1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Fri Jul 21, 2017 11:13 pm

One more patch done. I had to drill out the seat belt bolt to get the retractable part out. The other side will need drilled out too. Those bolts are not moving at all.

1.jpg
2.jpg

Just one more floor patch to go. Its the entire right rear pan and I was hoping my brother would fab it for me using his bead roller. Its been a month so I'm tired of waiting and its the last piece of the floor. I want to wrap up the floor, paint it, and seam seal is as needed.
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby NVEGAR8D » Sun Jul 23, 2017 12:43 am

Looking great Red, keep it up :th:
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Sun Jul 23, 2017 10:00 am

NVEGAR8D wrote:Looking great Red, keep it up :th:
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Thanks, Nick! I always keep finding more to do.

I had a few small rust holes in the very end of the left C-pillar. Yeah, I'll just weld those up and be done. Nope. Too thin and crusty. I suppose I am GLAD it was because it would have surely rusted through quickly after I painted the car.

holes.jpg

You can see how much crust was under there after I cut the outer sheet metal off.

crust.jpg

I took the wire wheel to it followed by some phosphoric acid. That cleaned it up great. Sprayed on some weld-thru primer to protect it.

c-pillar1.jpg

I had asked a buddy to send me a chunk of one of his cars to cut this piece out of. Then I figured I would try to make the piece just to see how close I could get to the right shape. I was pretty surprised I was able to get it pretty close to the original piece I cutout. The slight bevel at the bottom edge was the most challenging but it wasn't too hard. I put some seam sealer under the patch before tacking it into place too.

c-pillar2.jpg

The other half of the patch was actually more difficult to make. It has five different bends on it and it took several tries to get it close. Some of the gaps were a little wider than I would have liked but it was close. Welded it in slowly so I wouldn't warp anything. I'll knock the welds off next.

c-pillar3.jpg
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Sun Jul 23, 2017 10:15 am

I had a guy send me a pair of 1977 grills. He just asked that I cover the shipping! Nice score. They are in pretty good condition too. I've never liked the 1980 grills. I think they are too shiny, too chrome, and too big. I like the more recessed look of the 1976 and 77 grills much better.

So the 1980 Formula will be getting converted to the 1977 grill. The header panels are slightly different in the grill mounting tabs so it should not be too difficult a change.

grill comparison.jpg
grill1.jpg

I had also picked up two NOS bezels or grill surrounds over the past year too. It is amazing how shiny they are compared to the ones on my other cars. One has a bit of scratch but it is still way better than anything else I will probably find.

grill2.jpg
grill3.jpg

Now...if I could just find a really nice Formula front valance. I have the one off of the car but its pretty beat. I'll try to save it but that's another project for another day.
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Sun Jul 23, 2017 10:17 pm

Spent most of the day at a buddies car show. When I got home my wife made me go with her to pick up a quilt she bought off of Craigslist. Itching to get back in the garage so once we got home I ran out there just to knock the welds down on the patch.

patched.jpg

Its a touch high where the weld is so I have to work on it a bit more. I'm afraid to grind more and make the metal too thin.

I am off to travel through NY state next week for work so I'll be itching to get back in there on Friday.
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Fri Jul 28, 2017 10:38 pm

Good old FeeBay... Located a couple NOS turn signals for the 1977 grills.

grill 1.jpg

All that is left is a new Pontiac emblem for the grill. I ordered the one I thought was correct but it wasn't the right one. Found another and I think it is the right one.

emblem.jpg

I already have an NOS Pontiac crest for the middle.

crest.jpg

Hope to spend some time in the garage this weekend. Off to CT next week M-F and then NY/NJ the following week. Ugh...work gets in the way of this project! :lol:
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Sat Jul 29, 2017 10:12 pm

Today was clean the garage (as best I can with all the crap in there) and turn the Formula around. It is time to start working on the right side of the car. The left side is pretty much done for major metal work.

flipped.jpg

The right rear quarter has a pretty good dent and a bunch of small rust holes. I'm going to try to pull it back into shape and patch the worst of this. It looks worse than I think it really is. Certainly not as bad as the left side was. The only advantage the left side had was that I had a decent chunk from the Monza to use as a patch.

quarter.jpg

The left wheel lip was pretty much all intact other than the part in the quarter patch. The right side has a number of spots around the lip that are rotted. The donor Monza had a good wheel lip so I have patch material for these spots.

wheel lip1.jpg

The bottom of the right cowl needs some patching but nowhere near as bad as the left was.

cowl.jpg

Finally, for motivational purposes. I put the header panel together with the 1977 grills, surrounds, and Pontiac crest. Just waiting on the NOS Pontiac emblem for the grill. I am loving the look of the 1977 grill vs the chunky 1980 one. The marker lights I just got from eBay and are NOS too.

grill.jpg

Hoping to get into the garage on Sunday and do some more floor patching.
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby sportriderok » Thu Aug 03, 2017 2:45 pm

Beautiful metal fabrication! You're flying on this one!
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Thu Aug 03, 2017 7:27 pm

sportriderok wrote:Beautiful metal fabrication! You're flying on this one!


Damn work keeps getting in the way! :lol: Travelling for three weeks and only home on the weekends stalls my progress. Planning a home office week the week of 8/14. I need to get the metal fab work done so I can get her in epoxy primer. Flash rust is starting to show up on some spots. I'll clean those down with ospho or blast if needed in small areas.

The plan is to get it into epoxy primer, seal the seams, and spray Raptor Liner on the underside. Then I need to get onto the body panels; doors, fenders, hood, and hatch. Hoping that I'll be ready for paint before the snow flies but I'm not holding myself to that timeline. I want it to come out nice and look great. Lots more to do but I am really enjoying the process.

thanks!
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Mon Aug 07, 2017 10:32 pm

Finally got the last floor pan into the car. My 14-year old nephew made this pan for me. Not bad, huh?

pan1.jpg

It would have been good but I welded it in without paying attention to where the bottom of the pan was located. It needed to go down another inch to rest on the heavier "frame" material. I cut the pan and pushed it back down to the correct location and covered the slice. The rear seat hold down was also rotted underneath so I had to make a second patch here. I was able to pull the old latch and reattach it to the new patch.

pan3.jpg
pan4.jpg

Finished the welds inside the car and rolled it up to finish the seams on the bottom of the patch. Ran out of CO2/Argon so I'll have to wait until the weekend to finish it. Off to NYC for work for the rest of the week. Hopefully my brother can get my tank refilled while I am out since the gas place is closed on the weekend.

pan5.jpg

Before and aft...er...during. Three of the four main floor pans were replaced. The right front was actually good. Also welded up the giant speaker holes with donations from the Monza. Not to mention the firewall patches, the hatch floor patch, and a bunch of other small patches. So glad that the inside metal work is basically complete.

Once I finish welding on the underside, I'll finish the seam sealer and paint the entire inside of the car with some Rustoleum.

pan6.jpg
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby Monza Harry » Tue Aug 08, 2017 1:41 pm

That young man can have a significant metalworking career with that level of skill this early on. Better keep him "IN" your life nice and tight! :th: You are doing very well on that car Kevin even with all of that work distraction! Harry
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Tue Aug 08, 2017 11:56 pm

Monza Harry wrote:That young man can have a significant metalworking career with that level of skill this early on. Better keep him "IN" your life nice and tight! :th: You are doing very well on that car Kevin even with all of that work distraction! Harry


Thanks, Harry. His father (my brother) is one of those guys that can make/fab/fix most anything. I keep telling him he needs to get that boy a project car. I got my first Sunbird at 14 or so. Worked on it for three years but was driving it to high school by the time I was a junior. Learned a lot in the process.

We bought the car for $50 at an auction. It had been sitting in a field for a while and the floors were shot. The stock V6 was dead. We tried to start it but it made a hell of a racket when we tried. Pulled that out (never planned to use it) and tore it apart. One of the rod journals was wore out at least a 1/4 inch or more and the connecting rod was slapping all over the place! It was a sight to behold.

Spent a lot of nights welding in new floors, de-greasing the engine compartment, and cleaning it up. It was a formal window coupe with the half vinyl top. The roof was pretty rusty under the vinyl and, for some reason, I broke out the side windows and figured it would be cool to just weld them closed. Yeah...I was 15. LOL

I still remember rebuilding the 327 chevy and putting it into the car. It was determined that it was a 1965 dated Corvette block and, to a 15 year old me, that was super cool. Had a nice set of heads machined to 1.60/2.02 valves. When we put the heads on the engine and the engine into the car we realized that they didn't have accessory holes. Hmmm...Power steering? Don't need that! Converted it to manual steering. It was a blast to drive. It only ran 14.20's or so in the quarter but that was pretty quick in 1990-91. Undefeated in its street racing glory.

Ahhh....to be 16 again. Great memories and I hope my brother does pick up a project for his son.

hs car.jpg
hs car2.jpg

Later, it got turned into a drag only car with a full cage, fuel cell, completely gutted interior, and a 12-bolt with 4:88 gears. It was also the first car I ever painted. It came out pretty bad but still it was a fun process. I raced it for about a year before spinning a bearing and parking it. Let it sit for a year or two and sold it. I wish I never sold it. I wish I never turned it into a drag only car. Still, there were a lot of lessons learned in the process. I wish I could find the car. I never saw it again after I sold it. I always assumed I would see it around but never did. That was probably 25-years ago. Still looking...
drag.jpg
drag2.jpg
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby Monza Harry » Wed Aug 09, 2017 8:42 am

RedFiveKBS wrote:Ahhh....to be 16 again. Great memories and I hope my brother does pick up a project for his son.
Kevin as for the quarter window treatment if you were closer to my age those fillers would have had a set of "Van" bubble windows of my teen years fame [think of the ultra popular tear drop ones my brother and I bought for our Dad's Van] I definitely get the "Panel" look thing, I have been a "Van/Panel" LOVER since it WAS COOL and before [my Suburban (panels first then the downward spiral from there) thing goes back to about age 6, 1968 so I got it BAD] Yeah he is at the ripe age for a project! I think he needs a Panel! :lol: :twisted: As for the rest of your story I'll take the fifth as it is too close to reality to comment without further incriminating myself! :lol: Harry
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Sat Aug 12, 2017 11:07 pm

Glad to be home from travelling for work. Fortunately, my brother dropped off his spare co2/Argon tank for me and I got a LOT done on Saturday.

Finished welding the bottom side of the right rear floor pan and repaired the area over where the rear tie down is located. Not sure what this spot is really called but it is were they tied them down at the factory I guess.

floor.jpg

The left side tie down was a whole lot worse. It had a pretty good piece rusted out but, surprisingly, the metal that was remaining was very solid.

rebuilt1.jpg

I peeled off the outer skin to get to the heavier metal underneath.

rebuilt2.jpg

Used the cutoff wheel to cut out the thinnest area. Then welded in a piece of 3/16" plate. The MIG burned it in nicely when set to its highest setting.

rebuilt3.jpg

Finally, I replated the area and cut out the opening for the tie down. It was a much easier project than I expected it to be.

rebuilt5.jpg

The floors are basically complete now and I hope to have the inside painted with a coat of Rustoleum tomorrow.
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Wed Aug 16, 2017 4:52 pm

Hard to believe I've had the car 9 months now. Here is a picture of when I brought it home to just the other day.

9months.jpg

The floors are finally completely patched. I gave the whole floor and up under the dash a coat of Rustoleum for protection.

floor.jpg

Next projects are on the right side of the car. I figured the rocker patch would be a good spot to start. It had a number of small pin holes along the top edge of the bend going under the car. I considered welding them up but wisely decided to cut a piece out to fix it the best way.

rocker1.jpg

It was packed from end to end with mouse nest that was, most likely, made from all the insulation that used to be in the car. There were also a whole lot of nuts and shells. All that crap (literally) was vacuumed out. I also sprayed in some phosphoric acid and scrubbed it out as best I could. After a couple of days, I sprayed in the rest of my Eastwood internal frame coating. This material is supposed to encapsulate rust.

rocker2.jpg

Took my time stitching in the panel and cooling it with compressed air. It still warped a bit but not horrible. It will need some filler to blend it out.

rocker3.jpg

Next up...more patching on the right side. This side is no where near as bad as the left side was.

Patches:
Small hole in wheel well by cowl.
bottom plate of cowl.
top access hole I cut into the cowl.
Several wheel lip patches (donated from the Donor Monza).
Bottom rear of the right quarter. I have a guy sending me a piece I can use.

I really need to get this patching done and the shell into epoxy primer. Hoping to have it in primer by September. :th:
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