"official" 79 spyder build

[79 spyder]

hi, I'm Jordan and i am the proud owner of a 79 Monza spyder. I'm 15 and this is my first car. Ok so to start this off i would like to make a short list of goals i have for the car.

1.(Body work) As of right now all I've done to the car is rip the interior out. The is really floor rotten (ill post pictures later) so my first priority is fabricating new floor pans. Then i want to go around the entire car and fix all the rust and dents on the car. The body of the car actually has more dents than rust there are really only two major spots where the rust has eaten through the metal.

2.(interior) Next is to get the interior all back into the car. The interior is probably one of the worst areas on the car. A lot of the interior was destroyed by some idiot who tried to install a stereo system so I'm going to have to get creative. The dash pad it self is not bad could use re-gluing in some spots but there are no rips or cracks. The dash is in need of repair, a lot of the fake brushed metal looking plastic is cracked or broken so I'm going to replace it with Aluminum or something. The car is going to get all new carpet and the original seat put back in which are in REALLY good shape I'm surprised that anyone even sat in them!

3.(Drive train) My approach to this is to build everything as cheap as humanly possible but without building it cheaply (if that makes any sense). In other words i want all quality parts but at the cheapest price. For example for about a year now i have be scanning kijiji (The Canadian craigslist) and have already found some great deals like a 350 out of a 93 chevy pickup 158000km for $50 or a 200r4 tranny less than 5000km on a rebuild for $200 or a late 90s vintage Holley 650DP and an Edelbrock EPS intake for $100 which i ended up selling the intake for $150 and my personal favorite a set of 906 casting Vortec heads for free! although they are in need of a rebuild PLUS the car already came with some brand new parts (new radiator, electric cooling fans, new starter, performance fuel pump, and more!)

4.(paint) For paint i was planning on something simple just a gloss black paint job. Something i could do myself or that i wouldn't have to pay a shop much to do for me.

5.(drive it!) I want to drive this car as much as possible and have fun with it take it to the strip and car shows and even to go get groceries Tuesday's!

[sportriderok]

Sounds like a good build, Jordan. You have planned out what you want to do well. Keep hitting the ads, you'll find more bargains than you can take advantage of. Post lots of pics and keep us updated as you get going.

[vegastre]

My approach to this is to build everything as cheap as humanly possible but without building it cheaply (if that makes any sense).

Great post! That just sounds smart to me. Throwing away stupid money is easy to do. Building a car smartly and within budget is not only hard but will test your skills. By that I mean used parts need special attention to detail. I say that, new parts from China require the same =) Look forward to reading about your progress.

[duckblaster67]

Sounds good, but I'd go with a lighter color paint if you're planning on doing it yourself. The reason is that black shows EVERY imperfection where light colors aren't as noticeable.

[79 spyder]

thanks for all the good feed back guys! well as i promised here is the pictures.


The man underneath the car is my dad who will be assisting throughout the build.




I don't even know how someone made this dent or how I'm going to fix it.


And now for the worst spot on the car tada!




This is right behide the left front tire.


The engine bay which Actually looks really nice when its cleaned up!


THE ORIGINAL BUILD SHEET! According to this my car is original Spyder sold out of West Castle Motors in Pincher Creek Alberta. It has almost no options which is great cause then theres less crap to break and she has 3.08 gears out back.

[bbcowboy]

I got to say something....it's good to a a father and son working together on a project. Keep up the good work...

[Wizeguyrc]

I hope you stay the course and see your project through until the end. Never give up.

BTW, am I the only one who noticed he called something from the late 90's "vintage"? lol

[79 spyder]

I hope you stay the course and see your project through until the end. Never give up.

BTW, am I the only one who noticed he called something from the late 90's "vintage"? lol

Although the term vintage is often associated with being old it does no necessarily mean its old it just referrers to the time period in which something was created BUT it was just a play on words cause the thing looks like its from the 50s or 60s cause of all the oxidization and discoloration but i looked up the VIN and it is from sometime in the 90s I'm was just guessing late 90s cause of the car it was taken off of

[Wizeguyrc]

Hope you didn't think I was criticizing.
Just thought it was telling on me, to think of 13 years ago as yesterday and knowing when I was 15,
when someone said "13 years ago", it seemed like a lifetime.

[79 spyder]

Hope you didn't think I was criticizing.
Just thought it was telling on me, to think of 13 years ago as yesterday and knowing when I was 15,
when someone said "13 years ago", it seemed like a lifetime.

I didnt think you were criticizing that was just my definition Nazi kicking in haha

[79 spyder]

Hi guys just a little update, I haven't been able to get much done in the last in the last 2 weeks or so cause its been COLD like sub 0 tempatures lol most I've been buying supplies and and doing research. I bought some some sheets of metal for the floor pans, I also bought some 3M panel bonding addhessive(not for the floor pans but for other small panels in the car) if I get a warm enough day I'm gonna go to the Iron Orchard and get all the stuff I need for a 5-lug swap and then there is a rusty old skyhawk that I'm gonna try and get some decent parts off of.

[79 spyder]

Well now that Christmas is out of the way I have time to get stuff done . Today was very productive, I got the right side floor pan ready for rust neutralizer and new sheet metal.The floor was actually in a lot better shape than i ever thought it was! even on the left side all the floor supports were solid and the uni-body was completely rust free hopefully tomorrow I'll have to left side prepped for rust paint and new sheet metal!

BEFORE




AFTER




looks pretty damn good I'm getting really excited!

[Vega45]

Looks like you have a good base to work with guys have a lot less to work with and they make it work good luck if we can help let us know. As I was looking at you pictures i did notice that you have you car sitting up on stacked 4x4 's and concrete blocks not to safe when you start prying on bolts and hammering on diffrent things when laying under the car.I maybe a little out of place in saying this I just don't want to see you ar your Dad hurt if the car falls.

[79 spyder]

Looks like you have a good base to work with guys have a lot less to work with and they make it work good luck if we can help let us know. As I was looking at you pictures i did notice that you have you car sitting up on stacked 4x4 's and concrete blocks not to safe when you start prying on bolts and hammering on diffrent things when laying under the car.I maybe a little out of place in saying this I just don't want to see you ar your Dad hurt if the car falls.

ya its just up on blocks for when we are working above the car so that we don't have to bend over so far but when we go underneath for extended periods of time we put axle stands up. I was actually wondering when someone would comment on that.

[Vega45]

i am glad i did offen you i just didn't want to see a h-body friend get hurt. here is a set up i made to roll my car around and to get it high enought to work on .