molding to complete the profile
The driver side is MUCH more challenging than the passenger side as the door is not lined up properly and I cannot seem to use the adjustment method on the hinges to get it to line up. So I had to make sure the panels were bonded onto the door so that one day when or if I figure out how to align the door to the car that the panels should line up properly.
A lot of time on the front fascia. It was heavily dented on the lower drivers side corner when I first saw the car so many years ago and using a heat gun, autobody dollies and lots of patience I was able to get the RIM to conform 98% of the way.
I don't have good pictures of before but you can see the "ring" where the entire corner was inside out.
There is a hundred little chips, dings and cracks in the bumper I will be using the panel bonder to fill in. You can see the entire front is littered with damage.
On another note the decklid and hood are finished. For the decklid there was around 10 decent cracks and 2 tears in the support structure of the decklid. After all the crack repair and straightening it looks fantastic and is straight! I cannot find the pictures and I have put them on the car for now so I will take pictures again when I have them off. The epoxy primer/top coat used looks near identical to the stock coating.
More to come! I have to sand the notchback clip, repair the holes where the sail panel clips go into and finish the repairs on the front fascia and then it's primer time.
Went out after work to check the bond on The driver door when I realized it shifted down at the front.
It was an absolute struggle to get that molding off. I ground as much of the adhesive which was Rick hard using a 2 inch flapper disk on a die grinder and ended up using an air body saw to cut between the door and molding on the edge so I can try to rip it off. I then took the same flapper to the top edge to remove as much as possible to weaken the bond.
Once I was able to get a flathead in between on the larger end I went to pull up the door itself actually tore. The tear is about 6 inches long just at the top lip of the molding. I felt defeated at this time and went inside to collect myself.
What I ended up doing was taking the air body saw and carefully cut along the edges doing my best to not cut into the door or fender.
At one point the saw blade did start cutting into the door which was not visible at the time of cutting as it was under the molding.
It was a success I got it off!
Look how the adhesive failed from prying. The paint layer actually broke bond instead of the adhesive. And every part where it was torn from the molding took a small layer of fiberglass with it. Incredible how well it bonded and I didn't even use that adhesive promoter.
Overall there is minimal damage and nothing that a repair and rebond won't cover. I'm relieved because finding another molding out of a set would be difficult.
I've cleaned the tear and v grooved the back. Put some aluminum tape across the outer surface and applied the adhesive. I should have put a small piece of fiberglass in the adhesive though I'll check tomorrow I think this stuff is strong enough to hold and flexible enough for the door.
I removed the sail panels tonight and will be prepping the notchback clip for paint. It's in good shape and there shouldn't be any more surprises now.
Panel bond will play well with the front bumper for filling it in? No problems painting it you think?
The panel bonder Sands well but there are parts of it that bubble they give it not the greatest surface finish. Don't get me wrong you can get it smooth but just like auto body fillers you can augment the shape with some glaze. I opted to use this EURO 844. It's for flexible surfaces and uses a hardener.
I just used it for the first time last night. Started by sanding down the cured adhesive on the door to match the profile of the scoop. I then put the glaze coating over that. It sands very well. Accidently got some on my finger tips last night and no amount of acetone or lacquer thinner would soften it and ended up sanding it off my fingers.
Applied it to the whole bottom of the bumper to fill in the hundreds of little stone chips and to help restore the profile of the lost edge in the center.
[This message has been edited by Matthew_Fiero (edited 08-30-2024).]
Very nice. May give something like that a look. I was working on a bumper and had not found anything I liked yet to fill in tiny blemishes. Thanks for sharing.
So I ended up putting way too much glaze on the front fascia and it took forever to sand. It looks great now.
Took off the rear clip and filled the broken out holes where the sail panels clip in. I had to prop it up on it's side precariously so the resin would be level. These holes will later be drilled with a 1/4" drill.
I then started sanding and filling in the transition between the doors/fenders and molding using the glaze. I used 180 and 220 grit on long sanding blocks for the flat transition and a round block to help keep the radius of the transition consistent. I used a then 12" machinists rule as a profile guide to check for any gaps or high spots. I Then used guide coat and sanded until level.
Remember the bubbling of the panel bonder adhesive I spoke of? This is what it looks like:
When you're doing bodywork and your sanding and you're constantly breaking off little soft bubbles it starts to get annoying. I never should have used the adhesive as a body filler. I spent days carefully grinding off almost all the exposed adhesive and replacing it with the glaze. I was tired of getting it almost perfect then seeing the bubbles sticking out. They are soft and rubbery and caused by folding of the panel bonder adhesive instead of using the mixing tip. When the adhesive is mixed by hand it becomes soft and bubbly when directly applied it's rock solid and very hard yet flexible.
So instead of using THREE bottles of adhesive I could have gotten away with one. My mistake. Moving on.
One of the studs that you thread a nut onto in the roof of the car was rotating on me during removal. When it was removed I noticed the bolts are held in with circular retainers and the most passenger side studs retainer was rusted away and sitting on the car.
I managed to use the circular clips from the old door/fender molding which was slightly too large and ended up gluing it against the surface to help hold the stud down. As long as the stud is forced downward and not allowed to slide up it will stay retained.
Both lower rockers were riddled with chips and dings from 4 decades of road debris. I used a similar method as the front fascia with the glaze and instead used only enough to fill all the little defects so I didn't have to spend so much time sanding.
After I double checked the bodywork I found multiple areas I needed to touch up. I drilled the holes incorrectly for the spoiler so I adjusted the rear drivers side hole rearward 1/8" and the spoiler fits nice now. I also found multiple areas of the front bumper that needed attending to and a few areas on the doors. I also fixed all the areas that needed attention on the fiberglass scoops.
I then started priming. The store ran out of dark grey primer so the car is a mix of light and dark. Looks interesting. I will definitely need to seal now.
After priming the doors I noticed the driver side was not exactly smooth and I could see waves in the bodywork I did. I blocked it down and filled a few areas and both doors are smooth and look great in my opinion.
When removing the 3 layers of paint in the "PONTIAC" on the rear fascia I burned into the plastic a bit and didn't realize how obvious it was until I primered. So I carefully touched it up with the glaze.
It wasn't mentioned that I filled the antenna hole a few weeks back using the panel bonder and a small piece of fiberglass on the back and smoothed it out with glaze on the outside.
I removed the old antenna as it was hanging off the car and installed a hidden antenna. I ran the cabled into the car. I couldn't remove the accordion rubber bulkhead seal so I just added a grommet and electrical taped up the diameter of the cable to seal. I then ran the cable up the passenger side a-pillar and attached it just under the sunroof seal. (I will try to remember to take a pic of where I installed it)
I then installed a 3rd brake light. When I added air conditioning to the car it was from a later model Fiero that had the 3rd brake light. I kept that extra wire hidden away and connected it to the new connector. There were slots in the roof for the light housing to mount to however there was no nut or threads. I installed some threaded inserts and the stock bolts threaded in fine. I just need to find a bulb. I don't particularly like the ground there however it seems to be doing the job and it's hidden away.
Like it belongs there!
The first repair in a crack I found in the drivers side rocker was no good. After priming it was clear it was still cracked. I remember hours of fusing the plastic into the rocker to fill and seal the crack permanently. With a small pick of my finger I was able to tear off what I melted onto the rocker in a second with ease like it was never even bonded. Throughout this project I tried on at least 6 different areas to do the plastic welding all had the exact same failure with the melted plastic just peeling off like nothing. I tried different cleaning and surface preparation, I tried higher temperatures, different materials. There must be something I am overlooking that is not causing the material to bond to itself.
Anyway I used the plastic surgery and and a piece of fiberglass to fix it up. All good now. I would have preferred if the repair was inclusive only of it's own materials.
Do you use the same primer on the bumper as you would the hood? I am curious just because of the flex of the bumper.
From my research flex additives are no longer required as modern paints allow for more flex. Older lacquer based paints were more brittle and required the flex agent.
If the paint cracks it will be a good lesson.
------------------ 1985 Fiero GT Manual Transmission & A/C Conversion 3800 Series II - Ported and Polished, 3.5" pulley C4 Brakes
Saturday morning I made sure everything was bolted on enough to make the journey to the paint shop.
Made it safe!
I started by sweeping and spraying down the spray booth multiple times as well as changing out all the filters.
These are the chemicals I'll be using. First a sealer to make the car uniform in colour. Then 2-3 layers of basecoat (3L) and 3 layers of clear (5L).
I took the car apart and did my best to arrange all the panels in the booth. It will be nearly impossible to not get overspray onto adjacent parts and my goal is to have enough room to not touch anything or have the hose hit.
Obligatory nude (I've never had this car fully naked before)
Let the painting begin!
All in all the paint job turned out well for a first time painter. I missed some edges, showing an example on the notchback clip near the roof interface and the bottom of the spoiler edges, however I was able to touch up all my missed areas with an airbrush.
I set the roof down on a piece of cardboard so I could rivet the sunroof rails and accidentally broke off a corner of the roof. The corner went through the cardboard and hit the concrete. I should have used a table.
It cleaned up nicely in a few hours.
Sunroof rails installed:
I cut out some honeycomb from some old notchback grills and made grills for the side scoops. I used 3M automotive double sided tape and aluminum tape. This holds extremely well. I initially resined in some hooks and then using some stainless wire hook and loop them on but it was started to get complicated and didn't hold as well as I expected.
Looks good might have to play around with the air intake design one day. Any ideas? Thinking of brake rotor ducting.
In the process of adjusting the rear bumper I cracked my driver side tail light lens. We aren't supposed to be taking shortcuts on these old cars! Anyone have a spare??
Rebuilt the door hinges. Did the pins a few months ago and just did the rollers.
Installed the power mirrors and new glass in the side mirrors. This will be the first time this Fiero has power mirrors. Goodbye manual joystick!
Found a NOS set of marker lights that I'm excited to install.
As well as front cross member brackets. Mine are almost non-existant and are held together with black Tremclad rust paint. I will likely install these next year.
One of my ribbed molding on the front fascia has a missing stem to mount it so I JB welded a stem from one of the body clips and fit on a nut and it seems to work okay. I have a bit too much material sticking out past the mounting surface and causes it not to sit so flush. I will continue my search for a replacement molding I've been looking for 5+ years.
Ready to refurbish my sail panels. I started by removing all the original insert which was cracked. Then hours spent cleaning up all the old glue residue. I repainted with Pro XL Trim Paint:
Stuck on the new sail panel insert and Pontiac arrowhead. I will not peel until the car is fully put together (and hopefully find a taillight!)
Finishing up all the trim now. I'll also give the notchback grills a quick spray of Epoxy.
Next is installing the headlights, trim and sunroof. Almost done!
Looks good. I would like to see more pictures of the trim pieces that were painted with the aerosol can. Curious how that all turned out.
Here is a comparison between a non-painted and the now painted one is. With some proper sanding and a light coat followed by a medium coat to hide scratches worked well. We shall see how it holds up. It is easy to touch up with a quick spray. I accidently touched a small area with acetone and it did remove paint so either it has to cure more or it is sensitive. Perhaps some wax later will give it some additional protection.
Wrapping things up I managed to get my hands on a non-power mirror inner door skin so I don't have the hole for the manual control anymore. I started by cleaning the vinyl thoroughly with some Spray 9 and rubbing alcohol.
I thought I got pictures of the process but apparently I didn't so what I did is I removed the carpet on the door by spray the edges with starter fluid in a spray can which almost immediately softens the glue and allows the carpet to come completely off. I then stuck on a grey suede backing and attached my map pockets. I then colour dyed the vinyl black and touched up the passenger side as it was already dyed from years ago.
insulated the doors. I shouldn't have used this cheap insulation the foam comes off and leaves a layer of it that is absolutely horrible to remove. I kept the paper backing on the stuff except for the edges to minimize the amount the backing sticks to the car and to provide some weather resistance.
Installed the new side marker lights
And next post will be the finished results. Coming soon.
