1987 pro-touring grand national, from the ground up

[dsapper]

hello; Those are some nice cars there and yours is going to be right up there. There's no rust problems in Nevada is there? It's probably like Florida where the sun is the problem and if you got a garage I guess your all set.
I guess New England is the same with a garage but the drivin season isn't as long.
IBBY

No rust problems in Nevada but this car is from back east. I got lucky finding a guy that takes very good care of his cars so no rust issues besides a small quarter inch circle on the inside of the passenger door by the drain hole. Sun is brutal out here, no cloud cover and 120 degree temps for long stretches of time are rough. Its been fairly mild this year thankfully.

 

[dsapper]

Quick question, has anybody that powder coated their bumpers had the rubber strip and bumperettes shaved first. Is that even possible or does it take body filler to cover the imperfections once you do that?

 

[charlief1]

There are a few that have done it. Check the rest/show car section. The holes have to be welded over and then go from there.

 

[Squid4life]

Wow, your frame looks killer! The more I look at your car, the more I hate mine. Your frames powder coating is better than the paint on my car...

Keep up with the build pics! This thing is awesome!

 

[Scott Atk]

smoothing bumpers
http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/ho...ights-smoothed-bumper-fiberglass-fillers.html

 

[dsapper]

Thanks Scott. I saw that thread but he was using body filler. I was wondering if it was possible to do it without so I can powder coat them. Never worry about Rick chips again lol

 

[charlief1]

PM rmar (Ronnie) on the board. He knows his powder coating since he used to do it for a living. He can tell you what can and can't be done.

 

[V6UnderPressure]

Nice build! I'm doing something similar, but a bit cheaper route. If I had a garage like that, I'd surely do a frame off. Unfortunately, I don't have the room nor the tools. Keep those photos coming, it's gonna look nice. And you got a steal on that car for 9k!!!

 

[V6UnderPressure]

Quick question, has anybody that powder coated their bumpers had the rubber strip and bumperettes shaved first. Is that even possible or does it take body filler to cover the imperfections once you do that?

I had this done with mine, you will have to use body filler. Eastwood makes a nice body soldier as well that may work. However, I had all the holes filled for the bumper strips/bumperettes, and now use simply four of the carriage bolts that have the heads painted black to hold the bumper on for that "stock car" look. You can also have the studs welded on the inside to hold the bumper support on and completely smooth it. If you go with aluminum bumper supports, you will need to go with one of those two routes. If you keep the steel supports, you can just weld the steel supports to the bumper and then have all of the holes filled in. A few options there, but I say removed the strips, it looks MUCH MUCH better!

 

[dsapper]

So I got the car back from line-x today and they did the underside of the car in black and a clear coat over it. The clear coat smooths out the line-x and makes it much easier to clean. Normal bed liner is fairly rough and grabs alot of particles, the clear coat changes it to more of a glossy, paint like surface.

So not so funny story, the car went over on the body dolly just like the picture below (its back in this picture). We strapped it down with half a dozen straps and pulled it onto the back of a flat bed tow truck. Same was that we got it there figuring it would be ok because its quite literally only a block away. Little bit of slippage and the rear wheel on the dolly breaks off and the car fell down. It didn't fall off and there is no damage but it was a pucker moment!

So here are the pictures, I apologize for the quality but its about the best I could get in the shop while crawling under the car. It looks so much better than these pictures that I didn't really even want to post these since they don't do it justice but it will be awhile before I can get better ones. I will get better shots when its on the lift in the air for you guys.

I can't tell you how much I like the way this looks, I'm so happy with the way it turned out. And you can tell the road noise will be drastically less. Knocking on a body panel it sounds like a loud drum, any part that has been line-x'ed its like hitting a piece of concrete.

I've had it on the bed of my truck for years and nothing has even put a scratch on the stuff so I doubt random rocks popping up will stand a chance of even scuffing it.

Also,I was curious about the weight added by doing this so I had them measure a gallon of this stuff and a gallon weighs about 10 pounds in the can.. They used 2.5 gallons which equals 25 pounds approximately.

They are starting on the suspension Monday when the cobra in the posts above this is done so hopefully I will have some cool rolling chassis pictures this coming week.

 

[Adam Connell]

I'm a 23 year old college student hotrodder, and I hang out on the weekends with my Harvard Law graduate hotrodder buddy... As much as I like working on my own **** when it's 109 degrees, I'd much rather write someone a check to do it instead. I've now seen both sides, and honestly I like his side much better. I've got to admit though, I am about as anal as it gets when it comes to attention to detail... I'd have a really hard time finding a shop that could put up with my insanity haha!

You sir are doing everything exactly as I would if I were in your shoes right down to the parts you chose. Keep it going full steam man. Beat the hell out of this thing. Drive it daily! Door panels are cheap, rock chips can be fixed... everything else can be rebuilt (as you know) so please drive the hell out of this thing!


My only suggestions is to MAKE SURE the body bushings are installed right, and get the weld in GNX rear seat brace. These will be critical for keeping the B-pillars from cracking. Also put dynomat on EVERYTHING... I can't wait to rip this damn interior out when it cools off so I can actually insulate this car.

 

[dsapper]

Thanks, body bushings are fine and the gnx brace and all other braces are installed currently. I actually use damplifier over dynamat but yes I plan to do that as well.

I'm a 23 year old college student hotrodder, and I hang out on the weekends with my Harvard Law graduate hotrodder buddy... As much as I like working on my own **** when it's 109 degrees, I'd much rather write someone a check to do it instead. I've now seen both sides, and honestly I like his side much better. I've got to admit though, I am about as anal as it gets when it comes to attention to detail... I'd have a really hard time finding a shop that could put up with my insanity haha!

You sir are doing everything exactly as I would if I were in your shoes right down to the parts you chose. Keep it going full steam man. Beat the hell out of this thing. Drive it daily! Door panels are cheap, rock chips can be fixed... everything else can be rebuilt (as you know) so please drive the hell out of this thing!


My only suggestions is to MAKE SURE the body bushings are installed right, and get the weld in GNX rear seat brace. These will be critical for keeping the B-pillars from cracking. Also put dynomat on EVERYTHING... I can't wait to rip this damn interior out when it cools off so I can actually insulate this car.

 

[hemi8]

Thanks for sharing your build, its nice to see how a professional shop does things.
Mike

 

[Red C5]

Project looks great. Good choice on getting the car line-x'ed.My buddy that has a speed shop has been doing that on a lot of cars lately.

Peter

 

[dsapper]

Project looks great. Good choice on getting the car line-x'ed.My buddy that has a speed shop has been doing that on a lot of cars lately.

Peter

Thanks guys. Yeah the line-x is always something I wanted to do. Both for appearance and noise reducing properties. Knowing how big of a pain in the ass it is... It might be the only time I do it lol. Depends how happy I am after having it awhile

 

[SuperSix]

Thanks, body bushings are fine and the gnx brace and all other braces are installed currently. I actually use damplifier over dynamat but yes I plan to do that as well.

Why damplifier over dynamat? I plan to pull out my interior and put insulation on every surface I can. I want it super quiet, and insulated from heat. I want Cadillac quietness.

 

[dsapper]

Why damplifier over dynamat? I plan to pull out my interior and put insulation on every surface I can. I want it super quiet, and insulated from heat. I want Cadillac quietness.

Thats a fairly long answer but here is a synopsis, Ill go into more detail when I do it on the GN. So there is 2 main products everyone calls "dynamat". 1. is a tar based product with an aluminum backing, that is generic dynamat and basically the same stuff you can buy for 1/4 the price at home depot and its called "peel and seal". 99% of people are ok with that. The only problem is in vegas when it gets hot it smells like asphalt because thats what its basically made of. 2. is a butyl based product like dynamat extreme or second skin. It has no smell and actually reduces more of the vibration

Now you mentioned cadillac quietness... That would require some more work. Basically dynamat or damplifier only reduce vibration based noises in a vehicle by adding mass to panels that resonate. You have to step it up a notch and get open cell and close celled foam to handle the high and low range harmonics that just pass right through those panels. Second skin sells both. You lay them down over the damplifier to do that. Here is a link to my corvette where I did that and I've also done this combo on a 1972 camaro, both times a day and night difference.

Help me quite down a 2006 Corvette! - Second Skin Forums

Just in case you dont want to read the thread here are the results on my 2006 corvette

Before

Idle : 76-80 db
30mph: 90-96 db
75mph: 102-107 db!!!

After

Idle : 71-73 db
30mph: 73-78 db
75mph: 75-82 db

Keep in mind that every 3 decibels is considered 2x as loud is almost an unreal change but that results from everything possible being done

 

[SuperSix]

Thats a fairly long answer but here is a synopsis, Ill go into more detail when I do it on the GN. So there is 2 main products everyone calls "dynamat". 1. is a tar based product with an aluminum backing, that is generic dynamat and basically the same stuff you can buy for 1/4 the price at home depot and its called "peel and seal". 99% of people are ok with that. The only problem is in vegas when it gets hot it smells like asphalt because thats what its basically made of. 2. is a butyl based product like dynamat extreme or second skin. It has no smell and actually reduces more of the vibration

Now you mentioned cadillac quietness... That would require some more work. Basically dynamat or damplifier only reduce vibration based noises in a vehicle by adding mass to panels that resonate. You have to step it up a notch and get open cell and close celled foam to handle the high and low range harmonics that just pass right through those panels. Second skin sells both. You lay them down over the damplifier to do that. Here is a link to my corvette where I did that and I've also done this combo on a 1972 camaro, both times a day and night difference.

Help me quite down a 2006 Corvette! - Second Skin Forums

Just in case you dont want to read the thread here are the results on my 2006 corvette

Before

Idle : 76-80 db
30mph: 90-96 db
75mph: 102-107 db!!!

After

Idle : 71-73 db
30mph: 73-78 db
75mph: 75-82 db

Keep in mind that every 3 decibels is considered 2x as loud is almost an unreal change but that results from everything possible being done

Wow. Big difference. Maybe I don't want it THAT quiet - I noticed my old 92 Eldorado has fiberglass batting in teh fron fenders - maybe I will try that too. :0

My primary concern is heat and a relative reduction of noise.

Thanks for the info!

 

[jwheelz1212]

frame looks amazing cant wait to see more!

 

[just plain john]

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