Metalwork and maybe paint work - NJFBOA - Home of New Jersey's Camaros and Firebirds

L695speed · 03-07-2011, 01:15 PM

I am seriously looking at having the metal work done on the 84. The car needs some holes patched up, new doors and floors are probably a good move as well as body work. RPM and SRC, if I post pics of the needs can you guys give me a good guessimate on costs? The car is far from a basket case in fact its among the better projects starting wise I've seen. I'll strip the paint and decals off and get everything separated. But cracks, holes, scrapes in plastic and metal work I need done elsewhere.

A guy I know who is into the old car hobby referred me to the guy who is next to the street that goes out to Island Dragway. Does anyone else know his work? I'm told hes good, and reasonable. I might not have this done all in one shot as its probably gonna be a 5K dollar min job. But if I can get the rot stopped and repaired before it becomes more costly then thats a good thing. Will likely have SFCs welded in while the car is there too.

I'll need to get a rolling chassis before I do anything else with it.

HardcoreZ28 · 03-07-2011, 01:17 PM

You can shoot some pics over to customerservice@rpmrestoandcustom.com and I can try to at least give you a ballpark figure. Without seeing it in person it's a little hard however. Also are you planning to show the car, daily drive it, etc?

L695speed · 03-07-2011, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HardcoreZ28

You can shoot some pics over to customerservice@rpmrestoandcustom.com and I can try to at least give you a ballpark figure. Without seeing it in person it's a little hard however. Also are you planning to show the car, daily drive it, etc?

Its a bare shell at the moment so yea its going to be tough to get it to ya. I plan on driving the wheels off of it during the summer, its not gonna be a trailer queen, yet not a daily driver. The nice weather toy is what it will be. Most of the mods in my sig are whats going to be done with it. I took pics of the worst of the damage caused by the rot. Never been wrecked to my knowledge or my Dad's. The T top bar was astonishingly clean for a Northeast car. Most of it is surface rust, which is a breeze. The rest...well you know I'm sure.

Will send you an email asap. Pics are on my camera gotta somehow get them off.

BonzoHansen · 03-07-2011, 01:47 PM

I have a solid RH door off an 85 TA if you need it. Cheap.

L695speed · 03-07-2011, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BonzoHansen

I have a solid RH door off an 85 TA if you need it. Cheap.

I'll let you know. The rot is on the lips where its a royal PITA to repair, and these cars are common enough that it doesnt make sense to try doing said repair. The Left side I think is worse so that one will be needed too. Thanks.

L695speed · 03-07-2011, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HardcoreZ28

You can shoot some pics over to customerservice@rpmrestoandcustom.com and I can try to at least give you a ballpark figure. Without seeing it in person it's a little hard however. Also are you planning to show the car, daily drive it, etc?

Email sent titled 1984 Trans Am metalwork.

HardcoreZ28 · 03-07-2011, 06:21 PM

Got it....will try to look over the pics tonight....if not then early tomorrow morning.

L695speed · 03-07-2011, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HardcoreZ28

Got it....will try to look over the pics tonight....if not then early tomorrow morning.

Ok thanks. I'm getting to the point where when I get the car a roller I'll have to do something about the body, despite maybe being forced to deal with it in stages. Makes sense to have it dealt with when the interior is apart.

TaKid455 · 03-07-2011, 10:23 PM

There used to be Musclecraft by Island, but now it is Great Meadows Autobody. Owner stopped by my place a while back. Seems nice, but cant vouch for his work. I know a few places in Hackettstown area that do great work. Not the cheapest, but quality is very good.

HardcoreZ28 · 03-07-2011, 10:37 PM

Just replied to your email

TAdan · 03-08-2011, 01:52 PM

I'm interested in pretty much the same thing for my 84 T/A. Just substitute blue paint for grey.

HardcoreZ28 · 03-09-2011, 08:30 AM

Dan shoot me a PM or give me a call in the shop for pricing info. (908) 829-0384

TAdan · 03-09-2011, 08:52 AM

Thanks for the offer Paul. I do plan on going to you when it is time for paint, but it is just not in the budget right now.

L695speed · 03-09-2011, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TAdan

Thanks for the offer Paul. I do plan on going to you when it is time for paint, but it is just not in the budget right now.

Hi Dan. lol. I'm asking around about it because the body is at the point where it needs to be dealt with. doesn't make sense to put the interior and etc back in when you'll have to take it out to do the floors. You have the 84 out and about I presume?

L695speed · 03-09-2011, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TaKid455

There used to be Musclecraft by Island, but now it is Great Meadows Autobody. Owner stopped by my place a while back. Seems nice, but cant vouch for his work. I know a few places in Hackettstown area that do great work. Not the cheapest, but quality is very good.

Lemme guess, Phoenix is one of them, and there is at least one other. I know a 5K dollar paint job is pretty good these days. If it wasn't for the metal work I'd strip the body down and have it done up. of course, more likely that I'll have it back on the road before I have it painted if it will take longer to put the money together than I think. Who are the places you know Larry? Yea Great Meadows Autobody was the guy that my friend told me about.

TaKid455 · 03-09-2011, 11:52 PM

There are 2 Phoenix shops in Hack. R&C and collision. Dan at the collision does OK work and is reasonable. R&C (glen) does excellent work. My 78 T/A is at R&C now. Dale's also does excellent work. He did my 79 T/A many years ago. Liquid metal (former R&C employee) also does very good work. 5k wont get you far in the excellent shops where 'basic' paint jobs start at 12k. With material cost running 2-4k, that doesn't leave room for labor or booth time. Figure 75/hr ..thats 675/ day(9hr) for labor. I can set you up with any of them, but will advise you which ones would better suit your budget. There are a few others in the area too that I am forgetting at the moment.

L695speed · 03-10-2011, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TaKid455

There are 2 Phoenix shops in Hack. R&C and collision. Dan at the collision does OK work and is reasonable. R&C (glen) does excellent work. My 78 T/A is at R&C now. Dale's also does excellent work. He did my 79 T/A many years ago. Liquid metal (former R&C employee) also does very good work. 5k wont get you far in the excellent shops where 'basic' paint jobs start at 12k. With material cost running 2-4k, that doesn't leave room for labor or booth time. Figure 75/hr ..thats 675/ day(9hr) for labor. I can set you up with any of them, but will advise you which ones would better suit your budget. There are a few others in the area too that I am forgetting at the moment.

Yea well I'm figuring on cutting down on labor costs, as the car will likely be disassembled and possibly stripped before it gets to the shop. I'm figuring the metal work, and the actual body/paint work, then it comes back to my house for assembly. A good metal guy who knows what they are doing...my car will be a cake walk for them. If me and the painter at Netcong were still there he would have helped me paint the car as in me painting it with him being the teacher. Alas I'm not there and while I have his number I don't know where hes at now. If I could find third gen F bodies in JYs that were reasonably solid I'd get the sawzall and get some pieces like the battery tray to be welded in. A good metal guy might be able to save my floors. They're not too bad. Two holes, and tons of surface rust that might end up killing them anyway. Its the inner rocker where the floor meets the rocker and the body near the front of the driver's door that is the problem. If I could at least get the metal fixed then I'll worry about the paint later. I can always do the rattle can etching primer/primer/paint or I hate to say it but Macco's more pricer jobs before 12K on paint for the time being. So I guess I'm looking for someone who can do the metal work for me More than anything else.

SRC · 03-11-2011, 06:42 AM

I'm happy to give you an estimate on the repairs. You can send me photos and a bullet point list of what your expectations are with the project. Having read through the posts and as you know having solid replacement panels (doors) and delivering a striped shell certainly does save on labor costs. John@Summitrodandcustom.com

L695speed · 03-11-2011, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SRC

I'm happy to give you an estimate on the repairs. You can send me photos and a bullet point list of what your expectations are with the project. Having read through the posts and as you know having solid replacement panels (doors) and delivering a striped shell certainly does save on labor costs. John@Summitrodandcustom.com

Email sent, titled 1984 Trans Am Metalwork. Thanks for taking a look.

L695speed · 03-20-2011, 07:56 PM

I was thinking about this. Then I had the idea of asking my Mom if she recalled where my Dad was going to take his 77 for paint. She said it was a couple friends of his from HS or College that opened a body shop and said they would do it for him. That was 25 years ago or so and the shop was in Neptune.....
Unlikely, even if I somehow found them and even if they recognized my Dad's name and the pic of the 77.

Thats out of the question. So...I talked to a friend down the street who had his Integra painted at Maaco a couple years ago. Other than a collision, rock chips and some swirl and orange peel, the job has held up over the years. And he said it was like a 600 dollar job. Just base with no clear. So I was thinking, what if I just did this.

Have someone repair the metal and weld on SFCs. I'll put on solid new doors. Then I'll take the car back, do some lead work in the pitting, and some body work, maybe even replace the one fender because of the dent if the fenders are the same on an 85 and 84, actually, lets replace the fender, it will get rid of the power antenna and I don't think you can get the parts to repair the antenna anymore. Maybe prime it and sand it with guide coat, then have Maaco shoot the car in the original colors of gray and silver with a base clear. That way I can have the car looking decent and further down the road I can have it done up real nice and maybe even paint the decals on when I get my hands on real money.

Better than having the failing paint and a hack primer rattle can job IMO. So, change the question to metal work only.

79T/A · 03-22-2011, 10:45 PM

I think you're better off running it in primer/sealer until you have the money to do it right. I haven't painted a car yet, but all of the research I've done indicates that a good paint job is about 10% paint, 90% prep. If you're going to go all the way with the metal prep, I don't see the point in throwing a Maaco paint job on top of it just to have to strip it to paint it again later on. The real cost of the paint job is going to be all the labor to prep it. A good paint shop isn't going to want to paint over a Maaco job, they're going to want to paint on a surface that they know the paint will stick to best.

L695speed · 03-23-2011, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 79T/A

I think you're better off running it in primer/sealer until you have the money to do it right. I haven't painted a car yet, but all of the research I've done indicates that a good paint job is about 10% paint, 90% prep. If you're going to go all the way with the metal prep, I don't see the point in throwing a Maaco paint job on top of it just to have to strip it to paint it again later on. The real cost of the paint job is going to be all the labor to prep it. A good paint shop isn't going to want to paint over a Maaco job, they're going to want to paint on a surface that they know the paint will stick to best.

I thought about doing that. My problem with that is primer loves water. As much as I'm gonna try to keep it dry...I don't see being able to do so in real life. Besides, if I'm gonna put it in primer, I might as well put it in color, hence the Maaco idea. As I said this is a driver, not a trailer queen. The reason in doing the metal work now is theres no sense in putting the car back together, than having to take it all back apart again to do the metal work. Its apart now. I found Classic Industries has a battery tray replacement panel. I can cut it out, prep it, but I'll need someone to weld it in. Stuff like that. Inner rockers will need to be cut and patched, as well as a spot on the driver's door sill, and the driver's floor. Its not worth pulling all the interior stuff back out again to fix that. Hence when I get it a roller I'm gonna take it in for metal work.

L695speed · 04-24-2011, 09:06 PM

Ok guys, I seriously need a couple tips here. First, I'm still looking for someone to help me weld patches and panels in. Second, I need to know the best thing to convert or seal up rust. I have my dash completely out, despite a couple holes that shouldn't be in the firewall but are there bec of rust, they are small enough that if I strip it, and SEAL the living hell out of it I could get away with it. Also same could be said for parts of the floors. But I am not certain.

I am definitely up for doing some of the cutting and prep work before the actual welding, but I don't have a welder so I can't finish the job. Also I will likely need some patches fabbed and put on. The Rockers are a problem, as is the front of the driver's door.

I am asking because I would HATE to have it all accessable now and not do anything about it; put it back together then have it taken back apart to do those repairs later on. I just need to talk to someone who might be willing to do it. After that I'll worry about getting the car to them later. Its still a shell but its slowly coming back together.

HardcoreZ28 · 04-25-2011, 07:59 AM

POR15 will be your best bet for sealing down any rust that you don't want to completely remove...however I always advocate just cutting it out. If you go with POR follow their directions and you'll be fine.

L695speed · 04-25-2011, 08:07 AM

Ok thanks. The floors are solid, just need to be sealed, and a couple small patches put in. Its the rockers that are the bigger issue. So what I'm thinking is if I can preserve the floors, I can worry about the rockers and batt tray when I get there. Still need to get the car back down on the ground though. Hoping to have the whole rear end and possibly the trans back in the car before winter. If I am really lucky maybe I'll have the front suspension back in except for struts and the camber plates.

Do you recommend the spray on or just buy a gallon of the brush on stuff and go from there? From what I've read around on the stuff you need to use their prep too.