I have finally finished the engine bay sanding and painting, the frame too, and the install of the van steel coil overs. I gotta say this was a huge undertaking. The nooks and crannies on the firewall, and the amount of built up crud and paint made this feel impossible at times. I’m impressed with the result. This forum has been a huge help to me over the years so I figured I’d post some pictures of the process to help or give someone else the motivation to knock this out.

 

Wow looks great.

 

Nice work.

 

Nice job... Did you do the frame and firewall by yourself ? Love the tubular A-arms and coilovers... Was contemplating only upgrading the lower arms in my 80 since I have a set of coilovers to use... What spring rate did you use ? Good luck with the rest of your restore... M.

 

Absolutely stunning transformation........
When someone takes the time to do this......it just separates the car from the pack.....
So many nice cars out there with Bubba *** BBQ black paint in layers everywhere......
I can tell you from experience that doing this will lock in a sale when you go to sell one......someone will like the car then you throw the hood open and it looks all clean and tight and they run to the bank.

Jebby

 

WOW- Vann!!!

Your 73 (AKA 77) is really coming together!!!
Have you got the LS motor ready to drop in?

 

yes sir, I bought a Dewalt DA sander and one of the mouse sanders. I used a wire brush on a grinder for the frame. Probably 100 bucks worth of sanding disc😂

I went with the dual adjustable 800 pound coilovers.

 

thanks so much. Plenty of times down in my basement I wanted to give up. My wife joked about setting up a cot down there for me. I have a friend with a C3 that’s pristine, and seeing his like that made me really appreciate what an engine bay should look like.

 

hey Richard! It’s gonna be a while on the LS, as I want to do the rear end and everything in between just like I did the engine bay.

Your local so I need to come see your car!

 

Looks good

 

Really Nice!
I'm planning the same front end mods that you have done.
My parts are still up on the shelf waiting for me to get started.
I can't wait to see your finished product.

 

That came out fantastic. That is a lot of man hours but when you pull off the masking it is very rewarding. I decided to go with gray to help highlight all the other components that fill up the firewall. Minimize that black hole look.

 

your car looks great. I agree it’s one of the mos rewarding things I’ve done to the car.

 

Man what a lot of work... What did you end up painting the frame with... I have 300 lb springs but my 80 is setup for drag racing.. I am assuming you meant 2 x 400 lb = 800 lol... M

 

no coils are rated at 800 pounds a piece I believe. It’s a track setup. I used Eastwood extreme primer and extreme chassis satin black. It’s a little too glossy for me but I wasn’t about to redo it lol. Used krylon 1613 on the fiber glass but had a lot of trouble, so ending up going with SEM trim black on that.