SSflyer

One thing to keep in mind are the smog requirements. I think most states require that the vehicle meet the smog standards of the newest component, engine or body. It may be easier to use an LSx engine and fab the bits and pieces, than to try to smog an older engine.

Nope, the cast iron Z06 manifolds don't fit, nor do the LS1 GTO manifolds, nor do the cast iron LS1 F-body manifolds. Ask me how I know. The 99 LS1 F-body manifolds are made out of formed steel and they fit except for the bottom flanges which can be cut off. I also have a set of Hooker shorty headers for the LS1 F-body that almost fit. The just touch the steering column, even with the engine moved to the right by 5/8". Hopefully the exhaust guy will be able to rework them to fit. (My engine mounts are copied from the Jeromio style, so make your own guess about other mounts.)

A little off the subject.... I got a set of the clear covers, and the fit is horrible. There's at least a half inch gap on both sides. I've read all the posts about heating them etc. but nothing helps. I've even shaved the "long' ends, but they still look pretty bad. I'm really wondering if I have a bent headlight piece. Please tell me I'm not the only one who's too ignorant to figure this out!!

Do a search for 'fittings'. There's a previous post about a fitting that replaces the GM wierdness with an AN3 fitting. It's real simple to do and it's a way better solution. When I get home this evening I'll find the source and p/n...

My roof was also trashed, from hail damage. I tried spot filling all the dents, but the edges always showed through the primer. In the end I got some Plastik Honey and used it to 'thin' the bondo, and then spread a thin layer over the whole roof. Then I used an 18" sanding board to smooth it out. I rough sanded until the metal just showed, and then went to fiiner grits. When it was ready for primer the bondo was so thin it was almost translucent, so don't worry about having too much left behind.

Check out Jeromio's web page. If you can/want to make your own mounts, he's got a good way to do it. I think the address is http://www.jeromio.com

Can I get 3 sheets fom you? Send a PM with the amount and I can PayPal you back. Thanks!

How about a semi-gloss black? I think the flat draws attention away from the paint...

Something I found is that bondo-ing the whole panel is alot easier and more productive than trying to determine which spots are low. I used a long block and would sand until the sheet metal just srarted to peek out of the bondo, and then went to the finer grits. Another good trick is to use some Plastik Honey to thin out the bondo. It spreads way smoother and farther, and there's alot less sanding required.

DemonZ is right on. That little air saw is the best tool I used when cleaning up my shell. Use the finest toothed blades and guide it with both hands. For really small stuff I used a Dremel with a cit-off wheel. You'll use a bunch of them, but the kerf is small.

Yup, I agree with Dale. A cam would be the best and cheapest way to pick up significant horsepower. Add a set of higher flowing heads and a less restrictive exhaust and you can pick up 100hp easy. I have a 99SS and I added an LS6 cam and top end, and a chambered exhaust, and that was good for 60+ rwhp. A more agressive cam and some real performance heads would net even more. I've always heard the the bottom end on an LS1 wasn't made to take high boost (8lbs or more), but if you run less than that you may as well save the money and do heads & cam. Just my $.02....

What about a Dremel tool?

The goop in the tubes is called Automix. You'll need to either do the whole glue job at one time, or buy a bunch of extra nozzles. The autopaint store where I bought mine also had a loaner gun/applicator they let me use free. You do need to use the Automix gun because both sides of the glue tubes need to be pressed together in order to mix correctly.

Don't even get me started on talking about parts in the house! Both back bedrooms are piled high, the dining room table is a parts repository, there's newly painted fenders hanging on the furniture in the living room. And on and on and on. Hmmmmmm, maybe that's part of the explanation of so few dates!

It's a rather traumatic moment when you realize that your life has slipped away and you are a mindless slave to an addiction. With some people it's drugs, others alcohol, some EBAY, the lucky few (or maybe many) sex with Angelina, but today I found myself in a closed garage, in my boxers, sitting on the top of the sway bar inside the engine bay, grinding off welds. How pathetic is that? I have only a small circle of friends, had only a sparse few dates in the last decade (DECADE!), and no real ambition to better myself, but I can manage to climb into a 30+ year old Z-car and listen to my heart beating my life away while I try feebley to improve 6 square inches of sheetmetal that no one else will ever even see. I guess the good news is that I'm not into the loansharks trying to support this habit, and upon having this epiphany I still had the good sense to get out of the 105 degree garage and come into the cool house. At which time I found myself at the kitchen counter test fitting some parts together. Everyone keeps asking what I plan to do when this car is done, and now you know that you'll likely find me digging through trash bins behind dealerships looking for old parts to restore. All there is to say now is that if this monkey is going to ride me like a jockey, I hope he never goes to the whip.

If you don't tack in supports, get the car supported by jackstands in as many places as possible. (On a level floor, of course.) Always cut out as little as possible to start, you can always cut more later if you need to. Also, leave enough original material to allow overlap with the replacement panel. It's WAY easier to do a lap weld than a butt weld, plus you won't need to be as precise on the trimming. Don't be afraid of having to do small patch panels if the rusty panel is bigger than the new panel. One final note. BEFORE you weld your new panel in place, test fit the frame rail/floor support pieces. Make sure they fit flat against the new floor. It's a bitch to form that support to any curve in the floor. Ask me how I know!

The second time around is exactly right. I'm up to $27k now, and I still need exhaust and A/C. If only I had known then what I know now! The best advise I could give anyone now is to go and buy the absolute best condition car you can find, regardless of the cost. The time and expense of rebuilding every single part will always be more.

Boy, same old story. As soon as anyone shows interest in an old car the owner suddenly decides to 'restore it someday'. Go to the Cars in Barns website and you'll see that tired old line a hundred times.

do you think you have into your hybrid Z. The sanding on my car seems to be taking forever, and today while I was out destroying yet another coat of primer, I was trying to figue out how many hours I have into this project. It's getting to be like Groundhog Day in my garage. I figure there must be close to 1500 hours over 2-1/2 years, and I still need to paint and reassemble. I'm really curious about some of you guys, like BlueOvalZ, and some of you that fab your own parts. What's your count?

It really doesn't cost that much to do it in the garage at home. I rented a big gas drive compressor (the kind they use for jackhammers), and a 40lb sandblaster from a local rental place, bought my own sand, and got it done for less than $200. I didn't do any of the external sheetmetal (did that with sandpaper and a block), but it took off all the undercoat residue and engine bay schmutz like using a garden hose on a sidewalk. My shell was on a rotisserrie and you probably couldn't do it without one. The down side was the sand in every single crevise and cupboard in the garage and in every single enclosed place on the car. It's been two years since I sandblasted and little piles of sand still magically appear out of the car from time to time.

Ditto what AK-Z said. The hood on my car looked perfect except for some hail damage, but I bondoed the whole thing anyway. When it was sanded out with an idiot stick there were large spots of bondo left all over. Most are so thin that they are translucent, but there were obviously low spots. When you watch shows like American Hot Rod closely, you can see that they use stuff like Plastik Honey AND they cover the whole car. What they never show is the hours and hours of finish sanding...

When I did mine I made templates of the areas I wanted to fill out of a manilla folder (just hold it up to the indentation and rub the edges with a pencil or a piece of chalk), cut the filler pieces, and tacked them in. It seemed to work well to position the filler piece and start tacking from the center out. When it was firmly in place I skipped around with tacks (to keep the sheetmetal from getting too hot), and finished with tacks every 1/4" or so. Then bondo and sanding. One thing I found out about bondo-ing this repair was to thin the bondo out with some Plastik Honey and then cover the whole panel. When sheetmetal starts peeking out during sanding, it's time to quit. I also went to the gas tank side of the panel and put seam sealer anywhere there was a visible weld joint, just some insurance to keep water out of the backside of the patch panels...

I particularly like the 'Antique Car' plate. I would think that an antique car in Arkansas would be a hay wagon, not a one of a kind rocketship.

I found the easiest way to weld the sheetmetal on these cars is to use a backing plate where ever possible, especially on a butt weld.

Yup, mine was as bad as yours. It looks like the worst on yours would be the wheel arches, but I bet some VB steel flares would allow you to remove most or all of the rusted sections. You're going to have to rework both inner and outer fenders anyway, so the labor for the flares would be 'free'. The floors and such aren't that hard to fix, just time consuming. Once you learn the tricks of patching these tin foil bodies, it's not too bad to do. How are you fixed for welding and other metal working tools?