1976 Pontiac Sunbird TC

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Re: 1976 Pontiac Sunbird TC

Postby RedFiveKBS » Sat Mar 26, 2016 9:59 pm

I noticed the left hand inner fender just under the overflow tank on my Sunbird was always a little wet after a drive. Upon a closer look I saw a nice crack one the back.

cracked.jpg


Found another one that isn't cracked.

new tank.jpg


Just needs some cleaning.
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Re: 1976 Pontiac Sunbird TC

Postby RedFiveKBS » Sun Mar 27, 2016 8:37 pm

Well...the tank I found is cracked in the same place as my original tank. I guess I'll have to find a way to glue it or seal it.

Since I had nothing else to do, I decided to see how hard it would be to clean these tanks. I took a bit of 000 steel wool and just water. It is amazing how quickly they cleaned up. Look way better than I would have expected. I only spent maybe five minutes on each one.

tank 1.jpg

tank 2.jpg

I did the washer tank the same way but forgot to take a before picture. It looked about as bad as the before picture of the overflow tank.
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Re: 1976 Pontiac Sunbird TC

Postby RedFiveKBS » Fri Apr 01, 2016 12:47 pm

After some soapy hot water and some scrubbing the tank is looking pretty darn good! I also used some goo gone and it took off any stubborn bits of paint, grease, and tar.
tank.jpg

The inside was a bit more challenging. I tried hot soapy water, acetone, vinegar, and bleach. None really worked. Next step was hot soapy water with a bunch of nuts and nails with some vigorous shaking. That worked pretty well but there was still some film inside. I shoved some paper towels inside and stirred them around with a coat hanger and that got most of it out. Still some little spots but a whole lot better than before.
tank2.jpg

Now I just need to fix this crack. Any ideas?
crack2.png
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Re: 1976 Pontiac Sunbird TC

Postby NVEGAR8D » Fri Apr 01, 2016 12:56 pm

Hi RedFiveKBS, I'm not sure what type of plastic the tanks are made from, but if all else fails you can always melt the plastic with a soldering iron and get it to join back together that way. I've done the same thing to body panels and other plastics with reasonable results. It all depends on if you can't find a replacement.
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Re: 1976 Pontiac Sunbird TC

Postby RedFiveKBS » Fri Apr 01, 2016 1:13 pm

NVEGAR8D wrote:Hi RedFiveKBS, I'm not sure what type of plastic the tanks are made from, but if all else fails you can always melt the plastic with a soldering iron and get it to join back together that way. I've done the same thing to body panels and other plastics with reasonable results. It all depends on if you can't find a replacement.
nick75vega

Thanks, Nick. The original in the car is cracked and I was excited to get this "replacement". Sadly, it was cracked in the same damn spot. I'm guessing it is a common issue on the small V6 tanks. I work in the polyethylene world and NOTHING sticks to that. It can only be fused together so your soldering iron idea may be the way to go. I am going to look around to see if I can find something that will work.
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Re: 1976 Pontiac Sunbird TC

Postby Kenova » Fri Apr 01, 2016 4:24 pm

Your best bet is to find a piece of scrap poly as filler and use a soldering iron to fuse it all together.
I've seen RV tanks repaired using a patch disc and a half inch drill. They spun the patch with the drill untill it melted to the tank.
Easy stuff to work with.

Ken
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Re: 1976 Pontiac Sunbird TC

Postby RedFiveKBS » Thu Apr 07, 2016 6:29 pm

Well, I glued my cracked tank with superglue. Seems like its holding but I haven't driven the car since the repair. We will see if it holds up. I'll eventually switch to a V8 long tank that goes on the opposite side and retire this one anyway.

I did pull out my emblems from my old high school car and cleaned them with soap and a magic eraser. They cleaned up nice. I need to find a second fender emblem as my other one is pretty pitted and the plastic sun part has a burn mark in it. I cannot remember how that happened since it was 25+ years ago.

em1.jpg


em2.jpg


I'll buff these a bit more, repaint the flat black part, and then get some good quality 3M double sided tape to put them back on the car.
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Re: 1976 Pontiac Sunbird TC

Postby RedFiveKBS » Wed Apr 13, 2016 4:50 pm

Made another visit to the Wilberts U-Pull-It in Williamson, NY today. Pulled the kick panels (they are vented), the package tray, the windshield washer tank, the brackets to hang the front valence (forgot to grab them last trip), the shifter console (just the little one. not a full length),the glove box insert, and the 1980 grill inserts. I didn't really need or want the inserts but they are really nice and I worried they'd get crushed at some point. The interior pieces have the usual sun fade damage but are in pretty good shape. The rear interior panels were really chalky so I left them in the car.

I am thinking of cutting up the glove box for an audio set up so I needed a donor. :D

The driver side door on this car is rotted on the bottom but the passenger door looks like it is pretty solid if someone is looking for one.

I wanted to pull the axle for a donor for my car but it was way crustier than I expected. Mine is much better and I guess I'll have to use it for the rebuild this fall unless I stumble onto another one near by. I am still debating on swapping it out for something beefier than a 7.5" too.
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Re: 1976 Pontiac Sunbird TC

Postby RedFiveKBS » Sun Apr 17, 2016 9:38 pm

What a beautiful day. It was 75 or so out so I decided to pull out my old non-vented kick panels and install my salvage yard vented ones. They needed some serious cleaning and they were pretty sun faded. I had been wanted to try the SEM interior paint products so I figured this would be a good test.

My old driver's side one was cracked and faded.
original.png

The vented ones were sun faded more so than they appear in this before picture. I pulled out the cable assembly before painting.
before.png

I used the SEM interior paint products. Cleaned with their soap, sprayed the adhesion promoter, and then many light coats of Firethorn Red followed by a few coats of their low luster clear coat. I was very impressed at how well these came out. I needed to test this as I need to pull my dash pad out for repainting. It is complete but the top of the dash is almost black from sun damage. I am very confident that the SEM product will restore my dash pad.
after.png

paint.png

The only issue I had was I broke one of the 40 year old plastic cable assemblies during the reassembly. :x I had to super glue it back together and into the kick panel. You can't tell it was broke but still an aggravation.

Road tested them and they work great! My AC is purely ornamental so the added air flow from these will be welcome this Summer. :th:
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Re: 1976 Pontiac Sunbird TC

Postby RedFiveKBS » Tue Apr 19, 2016 4:52 pm

Installed the kick panels. I failed to clean up the rod that opens/closes the vent. I guess I'll have to go back to do that. :?

kick.png


Still, very happy with the results.
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Re: 1976 Pontiac Sunbird TC

Postby RedFiveKBS » Tue Apr 19, 2016 5:19 pm

Next little project is the infamous front valence panel on the Sunbird. This one was obtained from the car in Willbert's U-Pull it in NY. Unfortunately, it had one of the bolt flanges broke off and a crack 2/3rd of the way through the middle.
v1.png

I tried Gorilla Glue to hold the crack but it simply peeled off. Super Glue seemed to hold it pretty well. This was just a temporary hold. I also added some epoxy on the backside and to the bolt flange that had broke off.
v2.png

The crack needed a little filler.
v3.png

I figured the crack was from either a hit or from the panel not having enough support to prevent it from cracking. I decided that I would add a little reinforcement to the inside of the panel. I used a small 3/16 inch steel rod that I bent in the middle so it tucked up into the backside of the panel. I also added a couple 1/8 inch pieces of flat aluminum plate on the flat bottom of the inside.
v4.png

The reinforcement was fiberglassed into the panel and to add some structural rigidity. The panel is pretty solid now.
v5.png


Just needs a little more filler on the crack and sanding to smooth it all out. I will clean it and use the adhesion promoter I used on the interior panels and picked up some primer made for flexible materials from SEM. A body supply store was able to match my paint color and made an aerosol can for me for $25. I hope to finish the prep and add the paint to it this weekend.

I am tired of looking at my car without its "chin".
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Re: 1976 Pontiac Sunbird TC

Postby Monza Harry » Wed Apr 20, 2016 8:03 am

Hi Kevin here is a thread with the same repair you just did. maybe some ideas could be borrowed or merged for best results. Please keep us posted. Harry viewtopic.php?f=11&t=43344
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Re: 1976 Pontiac Sunbird TC

Postby RedFiveKBS » Wed Apr 20, 2016 3:15 pm

Damn... I wish I would have saw this first. Oh well... I think my super glue/epoxy/fiberglass combo will work but it's not the prettiest. Of course, just the back is messy and it won't be seen once its installed. I just want it to stay together once finished, painted, and installed. :D

I'm not sure these are made from polyethylene. I worked for a company that produced polyethylene conduit and pipe for years and now sell fittings made from the same. Glues do NOT work with PE. It can only be joined in a fusion or mechanically. Glues will not stick to the material. If I still worked at the conduit place I could give a chunk to the lab and they could determine the material for sure.
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Re: 1976 Pontiac Sunbird TC

Postby RedFiveKBS » Wed Apr 20, 2016 3:20 pm

No chin... :(

chin.png


Home from travelling on Friday and hope to have the valance finished and installed.
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Re: 1976 Pontiac Sunbird TC

Postby RedFiveKBS » Sun Apr 24, 2016 8:53 pm

The front Valance is complete and on the car! It came out better than I expected and the car is looking more complete now.

Finished sanding the plastic and sprayed a few light coats of SEM primer for flexible items.
primer1.png

Picked up an aerosol can of color matched paint at my local Autobody Products Inc for $25. The paint color is an excellent match. I was impressed at how well it matched from a rattle can.
preinstall1.png

Finally installed. Even cleaned up the little black air dam.
install1.png

The car looks so much better with this piece installed.
install2.png


Now I have to figure out what my next small project will be. Nothing major until this fall because I want to drive it all summer now.

I guess I'll work on some small details on the interior and clean up the engine compartment a bit. Definitely need to polish up the chrome a bit too.
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