Hey there everyone, I'm a new forum poster as well as a new 4th Gen Fbody owner. My car is going to be a bit of a project, so I decided that I will journal it all here in the forums. Since visiting this forum I have learned alot and have gotten some great ideas, I'm hoping that by documenting my many smaller projects that someone will benefit from it.

First I'll give a little history on this car. I bought this car about 3 weeks ago, primarily as a 2nd vehicle. I'm married with 3 small children, one in kindergarten, and although we have a nice 2007 Durango that's plenty big for all of us, it was a pain trying to get the logistics of everything down with only 1 vehicle. During my search for a car I decided that I'd like to get a 4th gen Fbody, as I've wanted one since I was in high school. I found one two hours away for a reasonable price. There is always a challenge in buying a used car, especially from a private party, so I wanted to make sure I checked it out before buying. Luckily I have some mechanic background as my dad grew up working in my grandfathers shop, so growing up I was shown some of the ropes.

So I checked the car over. The owner had advertised that it only had a couple of issues, windows were slow to roll up, cracked dash, and a slight 'tick' in the engine. I performed my due diligence prior to making the trip by pulling a carfax on the car...no wrecks, clean title, history looked good. I got a few surprises when I got there however... The 'cracked dash' was horrible, even extending to the passenger air bag cover. Both door handle trim bezels were broke popped out. The hood release cable handle was broke off, the kick panel on the driver's side was missing. The 'slow window' was really a "doesnt roll up or down" on the passenger side. These were all cosmetic issues and I was confident on being able to fix them myself, so I wasn't too worried. It did have an aftermarket JVC head unit which was a plus. I checked out the rest of the car, noticed the brand new Nitto tires, the nice looking Eagle rims, and alot of aftermarket accessories. I checked the engine, it did have a slight tick but no smoke and no leaks, oil looked great. I checked the tail pipe, didn't show any signs of coolant contamination or burning oil. I also noticed it had a Jet performance chip. It was starting to rain and with the low clearance of the car I wasn't able to look underneath (this will be important later). With 125k miles on the 12 year old car, and clean title, I talked the owner down to a price that was comfortably under blue book value and paid in cash.

Remember, this was a two hour drive back as well (wife and kids following me in the Durango). It was the trip back that I made even more discoveries. The first thing I noticed (which I somehow had missed), was that the cluster gauges wouldn't illuminate at all! I had to use a flash light to check my speed on the way home. I then noticed an exhaust rattle that I suspected to be a failing catalytic converter. I went to roll up the driver side window to discover it was completely off track. I turned on the radio to discover that all of the stock monsoon speakers except the hatches were blown. It was a tense and frustrating ride back with all of the trepidation, but once I got within 20 miles from home I loosened up and got on her a bit. Man was she responsive, and alot faster than I imagined the v6 would be. All and all, the drive back showed me she really was fun to drive.

The day after I got it home it was time to start fixing the problems. The first thing I tackled was the mysterious dark cluster. I suspected a bulb at first, but soon realized someone had put in an aftermarket cluster panel with its own illumination, this was blocking the stock backlight. I quickly and without regret ripped that dude out and put the wiring back to stock. I next moved on to the drivers side window, after disassembling the door I noticed someone had attempted to replace the window motor and didn't get the window back on the regulator properly. After some tweaking I managed to get her lined up just right. During this task I noticed that the speaker in the drivers side door, along with the container, was missing! Someone also had cut the stock wiring harness. A little research filled me in that this car had a monsoon sound system and someone had incorrectly tried to splice these speakers in. So as a temporary fix I removed the door panel and rear sail speakers and installed 4 Pioneer 2 way 6.5s, hard wired them directly to the head unit for full range sound, and unhooked the hatch speakers.

My next challenge was the unresponsive passenger side window. I ordered the autotrix passenger window fix, and after an hour of install, the window worked like new! I had also noticed the fan blower wasn't doing its job, so I went down to advance auto and picked up a new one for $40. A half hour of work and the fan blows awesome. I also had no keyless entry fob, but found one taken apart in the glove box. I reassembled it, and it worked, but I discovered the hatch wouldn't open properly. I piggy backed a 5/8 spring to it, but the struts seem to be failing so that was only a partial fix.

I then seafoamed the car to try to reduce the 'tick'. I hit the manifold, gas tank, and crank case. I went to go change my oil after 100 miles and low and behold, the oil pan was beat to hell. It was so bad I doubted I could get the plug out. This is why not looking under the car was important.... Since changing the pan wasn't a job I was comfortable with, I ended up paying 600 bucks to get it done...The oil pickup tube was trashed and the mechanic broke off the y-pipe bolts during the job and had to drill them out. Fun, fun. After that was said and done, I noticed the tick had grown into a knock... I got it on a lift and discovered 2 things: I have a low-end knock (slight) and my cat converter is definitely going out. I also noticed the headlights of the car aren't aligned, the hood is crooked, the passenger fender is misaligned, and there's strong evidence of a front end wreck, though carfax had no history of it. I also realized that the car had a **** poor paint job, the $250 maaco special...

I had a decision to make, sell the car and make my money back, or turn it into a project and give myself a hobby..with the goal of making this car "mine" and restoring it to like-new. I decided to go with the project.

I'll post pics of the car in this thread as well as my laundry list of things that are wrong and projects I'm planning on doing. I plan on documenting them all, big or small, with plenty of pictures to hopefully be of benefit to someone else. It's going to be a fun journey!

 

Pictures of my project car as it sits today.

 

And finally, my laundry list of issues and proposed project tasks.

The Bad:
Engine/Powertrain:
beat up oil pan - FIXED
Lifter tick
Low end knock
Bad catalytic converter
Small coolant leak from heater hose binding


Interior:
Passenger window not rolling up/down - FIXED w/ Autotrix bypass
Driver window off track - FIXED
Speakers blown - FIXED
Weak Blower fan - FIXED
Cluster gauges not illuminating - FIXED
Power window/lock courtesy lights out - FIXED
Dash cracked horribly
Air Bag cover cracked
Door handle trim broke
Power window/lock bezels popping out
Hood release handle broke off
Water leak from drivers window
Ash tray cover broken
Driver's seat uncomfortable
Headliner worn around T-Tops
Driver side speaker container missing


Suspension/Brakes:
Needs new pads and rotors
Suspension seems worn, too much play and a slight lean to the passenger side

Exterior:
Hood is misaligned
Passenger front fender is misaligned, sticks out too far
Several bolts and screws missing from engine bay
Headlights misaligned (gapping on passenger side)
Low quality paint job
Dents near Gas cap
Hatch struts worn out

Proposed Mods/Tasks:

Engine/Powertrain:
Replace engine with series 3 with < 30k miles - ETA Summer '12
Replace catalytic converter - ETA March '12
Replace headers - ETA Summer '12
New Catback - ETA Summer '12
Replace heater hoses with V6fixits - March '12
Contemplating G1 cam - ETA TBD
Smoothing out stock air lid - ETA March '12
K&N Air filter - ETA March '12
SLP CAI - ETA May '12
Re-evaluate the performance ECM - ETA TBD
Replace Plug wires - ETA April '12
Replace O2 sensors - ETA Summer '12


Interior:
Replace doorpanels with Z28 black leather panels - ETA May '12
Replace door handle trim and bezels - ETA March '12
Install Dash pad cap - ETA April '12
Replace Driver Kick panel - ETA April '12
Replace speaker container driver side - ETA March '12
Remove and repaint all gray trim Black with Silver Accents - ETA March '12
Replace gray carpet with black carpet - ETA Summer '12
Install Black with Silver insert leather seat covers - reupholster - ETA October '12
Redo headliner in black - ETA April '12
Replace ash tray lid, get new turn signal lever, new lighter accessory - ETA March '12
Repaint console black with Silver highlights - ETA March '12
Replace speakers with Kee Audio complimenting set - September '12
Install new amp and 10" sub with enclosure - November '12
Replace HU with Pioneer - December '12
Install customer headunit mounting plate with red lighting - April '12
Pad driver seat better - April '12
Fix driver window weatherstripping/leak - March '12


Exterior:
Hood alignment - March '12
Replace hatch struts - March '12
Fender/headlight alignment - May '12
Replace headlights with projectors - April '12
Replace tailights with Altezzas - May '12
Silver CAMARO lettering fills - April '12
SS Hood - Jan '13
Paint Job - Feb '13
Z06 Chrome Rims - April '13
Clear corners - March '12
New front camaro emblem - March '12
Replace all bolts in engine bay - June '12
Engine Bay cleanup and painting black and Red - Summer '12
Pop out dents by gas cap - March '12


Suspension/Brakes:
New pads/rotors - March '12
Paint Rotor hubs - March '12
New shocks - Summer '12
Strut tower brace- April '12
AntiSway Bars - November '12
New springs - May '12
Spring HH Mod - May '12
Pan Hard brace - August '12
Poly engine mounts, tranny mounts, bushings and etc mounts - Summer '12

 

I decided I'll try tackling a few areas of this project this weekend. Namely painting most of the interior black/silver and replacing the lift supports on the hatch. I did a trial run on one of the hatch trim sections. Looks pretty good, though the humidity jumped up on me so I've got some blushing (cloudiness) going on in the black paint. Hoping it gasses out on its own or I'll be either wetsanding + clear coating it or getting some blush remover. I have pics and will do a walkthrough of the process tomorrow. If mother nature works with me, I plan to have the majority of the interior painting, the hatch struts, and possibly the cracked dash pad taken care of this weekend.

 

keep us updated with pictures, this looks cool

 

Will do, I have pics from yesterdays work, will probably post them in the next couple of hours (at work right now).

There was still some blushing on the back trim piece, the heat seems to be curing it out, but I may try a wetsand and polish to be safe.

I'll be really digging in the project starting tomorrow afternoon.

 

Ok so last night I decided I couldn't wait to try the new color scheme of the interior of the 'maro. I picked up some supplies with the intention of experimenting with a process as well as to gauge what the final product would look like. I had a couple things working against me though, it was getting dark fast and the humidity was steadily climbing. Due to this I ended up rushing a couple of coats and ended up with some nasty cloudiness in my final coat, I'm going to wetsand and buff that out but you can get the general idea.

So here is how my lower passenger side hatch trim looked before, plain jane gray, not really a color I care for.





First thing first, I seperated and properly cleaned the surfaces of the speaker grill and the trim. I used SuperClean degreaser (use sparingly) and got all of the grime and residue off the pieces.





Now historically I've used products specially made for plastic (like Krylon Fusion), but I was interested in trying a new technique. I took some Duplicolor Adhesion Promoter and sprayed 2 even layers on, giving 3-5 minutes or so between each coat.

I then used Duplicolor sandable white primer and applied 3 even coats, again giving about 10 minutes between each. Note: I was losing daylight at this point so the pictures become harder to see detail:





Now was time for the color coat, this is where I messed up. I used Black Duplicolor Acrylic Enamel for the main piece and Duplicolor Color Match GM Silver Metallic for the grill. I rushed the coats and with the humidity I invited cloudiness (blushing) in the paint, which will be evident in the final product. Be sure to take your time when doing a project like this, patience and prep work make a world of difference.




All in all I'm liking where the color scheme is going, though I've learned a lesson in patience. I'm going to be finishing most of the interior this weekend and correcting my mistake on this first section. I'll post procedures and pics when done.

Here is the final product at night:


Here is the final product in the sunlight:


As you can see, rushing makes a difference. But again I'm liking the theme.

Thanks for reading, stay tuned for more!

 

So tonight I tried out an A pillar and the radio surround, this time i bypassed the sandable primer and just used the adhesion promoter (3 coats) and the acrylic enamel (3 coats), it came out beautifully! I'll have pics tomorrow.

 

First thing is a note, if you get the cloudiness like I did on my rear hatch panel, there is an EASY remedy. Get some Mother's Back to Black, polish the piece, and voila no more cloudiness!

Haven't had a chance to post any of the pics, but as of right now i have 80% of the interior removed from the car, including the dreaded dash pad. I'm about to tackle taking out the hatch trim and then the headliner. I'll get the dash pad fixed tonight, do some vinyl wrapping, and redo my headliner in black. Tomorrow I'll reassemble everything and will post a write up of the whole process with pics!

 

How's the project coming along?
We need more pics! Lol
Keep up the good work looking good so far.