1981 Trans-Am

[VF101_jay]

The Trans-Am has gone to the shop for repair and paint today, here are some pics of where it was and where it is now...
pic 1 - interior after 3 years of storage, pic 2 - after hours of cleaning, pic 3 - just to see what they should look like, and pic 4 - what it looked like when I took it down.


Two weeks is going to take soooo long to go by...good thing that I have a few small projects to keep me busy, I have some interior plastic that I am going to freshen up with some color match paint that I picked up through NPD...what would be the best paint to use on the plastic grill inserts? also should I go flat or gloss black for the grills?

[Bandit]

I would use flat black, I can't recommend a specific type or brand, just make sure you avoid any hard enamels because they will crack and peel later when they dry.

Good luck with the project!

[Takid455]

looks like a good start. i would use a semi gloss for the grills. dupont, ppg alll carry decent paint. io prefer dupont ot house of kolors. whatever you do, add much flex additive to them as well as your bumpers and spoilers. add this to the primer/ sealer as well.

[VF101_jay]

Thanks for the advice guys, the car itself is going down to a professional shop to have the work done (they have done a few second gen F bodies that I have noticed at local show-n-shines the last few years, and their work seems to hold up). I think I will go with a flat/matt style black finish on the grills. They are in good shape with decent finish, just seem to be a little grayed from age, fresh paint should fix them right up. A couple of other decisions that I am struggling with is whether to paint the headlight trim/rings to match the grills or the body color. And one of the big ones is should I put all of the decals back on, or only the lettering (no bird), or leave it clean? I am leaning toward having dark blue lettering custom made, and leave the bird off (switch to 5.7 liter of course). Any opinions???

[NOT A TA]

SEM Trim Black is available in spray cans and gives the matte look and dark black color of trim on newer cars. It holds up very well over long periods of time even on a daily driver. I've used it on many of my cars over the years with no problems on plastic grills.
If you paint the headlight surround the same as the grills the lights might seem dimmer than they did before because the light isn't reflected as much. At least thats what seemed to happen when I blacked out the trim buckets on my 74 Camaro headlights.
As for the decals IMO they look good on restored /restified cars with stock color paint jobs and wheels but on modified birds they draw attention away from the smooth muscular bodylines and cool wheels like the one in the your pic. And most people know its a TA (or Camaro) LOL
Looks like a nice project you've got going!
John

[VF101_jay]

Thanks for the info John, and with the way you put it...the clean look (no decals) would update the feel of the car, I think you are right and it would be best left with no dacals (hard to ignore the advice of a guy who has his car on the cover of Hot Rodding Magazine!...lol). As for the light surrounds...I will only be driving this car in the city, so I am not to worried about the brightness (they were painted black from factory also).

[VF101_jay]

painted some interior pieces today, think they are going to turn out nice with a few more coats...before and after shots.

[Roger Poirier]

Progress! I love those SEM spary cans.

[VF101_jay]

Got my car back today, I am happy with it, I think the color looks good and I really like the rims on it. Any suggestions of anything that looks wrong or missing?

[NOT A TA]

Sweet! Like the wheels, good choice! Did you eliminate chrome trim on the rear edge of hood and fenders?

[69TAPoser]

Very nice! I like the color.

Personally, I think that color would look great with the decals back on it.

Phil

[68Formula]

What a difference. Have to agree with 69TA, with the decals it would even look better.

[Martin71RS]

looks good! I would lower it a bit though, otherwise it's a clean car.
Martin

[curly]

Looks great, I really like the color!! The wheels look good but I would trade them out for a set of factory snowflakes or the ones like were on the pace car T/A (I am a fan of factory wheels). Decals would also look awesome!

[WS6]

Nice color. Have to agree on the decals though. You don't need them all, but some just to break things up would look nice. Maybe tint the windows too. That has a huge impact on how a car looks.

[VF101_jay]

Thanks for the input guys, it has a blue interior so I was tossing arround the idea of putting just the bird decals back on, just in a darker blue than factory. But after seeing the bandit edition car that year one did, I have been thinking that having the birds painted on in a matt finish of the same color as the body might look wild too. That will have to wait though, topped out the budget for this year...lol. I agree that the factory wheels can look good on these cars (I have collected quite a few sets for this car over the years, the turbo's it came with, a set of honeycombs and a set of rally's off of a 79 TA) but I wanted something a little more agressive with a modern look, but still had that retro musscle car feel...so I went for the Boss 304's. By the way, for anyone else out there putting rims on, the 5" backspacing on this car (stock suspension W/4wheel disk) leaves lots of clearance with 245/40/18's.

[Tony_SS]

It's just begging for a shaker hood, 2" drop, black/dark blue decals, window tint and you've got a solid ride. Nice job!

[79_GBody]

Lower it

[68Formula]

Actually instead of lowering it, I think if you could add another 1-2" tire diameter it would fill the wheelwells better (which will also give a lower appearance) and give it a more proportional wheel to tire sidewall.

[O'Neall]

By the way, for anyone else out there putting rims on, the 5" backspacing on this car (stock suspension W/4wheel disk) leaves lots of clearance with 245/40/18's.

Looks good... what's the width of your 18" rims? 8? 9?