1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

[RedFiveKBS]

Oh....the WORST part of this process is the clean up. I was left with a literal beach in my driveway. The sand/glass was more than an inch deep and was packed down. It took me several hours to clean it up and its still not 100% clean. The wife is not pleased. LOL

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[OldsStarfire]

$1,000 done on your premises is not bad! It would be so great to start from a freshly blasted shell.

[Bullet]

Heaps of admiration and encouragement.

[RedFiveKBS]

Heaps of admiration and encouragement.

$1,000 done on your premises is not bad! It would be so great to start from a freshly blasted shell.

Thanks guys! It will certainly make working on the underside a whole lot nicer. Still blowing out dust. LOL

Started patching the floors yesterday. I need to get some electric shears today because cutting patches with the cutoff wheel is a pain in the butt.

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Remember the one good chunk of floor from the Donor Monza? Well, that got welded into the car. Had to torch off a lot of the undercoating but it was nice to weld in a matching pan rather than fabricate this one. It needs a few patches and some more welding but it looks like it belongs there.

Still a lot of patch work to do on the floor. Hope to get more knocked out today.

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Just for fun, I threw on the fenders. I sort of like the idea of clear coating the car, putting on the Formula graphics, and driving it! Leave all the little dents and holes. Nah... I'll just keep plugging away.

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[RedFiveKBS]

I'm going to need a vacation from my vacation after this week.

Finished burning in the donor pan from the Monza. I did an overlap joint because of the differences in the floors (and my skill level ). Its welded from the top and on the bottom so it isn't going any where.

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There appeared to be a piece missing from the passenger side "frame" rail. It looked like it was snapped off at some point. I mimicked the other side and welded in a patch. As far as I know, nothing was mounted here but I'll look under my other cars.

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Next I worked on trimming the hole in the quarter that needs patched. This will be a fun patch to make. Fortunately, the Donor Monza appears to have a good piece I can use for the outer patch. The inner patch I'll probably have to fabricate. At least it will be hidden away.

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I've had this project for just about 7-months. I feel like I've made some good progress. I thought I'd be further along but I'm learning that it is going to take longer than expected. I just spent nearly two days getting those floor patches in and I still have several more to fabricate. I'm content taking my time and I am enjoying the process. My back, on the other hand, reminds me that I'm not 20 anymore.

Oh...and the rotisserie is the BEST investment I have made. It makes working on the lower parts of the car and the bottom so much easier.

[RedFiveKBS]

Just got back from Chevrolet Nationals in Carlisle, PA. What a blast of a weekend! Met a lot of new H-Body folks and caught up with a bunch of others. Saw a lot of cool cars too.

I spent the last two-weeks getting the two Sunbird coupes in good working order so they'd reliably get us to and from Carlisle. They ran great and made the 800 mile round trip just fine.

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Now, I can get back to the main project finally; Project Phoenix!

I sat in on a Project Management seminar with Lou Santiago and Kevin Tetz (the guys from TV). It was more of a BS'ing session but it was fun and they answered a number of questions from the people in the audience. I asked about using bedliner on the underside of a car. They said it was a great product for that application and Kevin Tetz showed me where he used it on his Zed Sled car that was at the show. Both Lou and Kevin were very open, welcoming, and accommodation to the car people. There was no, "I'm on TV" attitude at all. I felt like I was talking to fellow car guys and buddies.

I had also reached out to UMI Performance on Facebook as they were a sponsor at the event. I told them that a lot of H-body folks were coming to the show and to bring some stuff. They responded and asked what I was looking to get. I gave them the list and half expected it not to be there. When I visited their vendor spot and told the guys there about the conversation on FB they said, "Oh yeah! Singleton, right? Yes, we have stuff for you." and brought out a box with the stuff I asked for on FB. They even gave me a show special price and I saved $50+ off of the items. I picked up the adjustable rear LCA's and adjustable panhard bar. I also asked them to get working on a tubular torque arm for H-Bodies! Great car guys.

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[Monza Harry]

Kevin those look AWESOME but it seems that something is missing in that pic' what could it be? Oh I know wheels and tires and maybe somethin' to bolt them to Those look to be a nice compromise between the "Race Car" we really want and the "Street Car" we can actually drive. Sounds like the whole affair was just one great big Win for everybody!

I sat in on a Project Management seminar with Lou Santiago and Kevin Tetz (the guys from TV). It was more of a BS'ing session but it was fun and they answered a number of questions from the people in the audience. I asked about using bedliner on the underside of a car. They said it was a great product for that application and Kevin Tetz showed me where he used it on his Zed Sled car that was at the show. Both Lou and Kevin were very open, welcoming, and accommodation to the car people. There was no, "I'm on TV" attitude at all. I felt like I was talking to fellow car guys and buddies.

Now the question to ask is: how are we going to get Kevin's head in the room with us now he "Hangs" with the "TV" crowd. That really sounds quite enviable! Really glad you shared and we could all have some fun with this! I'm going to bed now to pout! Harry

[RedFiveKBS]

Kevin those look AWESOME but it seems that something is missing in that pic' what could it be? Oh I know wheels and tires and maybe somethin' to bolt them to

What else is missing? Everything! LOL There is not a single item left bolted to the car at the moment. I'm on vacation week of July 4th so I am hoping to get a lot of metal work done. I need to get the car into epoxy soon for fear of flash rust forming all over the car.

[RedFiveKBS]

Project has resumed!

The left front floor pan was toast. Fortunately, the heavier structure under it was just fine with no real issues. The bottom of the cowl, on the other hand, was pretty horrible. I debated for a while on how to fix this area. I did some archaeology to figure out the pattern of how the different layers were put together and I think I figured it all out.

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After cleaning out the rusty floor pan, I painted the heavier structure with some POR-15. A new floor pan was formed with a flange on the left hand side dropping down to the pinch weld. This is where it was originally. The next piece is the inner rocker panel inside the car. This will also drop down to the pinch weld line. I'll spot weld the floor and the inner rocker together from under the car. I drilled holes to do so. The floor pan was spot welded to the original structure and floors where possible. Then a full weld was run around the seams inside the car and again from the bottom. I'll knock these down with the grinder a bit before priming, seam sealing, and painting.

I need to form up a little "hat" for the cross-member that sits a little proud of the rest of the floor.

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Next steps will be rebuilding the structure of the lower cowl. There are three pieces needed here. One is a deflector of some sort for the cowl drains. I am seriously thinking of making some modifications here to allow for better draining. Then there is an inner plate followed by the outer skin from the wheel well to the rocker. Finally, I will need to rebuild the front and side of the cowl making sure I don't intrude on where the fender will land.

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It looked a lot worse than before I started. Once I peeled all the old crusty metal off I had a good view of how to proceed. Keep on plugging away.

[RedFiveKBS]

Finished welding in the left front floor pan.

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I started working on patching the lower cowl area but ran out of Argon/CO2 for the MIG. Guess I'll hit it again Monday. One plate is tacked in place and I have the second plate started. Also need to get some heavier gauge material for the outer skin at the bottom of the wheel well. Coming along...

I'm on vacation this 4th of July week so hoping to get a lot done. I'd like to have the floors finished, a coat of primer down, and the seam sealer replaced.

[NVEGAR8D]

Hi Red,I had to do the same type of repair on my lower cowl and i've got some pics in my garage site if you want some reference .
nick75vega

[RedFiveKBS]

Hi Red,I had to do the same type of repair on my lower cowl and i've got some pics in my garage site if you want some reference .
nick75vega

Absolutely, Nick! I think I have it sorted but other perspectives and ideas are always welcome!

So this is what the lower cowl looked like after blasting. Pretty ugly and pretty concerning.

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I looked it over and over and feel like I have it sorted and I have started the repairs. The floor and inner rocker are done and I added the first piece of the inner...whatever this is called...area. I ran the welder out of Argon/CO2 so I didn't get any farther on the welding. I have some Eastwood internal frame coating I will be spraying inside before closing up the opening. There is another inner plate that will be welded to the plate shown and run back into the rocker.

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The bottom of the inner fender support was gone like the rest of the lower cowl. This was a fairly easy fab job. I will add a plate to the radius before welding it into the car. The final plate will be heavier gauge metal and follows the contour of this fender support but doesn't actually touch it. The right side of the car is pretty well intact so its my guide here.

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On vacation this holiday week so I hope to get the floors completed and this cowl patch too.

[RedFiveKBS]

Happy 4th of July!

Still no welding gas so I spent some time cutting and trimming some bits for the quarter panel patch. Here is what the hole looked like when I brought the car home.

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I trimmed out all the rusted part before the car was blasted.

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The donor Monza's quarters were in pretty good shape. Well, better than the Formula's quarters anyway. I cut a much bigger patch out of the Donor Monza just to ensure I had plenty of metal to work with on the patch.

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Then I trimmed it down a bit more. Still about 1/2 inch larger than the hole I cut in the Formula. I need to take my time trimming the patch so it fits perfectly into the car so I can make a nice butt weld.

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Of course, the patch piece isn't perfect and will need some patches too. I'll work on cutting these out today and making some new pieces to weld into the patch before installing the full patch.

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I'll hit up the welding shop Wednesday morning so I can get back to welding. I still want to get the cowl patch and floors done this week. Then I will paint inside the car and seam seal everything. I also need to build some internal structure patches in here before welding on the patch panel. I have already formed them up with some card stock so I just need to transfer them into metal. Making progress but still a lot of small patches to go.

[zeke]

Nested patches! lol Looking good dude

[RedFiveKBS]

Nested patches! lol Looking good dude

I got patches, on my patches, on my old blue jeans. Well they used to be blue, When they used to be new, When they used to be clean... AC/DC "Ain't no Fun (Waitin' Around to be a Millionaire)".