Fastmax's Mirage

[bill1978v8]

Very nice work! I love the frame rails, very nice design.

Bill

[80 MONZTA]

Wow, that is looking really good.
What size steel did you use for the frame rails? In some pic's they look square, and others they look rectangular.
Any pic's from the side, how far do they extend below the pinch weld?

[Fastmax32168]

Monzta, the frame rails are 2 inch square stock. I would say they stick about .5" below the pinch weld metal. Rather than weld all along the bottom, I drilled holes every inch along the pinch metal and welded through it so it is nice and clean along the bottom.
The cross rails are 2x3 and are bolted through the floor with a plate on top rather than welded.
Roy

[Fastmax32168]

As I work with these Mirage panels it seems pretty obvious that the intent of the original designer was to bond them on. There is even a bonding strip on the back of them at the top edge. I located the panel where I wanted it with screws in the fenderwell and spoiler holes, then scribed a line along the top so I could see its location once I removed it. Then I ground about a 3/8" wide strip all along the top and front edge.



Using a two part epoxy product by SEMS called "Multi purpose panel adhesive" I filled this area and pressed the panel into place. This stuff is ridiculously tough, you cannot even pick it off with a screwdriver. It seems to have a tenacious grip on the plastic. Some creative clamping was required to hold it all down tightly.



One thing I learned about the mirage panels is that they have quite a bit of memory. Apply some heat with a heat gun to a warped area and they will pretty much straighten themselves back to their origonal shape. Or if you really heat them up you can convince them to stay somewhere else. In this pick below the panel was sticking 1/2" or so away from the fender lip. I heated it up at the bend and clamped it into place util it cooled. Now they are nice and tight together.



As further proof of my theory that these were origonally designed to be bonded on, look at the lineup of the factory quarter panel and spoiler installation. Then compare it to the one below it where I have the two bonded on. Look Ma, no Rivits!

[Fastmax32168]

If you hope to have anything resembling a straight body out of these panels, massive amounts of bodywork are going to be required. In order to assure that the needed filler got a good strong grip I basically had to sand away the top layer of the plastic with 40 grit. Even under the paint you can see how the top layerstill degraded over the years. Compare the color of the fresh plastic on the sanded spoiler to the non sanded quarter panel.



Here is the worlds greatest automatic sanding machine and best wife. Now how many of you can get yours to help you sand your car?




A lot of plastic filler is going to be necessary to get these to look the way that makes me happy. You can see by what is showing through my block work just how wavy stock mirage panels are. Which sort of explains why they painted them all white....




It is actually starting to look like a whole car again.

[72vega5.3]

Looking good man

[72 SS PNL]

its gonna be sweet once its finished

pretty good wife ya got too

[greg72]

Creful Roy, you keep tempting me with these build shots and Iwill have to bring mine over to you for the final panel fitment and paint!

Seriously though, your Mirage is coming along nicely! Great Job!

[Racin Jason]

Very nice. Your the reason im thinking about using my mirage rear panels in my current build. Let me know how the filler and panel adhesivfe works. I've beeen talking to my body supplier and he says the stuff has greatly improved in the last couple years. Good luck and nice build.

[AusRs]

I like your work

[Fastmax32168]

Well I got tired of sanding and decided to work on the wheels this weekend. I wanted something that looked like the factory would have put it on the Mirage, even if they didnt. I think the mid 80s Z28 wheels are pretty recognizeable as Chevy wheels and figure most peopls will see them and assume they belonged on there. So I cleaned up an old set, polished the fronts, painted them white and stuck an American flag in the middle of the center cap. this turned out to be project all in itself. Very tedious and time consuming. The polishing and taping took forever. But I figure if it is going to look like a giant Hot Wheels car I might as well keep up the theme.

[72 SS PNL]

not sure i like the flag center , smaller flag i think would be better , but the rest looks good

[Fastmax32168]

I am not sure about it either, but I am holding off removing it until I see it as a part of the whole, when Red, White, and Blue is everywhere.
I dont even think the wheel looks good in that picture, but in person its a whole different deal. I tried taking another picture but it looks the same, I guess its not very photogenic.
Roy

[80 MONZTA]

I can almost smell the fresh paint in this pic.

[Fastmax32168]

You know, sanding and bodywork is really trying. It takes a long time to feel like you have really gotten anything accomplished. Sometimes you just have to go with the easy job, that doesnt take long at all, and makes you feel that you have really made progress.