The "BadSunbird"

[cdnvega]

nice job, I wish I had that kind of shop space, LOL

[patrick1151]

WOW all I can say is Thank God my Sunbird doesnt need that amount of rust repair. What a job, keep up the good work. I can hardly wait to see the finished car.

[spyder_xlch]

nice job, I wish I had that kind of shop space, LOL

I wish my shop space was that clean.

[Badsunbird]

Okay, Here it is! "Box Orange", That is what I am calling it! I went to my local Paint & Body Shop supply store yesterday where I have a friend that works there. I used his PhotoMatch system to come up with this color. I took a pic of this color off of a box that he had lying around in his store because I couldn't find a color that I liked in any of the "chip" books. It isn't fluorescent orange, but it is pretty damn close.
It is going to definitely stand out in a crowd. Atleast I won't have to worry about not being able to find my car in the parking lot!
What Do You Think?

[HI WINDING MONZA]

Looks like" Tangier Orange " like Tjcoyote59's Wagon. Doug in AZ

[patrick1151]

It should look great, cant wait to see the finished pictures.

[cdnvega]

Is it done yet LOL!
that color should look great.

[greg72]

LOVE the Orange !!!!!

[Badsunbird]

A little more progress has taken place in the past several weeks. I have managed to get the inside of the rockers sandblasted and primed with weld through primer. Everything is looking good so far. Now I just need to do the same with the floor pan, then I will be ready for the welding part of it.
Hopefully after that is accomplished, weather permitting, I will be able to get the engine compartment and the inside front wheel wells sandblasted and paint all of those things together at once.

[Badsunbird]

I also have gotten my engine block back from the machine shop, so I am ready to blueprint that and get it put together and have it ready to put in when the time comes, and I'm hoping that is only several more months away.
I must also say that I am just simply amazed at how much machining costs have risen. I almost thought that I was buying a new car when I went and picked everything up, The "sticker shock" was a killer !!!

[Badsunbird]

I haven't had much time lately between trips out of town for work and family to work on the Sunbird. So I have had to turn some of the work over to my "Head Mechanic", He has been feverishly working to try and get the engine assembled. Here is a picture of him installing the pistons & con rods into the block. He is in the process of tightening up the connecting rod bolts here I do believe. It won't be too much longer and I'm sure he'll have it all "buttoned up"!

[Badsunbird]

Well I have been pretty busy with work & family as of late, so I decided to take some vacation time this holiday season to try and make everyone happy, including myself (Yea, right!). I have been getting alot of welding accomplished and have finally got the floor pan welded in place approximately 2/3rd's of the way.
Everything fit together very, very well and hasn't been too much of a hassle to speak of. I will most likely have it completely welded in by the 1st or 2nd of Jan. Next it will be getting the 8pt. roll bar & sill bars installed.
Here are a few new pics of the progress that has been made this past week.

[Badsunbird]

I have read a post on this web site talking about how hard it is to weld on these cars and how thin the metal is. I myself don't really have a problem with welding on these little h-body's and the "thickness" of the metal because I do it everyday in my line of work and have gotten used to it.
I would have to say that most of the metal on these cars varies from 20-22 ga. sheet metal and I do mean varies, the thickness of the metal is very inconsistent. But I have posted a picture here of my welder and how I have it set to weld on these cars and hope that it may help some of you in your welding "foes". One thing that I did forget to mention is that I do use shielded solid core wire in my mig which I myself seem to think it helps with bead consistency.

[Badsunbird]

Here are the subframe connectors that I had bought to use on this project, but I just can't seem to be able to cut up the floor to install them after all the work I've had to go through to get the new floor pan and get it installed. That is why I decided to go with the sill bars instead.
I'll just have to keep these for the next h-body project I guess!

[Badsunbird]

FINALLY ! ! !

After a little over a years work of locating and getting a new floor pan, in one solid piece, it is finally installed and all welded in. All that is left to do is spray the underside of the pan with bed liner. I sandblasted the entire bottom side before I started to install it so spraying should be a breeze, in comparison to all the other work that I have had to do.
I have attatched the following series of pictures to show everyone what the final installed floor looks like. I myself am very pleased with how it has turned out!