[Greg Reid]

I paid $30 for my cheapo variable speed 4" grinder at Lowe's. After that, the only thing (bodywork-wise) I needed my compressor for was spraying primer. The grinder is also great for cutting sheetmetal with a cutting disc., grinding welds down with a grinding disc, etc. VERY useful tool and not very expensive.

[nh68gto]

Yup, very useful tool. Many attachments to put on it for cutting, grinding or sanding. But.. be very careful, probably the scariest tool too. Can do some major damage in a hurry (and I am not talking about the car...).

She is looking great Greg.

[GTOBOB]

I bought the Ryobi 4" grinder at Home Depot for $39. I've beaten the fool out of it, and it's like new. However, I can do even more damage with some of my other tools, like the buffing wheel! You probably already know this, Codyyy, but don't buy the $15 4" grinder at Harbor Freight. It's a POS.

[codyyy]

Originally Posted by GTOBOB

I bought the Ryobi 4" grinder at Home Depot for $39. I've beaten the fool out of it, and it's like new. However, I can do even more damage with some of my other tools, like the buffing wheel! You probably already know this, Codyyy, but don't buy the $15 4" grinder at Harbor Freight. It's a POS.

I have the $20 heavy duty 4 1/2" grinder from H-F and use it sparingly, only when I absolutely need to. It gets very hot, very quickly so I'm guessing the duty cycle isn't too good. It isn't variable so I need to get a variable speed grinder.
I'm doing some good damage to this whole paint deal with aircraft stripper and lots of razor blades but it isn't what I'm used to doing.
I'll need to save my money to buy a decent air compressor and I'm thinking of using Kirker primer. I read up about Eastwood's stuff and I guess it's the same as Kirker anyway. I want a decent paint job on this car but I've never painted a car before, so I don't want to get expensive. Basically I want to do this once and do it right but still have it go easy on the wallet. In the next few days I'm gonna pull out the 350 and trans and then perhaps clean the frame up and maybe box it, although I feel that the body will be the hardest thing to do and I'd rather get the hard stuff done first and then easy stuff later. I still haven't found any 400s around here for decent prices but I can wait.

[mike nixon]

Originally Posted by codyyy

Also, this car apparently had 3.08 gearing. I'm wondering why it would have that gearing with a 3-speed.
Was it a delete option to have a chrome metal front bumper as well? The bumper off this car is chrome and the grilles are silver and say Pontiac on them, probably Lemans or Tempest grilles. I am guessing it was swapped out at some time, I just don't know why.

IT's possible the car was an endura delete car. If that's the case it's a pretty rare and cool peice.

Mike

[codyyy]

Originally Posted by mike nixon

IT's possible the car was an endura delete car. If that's the case it's a pretty rare and cool peice.

Mike

It doesn't say in the PHS if the car had the Endura delete option (then again the PHS doesn't say much, there are literally like 5 things highlighted in the whole packet), and I don't see why anyone would change out that front bumper and put the gray grilles on unless it was crashed for a cheap fix but it doesn't look like it was crashed. All the sheet metal appears to be matching and not screwed up.
Also, does anyone have any suggestions on what to coat the body with to keep it from rusting temporarily until I get this whole primer situation sorted out? Or should I wait? I need to figure out how I'm gonna get a compressor, gun, and what primer to go with and it doesn't seem like those are gonna be cheap. I want to strip this car and get this part over with though, I'll obviously be spending a lot of time prepping the car but stripping it is the most time-consuming.

[GTOBOB]

Originally Posted by codyyy

<snip> Also, does anyone have any suggestions on what to coat the body with to keep it from rusting temporarily until I get this whole primer situation sorted out? <snip>

I don't know where you live, but I would join a local Pontiac club if possible, and find a friend with a gun & compressor and shoot the Kirker EP-612/EPC-611 2-gallon kit ("Buy It Now" on Ebay for $79.95, item #250624640920). Alternatively, rent a 2hp/20 gal compressor for a day, and buy a Harbor Freight HVLP gun w/ 20 oz. cup, similar to their #66222, on sale now for $39.99. From what I understand, that's a pretty good primer gun, it comes with a mini-regulator on it, and I bet it's good enough to paint color & clear for your first attempt.

Get a 3M throw-away mask at your local parts store (about $20), and use it.

If you don't shoot over the 612/611 with a high-solids primer within 24 hours, you will have to sand it prior to recoat, but that's not a big deal. Your mission here is to keep the bare metal from rusting, and you'll have bondo work to do as well before shooting a high solids primer. (Here's the web address for the Kirker data sheet that tells you how to use it: http://www.kirkerautomotive.com/images/PDF/ENDURO.pdf).

Unfortunately, you'll have to spend a few bucks here, but that will be true even if you shoot it with poof cans (and completely remove all of that later). I think what I suggest here is pretty cost-effective in the long run.

Good Luck!

[codyyy]

Yeah I'll probably go that route. I live down in San Diego so the rust issue isn't as bad as say, a Michigan winter, but I still would like to get all this stuff done right. I just hate the stripping of the body part and would rather get that over with.
It just seems like there is a small window of time to where I can strip the body, get the primer in order and spray the primer and then maybe paint it as well so I'd like to get everything ready at the same time.

[mike nixon]

i've had bad luck with the durability of Kirker products in the past. That being said Epoxy it now and you can scuff it and bondo over it with no issues.

In the end, do it once, do it right, and be done with it regardless of whose products you use.

Mike

[codyyy]

I'm debating if I should strip the car and take it to someone who knows what they are doing to properly prime and paint it, perhaps help out too so I can learn how to do it. It just seems intimidating, it's a pretty expensive thing to do right and easy to screw up it seems. I'll figure it out.

[mike nixon]

Have you thought about taking a class at a Tech school and using it as a project?

MIke

[codyyy]

I tried taking an ROP class last year on auto body but the class filled up before I could register. It's fine though because I took the welding class instead. However the ROP idea is a good one.

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by codyyy

It just seems like there is a small window of time to where I can strip the body, get the primer in order and spray the primer and then maybe paint it as well so I'd like to get everything ready at the same time.

That's not true. You have a limited amount of time to get epoxy on to the stripped, bare metal but after that, you can take years to finish the body work and get it painted. Just every time you do a repair, sand or grind. get epoxy on that part again.
Just think of it as protecting the metal between repairs. Primer is nothing like multiple coats of old paint when it comes to removing it for whatever reason.
Biggest hassle is the many times you may have to cleanup your painting equipment between sessions.

[codyyy]

After briefly looking online for local quotes on air compressors, I think I'll just buy a used one. I figure once I'm done using the compressor I could probably sell it for what I got it for. I'd like an older one if I could, I found a real nice 50 gallon Brunner for $115 so I might buy it if it is still available.
I'll strip the body and put epoxy on for now.

[GTOBOB]

Originally Posted by codyyy

After briefly looking online for local quotes on air compressors, I think I'll just buy a used one. I figure once I'm done using the compressor I could probably sell it for what I got it for. I'd like an older one if I could, I found a real nice 50 gallon Brunner for $115 so I might buy it if it is still available.
I'll strip the body and put epoxy on for now.

That sounds like an interesting compressor if it's a cast iron 2-stage as described in this link. It may be good for the rest of your life. In doing a little surfing, it appears the Brunner units are no longer made, but the only parts you'll probably ever need are the reed valves, and they are simple strips of shim. I bet they're available. http://www.aircompressoranalysis.com...mpressors.html

[codyyy]

Well today I got the engine and trans pulled out of the car. I'm happy to say it went smoothly despite it being only a one-man thing and thus took a lot longer than I expected. I didn't drop anything or hurt myself in the process so I feel accomplished.
I also went up to the Sherwin Williams Automotive Paint place and got a quote on paint, it would be about $600 for all of the materials from epoxy primer all the way to the clear coat. Not bad since Eastwood I calculated about $600-700 for their two-stage stuff and about $400-500 for their single stage. However I am still debating on if I should do the prep and have it painted or what.
Also, I think I've narrowed the color down to three choices: Nightwatch Blue, Aleutian Blue or Brazen Orange. I wish I was better at Photoshop so I could get an idea on the Nightwatch Blue or Brazen Orange on this car.

[GTOBOB]

For ideas on color, go to http://ultimategto.com, the ultimate GTO picture site.

[codyyy]

Yeah that's where I was looking at the Aleutian Blue cars and the other colors. I just don't see any Brazen Orange '68-72s or Nightwatch Blue ones so it's kinda hard to tell.

[tigercars]

Nightwatch blue is really a dark color. The car on my avatar is indigo blue which is a Chevy pickup color. It's my favorite all time color and easy to match.

[webfoot]

Originally Posted by tigercars

Nightwatch blue is really a dark color. The car on my avatar is indigo blue which is a Chevy pickup color. It's my favorite all time color and easy to match.

I second that, my chevelle is the same color. I picked the color because its the same as my dad's 99 silverado which I really like.