decibelle's 1976 Trans Am - 455/4spd/restomod

[decibelle]

Been a minute, did some things. Ran out of supplies for now, so it's as good a time as ever for a small update. I can finally see the light at the end of the bodywork tunnel! But first, we need to roll the clocks back to November.

A brief spell of kinder weather left me with a chance to get back in the shop for some more sprayin' and sandin' and sprayin' and...





The car looks SO much more like... well, a car... with the front fenders back on. She may still be several layers of filler and primer away from looking like a proper car, but she is leagues a head of where she was when I started!

So I did that on repeat for about two months. Lots of sanding. Then, a few weeks ago I finally got rid of the cancerous tumors masquerading as rear quarters, replaced with a set from Classic Industries.





(Those radioactive looking hunks of steel actually came out of a licensed shop. Srsly.)



Much as I could, anyway. Had to break out the hammer and dollies again and fill some low spots and flatten some high spots, but even then, the result is much, much less filler put back on than I had originally taken off! Many (many) hours later, the driver side is smooth as but-tah and ready for a final few coats of surfacing primer.





No more 2ft-long dent! However not all was good in the hood. I had grossly overestimated the remainder of my surfacing primer and was only able to get a touch more than one solid coat on today. Still, it's leaps and bounds ahead of where she was not a year ago:



If I only knew then what was waiting for me under that paint... Miraculously, despite all that fun, I'm still on schedule to base coat in the spring! Anyway, in the meantime, I get to play with these!



Sealed Power L2359NF60s + rings. The start of yet another long road to completion, but that's a story for another day....

[SublimeZ]

+.060"?

[Hic]

Looks like 60 over , Z

Nice body work decibelle !

[papacueball]

Hic just got his eye-crometer recalibrated.

Nice job on the bodywork!

[chithead]

Sealed Power L2359NF60s + rings. The start of yet another long road to completion, but that's a story for another day....

[Hic]

It would be nice to see LilMissGTO and decibelle square off for 5 miles or so !

[decibelle]

Thanks y'all. It is a LOT of work, and I don't ever want to do this again. At least not for a few years... but preferably never!

Yeah, .060. Bit more than I was hoping as the cylinder walls will be quite thin and the block will be nothing but a pretty paperweight if anything goes wrong after that, but it's the only option. It's grown on me though - it just means that I can giggle like a schoolgirl whenever I tell somebody that the block is now a 469ci

[chithead]

[JayinMI]

That's funny....

We have one like that:

[Hic]

16 mile road