1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby 79MonzaSpyder » Sat Oct 02, 2021 4:27 pm

Looks nice. Lots of work though. The thing with body work, is if you do a shitty job it looks like crap and everyone points it out. If you spend a zillion hours making it look perfect everyone looks at it and says nothing because it just looks like it should but they fail to comprehend how much work went into making it look that good. I alway find body work to mostly be self satisfaction as I’m very picky and I know how much work it took to look like that.
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Tue Oct 05, 2021 3:57 pm

79MonzaSpyder wrote:Looks nice. Lots of work though. The thing with body work, is if you do a shitty job it looks like crap and everyone points it out. If you spend a zillion hours making it look perfect everyone looks at it and says nothing because it just looks like it should but they fail to comprehend how much work went into making it look that good. I alway find body work to mostly be self satisfaction as I’m very picky and I know how much work it took to look like that.


Yep! 100%!!! I bet I have 50 hours in this silly thing.
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Tue Oct 05, 2021 4:00 pm

Getting closer. I put a bit of epoxy primer on it but the $26 catalyst primer ran out before it was fully coated. :-(

I showed a lot of small pin holes and voids that need attention so I will do some more filler work, sand it again, add add more primer.

tp12.jpg


...But it is really looking good so far. Doug Bashur made a really good part.

How it looked when I first bought it.

TPold.jpg

To first fitting.

first fit.jpg
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Sat Oct 09, 2021 6:12 pm

Finally happy with the tail panel. Had a few pin holes to attack but it is looking good in its epoxy primer.

Tail1.jpg

Tossed on the spoiler just for motivation. Well...it is just sitting on the open hatch.

tail2.jpg

Rear view.

Tail3.jpg
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby zeke » Sun Oct 10, 2021 6:38 am

Tail panel looks great :th:
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Fri Oct 15, 2021 11:57 am

zeke wrote:Tail panel looks great :th:


Thanks, Zeke!! I hope to have it primed and blocked soon. I am considering painting it now...or at least the backside of it.

tail1.jpg


Or I will get distracted and work on other stuff.... :lol:
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Fri Oct 15, 2021 12:06 pm

So.....Hey look something other than tail panel... I got distracted and worked on the original hatch latch.

The original was pretty dirty but it functioned pretty well still.

Lock1.jpg

I blasted it clean in the blast cabinet.

lock2.jpg
lock3.jpg

Then painted it with my aerosol color matched can.

Lock5.jpg

Came out great and functions very well.

I am sending the original lock, which also still worked but was corroded, to a friend to rebuild. I had one key for it and one original door lock too. He will rebuild them and send them back like new. I bought some new locks but they were not quite the same as the originals. I couldn't find a correct hatch lock either.
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Fri Oct 29, 2021 2:41 pm

I moved on to cleaning the door latches and painting some jambs on the car.

The RH door latch is out of a 1976 Starfire. It was pretty dirty and had some corrosion. It even still have one screw left in it with a small chunk of the door. I had to use some PB Blaster and a bit of heat to get that out. Once cleared, I dropped it into some carburetor cleaner overnight. That got most of the filth off but there was some corrosion that needed some attention. I hit these areas with the blaster. Once cleaned, It was thoroughly blown out, sprayed out with brake clean, dried, and lubed inside and out with Fluid Film. I am impressed with how well it came out.

latch1.jpg

The jambs were all taped off for paint. Everything sanded with 320 grit and cleaned up. I was actually going to just paint this with single stage like I did with engine compartment. However, the paint store sold me base coat. Once I figured out why the paint wasn't shiny, I got the correct clear coat and sprayed the jambs again with clear. I am really impressed with how easy this was and how well it came out.

tail.jpg
jambs1.jpg
jambs2.jpg

Tossed in a door striker.

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

Postby RedFiveKBS » Sat Nov 13, 2021 9:46 am

Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of dragging this thing home.

I drove 8+ hours from NE Ohio to North Carolina to get this car. I really only wanted it for the front valance...which turned out to be junk. It became my project.

Day one.jpg

Rolled it into my garage about a month after bringing it home and completely tore it down to the shell. There wasn't a single nut or bolt left on the car.

Day two.jpg

Lot of blasting, patching, refurbishing, and painting later....it isn't close to being done. haha...

Day 1827.jpg
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Sat Nov 13, 2021 10:02 am

After a year or more of hunting for a refinished set of 15x7 snowflakes, I found this set. They looked great in the pictures so I drove five hours to get them. In person, they were not as nice. The wheel itself was in great shape but the paint was flaking off and had been repainted once or twice and really didn't look that great.

Wheel before.jpg

Since I was out in Indiana and planned to stop to see Larry Leitz to have my locks rebuilt, I showed the wheels to Larry. He told me that he had his 13 inch snowflakes refinished by a local company and offered to have them done for me. They came out great! The center cap is a 1980-81 cap used on Bonnevilles with the snowflake wheels. I have two, have a third on the way, and hunting a fourth. They are not easy to find but they mimic the 13" snowflake center caps and feel right to me versus the Trans Am center caps.

Wheel 1.jpg

The needed a bit of sanding out of the hub holes to clean off the clear coat. Once that was cleaned up they fit perfectly.

Wheel 2.jpg

I mentioned above Larry offered to rebuild my locks. I had one original key and the hatch lock cylinder. I pulled two door cylinders from my 1980 donor Monza as the 1980 Formula hatchlock would be coded the same letter, D in this case. My original key fit the donor locks but obviously they were not keyed to the lock. Larry cleaned these cylinders, rebuilt them, and rekeyed them for me. He even got me some GM key blanks! :-)

keys.jpg
locks.jpg


Larry is an awsome guy and I cannot thank him enough for helping me with the locks AND the wheels. Go check out his rebuild thread! viewtopic.php?t=41287
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby zeke » Sat Nov 13, 2021 10:11 am

Wheels look f'n awesome eh! I prefer the Pontiac V in the center cap too. :th: :th:
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Fri Dec 03, 2021 3:50 pm

I decided to chronical the project on YouTube.

Episode 1 is out. Episode 2 is out today. Episode three next Friday. I hope to post one a week or so.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa8nHY ... v8rpFJZfvQ
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby 283vega » Sat Dec 04, 2021 8:08 am

Hey Ive followed your build and just watched the videos. Not bad!
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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby HI WINDING MONZA » Sat Dec 04, 2021 12:24 pm

zeke wrote: I prefer the Pontiac V in the center cap too. :th: :th:


You mean "Arrowhead" Zeke! ( Pontiac men know this) :shock:

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Re: 1980 Pontiac Sunbird Formula: Project Phoenix

Postby RedFiveKBS » Fri Dec 31, 2021 9:00 am

Six episodes are out and a few, what I called "Sunbird Shorts!" are out. :D

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa8nHY ... v8rpFJZfvQ
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