Car Stuff

[Argabarga]

Finally found a new rear bumper support panel, bonus, it was still new-in-the-box and had never been used/sold. Ebay is a wonderful thing.



That's what goes inside of this plastic bumper cover. There's a "CHEVROLET" decal that fits into that groove, they just haven't put it on yet



The nosepiece is all assembled and ready to go back on, though it looks like I'll have to get a new headlight, the hi-beam light on the driver's side looks to have lost it's seal and is getting moisture inside, it happens to ALL those old sealed-beam headlights after enough time and they eventually fill up with condensation and become miniature square fishbowls. The grille and hood emblem are brand-new since the old ones were terribly faded and cracked.



They did get around to installing new door hardware, whoever owned the car before me just painted over the door handles, and punched out the lock cylinders (because the doors were off another car) and they were too lazy to swap the locks over, so they just mangled them so they wouldn't lock....leaving big holes in the door where they should be, I bought correct ones so I'll have locking doors again.

[Argabarga]

Coming down home stretch now.... the spoiler and rear view mirrors came out the wrong shade of grey (he he, punny) the first time, so they had to make a U-turn and go right back into the paint booth for another shot. This time, it worked.

They're going to paint the headlight "buckets" in the nose piece black for me, and while the black paint is out, I'm going to have them paint some of the plastic parts that were originally black but got sun-bleached over time, like the big 3rd brake light assembly on the rear hatch glass and those 4 small decorative caps that hold the glass on.

They still make taillights for these, but they're expensive, $480 or so for a set of both. I might just bite the bullet and get them, as with everything fixed up, the tails are now the worst-looking part on the car. Bleached a bit, full of tiny stress cracks, and, at some point a previous owner had put some kind of cover over them, maybe "blackout" lenses, like window tinting, except for tail lights. When he did, he epoxied them on, and then later just ripped them back off, leaving behind little blobs of glue on the surface. We'll see what the "fun" budget looks like after I pay for what's been done already.

[sms001]

Coming along nicely Arga. Gotta say, none of your tail light stuff is apparent from the picture. Maybe you can put it off until the Fun Budget is replenished? Not like you have to take too much apart to replace them.

[It's me]

Looking good!

For your tail lights you could just spray-tint them. Even a light coat would even out their apperance and hide the aging plastic.

[Argabarga]

Done and done. Now, it's over to the service shop to get the tires swapped off those red rims and onto a set of grey ones I have that are of the same style. One of the guys in the bodyshop who builds race cars gave me a freebie carburetor tune-up as well, says it runs a lot better now.

From here on out, it needs some interior work, but it's nothing I can't do myself.

[sms001]

SuhhhhWEET!

[Dave1982]

This is the one you picked up for $500 a few years back right? That was certainly $500 well spent. Its looking pretty sweet.

[JustaCashier]

Nice!

Mike

[Argabarga]

This is the one you picked up for $500 a few years back right? That was certainly $500 well spent. Its looking pretty sweet.

Indeed. After the rims, the only stuff really left that needs attention is the top of the dashboard, it's sun-damaged and cracked (Common problem with these cars). Fortunately, unlike other cars with single-piece dashes, this one has a slide-off top that can easily be replaced (well, slide-off after you take out about 6 screws) and they make replacements, just for that reason, they crack up at about the 10 year mark, with almost no exceptions.

Also, the carpet needs replaced, that might prove a bigger challenge as they also make replacements, already measured and cut to fit, but my particular color seems to be on perpetual backorder, the 80's were the last time you had major options for the color of your interior, and between these and the chassis-sharing Firebirds, there are easily 15 different choices from 82-92, greys, browns, tans, golds, greens, reds, silvers, blacks...... there was even a lovely puke-green, apparently.

I also need a radio, this I've been waiting until the dash is off to replace, the previous owner took his (and the speakers, which also mount under the dash) when he sold it.

Once that's done, I might actually be finished with a car for once... that's scary territory for me, I've never been there before.

[csquared]

Project cars are never finished. When all that is done, it will be time to replace/repair [something]. That is the fun of a project car. Speaking of which, I need to go tinker on my '71 F250.

[protege]

It sounds like things are coming together nicely.

I've been trying to finish up my project car. Problem is...that I enjoy driving it too much But seriously, the carpet still has to go in, along with some of the panels. Most of the items have gone in easy. But, the large panels that hang on the C pillars are a pain. They're held in place by 8 spring clips. These are slid in place into small holes, and then (supposedly) get forced into the pillar. As of yet, I can't get the damn things to stay in place or even line up correctly.

Can you tell that I really don't like doing interiors?

[Argabarga]

Whelp, it's all done. Paid the bill and got the keys back today, went for a nice long drive.

And stopped for some "photoshoot" material, as it won't stay this pristine for very long.







Oh, and in the battle of "who's got more horsepower under their hood?" Uh, this guy wins, hands down

[Chromatix]

Heh. A bog-standard shunter has more horsepower in the prime mover than the vast majority of cars - and it has a maximum speed of 15mph.

[Dave1982]

Looks factory fresh! Nicely done Arga

[Jester]

It's not all about horsepower.

My 2000 Chevy Blazer has far more horsepower than my old 1987 Dodge Shadow Turbo, and not that much less than your Camaro.

Wanna guess who would come in third in that race?

(I'll give a hint: the same vehicle that would be able to tow BOTH of the others without a problem.)