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Hey everyone. im from san antonio, texas and never owned anything but GM products and up until a few months ago id never owned a car(just lots of trucks and an suv). And not one has ever been to a mechanic or any shop except for tires and state inspections. Anyways ...
I picked up a 1998 model at the end of December with a bad trans, a rebuilt title and 77k miles. Rebuilt the trans and torque tube and resealed rear diff in my 2 car garage(with another car in it the entire time) by myself. Shes running great after a couple tanks of gas and fresh plugs/wires. Car sat for 7+ years before i got it. Found a flawless set of cray manta wheels in black with the polished lip, all lights are now led including the halo mod tails. car is/was silver with some poor bodywork here and there. i did the targa top, halo and lower section of rear bumper in black(audi black) several weeks ago and was working on cleaning up the lazy body work when i realized the opportunity to do away with the boring ole silver. Im hoping to be mostly complete by sunday night and im hoping to be the first c5 in this color. Has anyone seen or heard of anyone else doing a rapid blue c5? and wraps dont count.im only interested if ts actually been resprayed. ill post some pics later this afternoon.
well shes almost all back togethor now. got a few odds and ends to finish up. this is about 15hrs after it was sprayed and just put back togethor. still has to be wetsanded and buff the whole car. theres 3-4 coats of high solids clear on everything blue. son as i plan on reclearing the black top this coming week just so its all nice and fresh. i believe this is day 7 or 8 since i started this project, all done entirely by me and i have a full time job so weekdays arent always productive.
Welcome to the Forum, and congratulations on your C5!
I have not seen a C5 resprayed in Rapid Blue but it should look really nice on your car. If you go that direction, please post some pics once you are completed. You may inspire others.
heres a little teaser. working on jambs now and debating on wether or not to pull the doors.off. are c5 door hinges usually sprayed body color like most GM's? Reason I ask is one door has black hinges and other door theyre painted to match. i kinda like the idea of them being black would be easier to keep them looking clean
well i wouldnt say ive saved it as it was totaled in 2001 with under 20k miles. and someone else "rebuilt" it and its seen several owners since then. i did however make it safe to drive and im working on breathing new life into it. I've got pictures of the right front frame that was "repaired" by someone who had no business using a mig welder. i was amazed the car made it almost 50k miles the way it was. I'll post some before and after pictures of the frame here in a bit.
when i realized the opportunity to do away with the boring ole silver. Im hoping to be mostly complete by sunday night and im hoping to be the first c5 in this color. Has anyone seen or heard of anyone else doing a rapid blue c5? and wraps dont count.im only interested if ts actually been resprayed. ill post some pics later this afternoon.
When I bought my Procharged 2000 silver Corvette in 2013, I intended to have it painted a medium or medium-dark metallic purple. I've always dreamed of owning a purple car. However, with only 36,000 miles, the paint was in such great condition that hesitated to repaint it. I thought silver was boring, so I was surprised when people kept approaching me to say how much they loved the color. I've owned bright red, magnetic red, and black Corvettes, as well as a yellow Porsche and a green SL55 AMG, but I received more compliments, by far, on my silver car than any other color that I've owned. So, although I still occasionally lust after purple, that's a project for some other future car, because, frankly, the silver color has really grown on me, and I think silver at high speeds tends to be less "obvious" than purple or Rapid Blue. I'm not a fan of wraps, so if you do go ahead with the blue, I'm glad you are using "real" paint. That shade of blue looks great.
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That repaired frame is special -- I left the bicycle industry before hydro-forming was implemented -- it is an awesome process that enabled all kinds of new "twists" to a lot of industries. I am wondering about the strange shapes the people repairing it must have had to match. Probably a pretty challenging act compared to 90 degree flat surfaces all day.
heres a little teaser. working on jambs now and debating on wether or not to pull the doors.off. are c5 door hinges usually sprayed body color like most GM's? Reason I ask is one door has black hinges and other door theyre painted to match. i kinda like the idea of them being black would be easier to keep them looking clean
Color looks great!
I believe all "regular" door hinges are black. At least all new and replacement hinges I have seen are black (except very expensive, lightweight, billet hinges made for racing that are the natural aluminum color).
However, since you are already making a significant change to the body color, I would not worry about whether the hinges should be black or body color. Paint them the way you would like them to work with your updated paint scheme.
That repaired frame is special -- I left the bicycle industry before hydro-forming was implemented -- it is an awesome process that enabled all kinds of new "twists" to a lot of industries. I am wondering about the strange shapes the people repairing it must have had to match. Probably a pretty challenging act compared to 90 degree flat surfaces all day.
i have no clue what they were attempting but what i did is probably better called reinforcing than repairing as it was already bent back to shape. however what i did was i made a cardboard template to match the side of the rail then transfered that onto flat plate and cut it out. then i started at one end and tacked it down then everyone 3"-4" i drilled and tapped holes in the frame for 1/4-20 bolts and used those to pull the plate into the shape of the frame one area at a time. tacking it down as i went along the edges, then i removed the bolts and plug welded the holes up.
Welcome to the forum, and congrats on your C5. Sounds like you have a nice project going there. I would definitely love to see some pics when you're done.
EDIT: Don't forget to SAVE THE WAVE!
Last edited by MWWarlord; Apr 9, 2021 at 11:49 AM.
been meaning to post these but ive been busy working on finishing the color change. car should be bck togethor this evening so plenty of rapid blue c5 pics will be up soon. in the meantime here's a little before and after of the nice surprise i had when i removed the fender to gain access to the vacuum canister when i was fixing vacuum leaks. As youll see vacuum leaks were no longer a priority, and I began making what i consider to be a much safer repair.
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hello from texas
