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General => User Rides => Topic started by: Eliminator on January 29, 2010, 10:27:12 PM

Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Eliminator on January 29, 2010, 10:27:12 PM
SO here is my car. A 1986 Ford Thunderbird V8. Bought it for $700. I purchased it because I started school in September for Automotive collision and refinishing and what a great example to learn on. It was an old man's car. The front was obviously fixed poorly but after starting to work on her, we found more and more. The bondo on the driver's door was almost 2" thick so I opted to get a new door. More bondo was found on the the drivers side wheel arch. It was a good repair so we are going to to fix it. Apparently the old man used it as a bumper car. We think he backed up with the door open and peeled it forward. The plan is to paint it like a 35th Anniversary Edition Tbird. Black, titanium and blue. Let me know what ya think. Updates as I do them
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: daminc on January 29, 2010, 10:46:49 PM
nice project.... Can't wait to see updates. Hmmm... Maybe you can turn it into a convertible while it's there for extra practice. lol
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: 1Bad88tbird on January 29, 2010, 11:12:35 PM
Sounds like it's going to be a nice project. Good luck with it.
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: hypostang on January 29, 2010, 11:17:04 PM
Good luck but more importantly have fun :D
Title: Update
Post by: Eliminator on February 04, 2010, 08:40:34 PM
Man, Ford sure didnt want these things to rust. They also never intended for the molding to come off, that glue was crazy strong. Except where the old redneck used Dry wall screws to hold it on. We have to remove the rear glass to fix some well rust and some trim clips and pegs but the work is proceeding well
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Eliminator on February 04, 2010, 08:42:25 PM
I thought about a convertible but changed my mind and Im def having fun!
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: daminc on February 04, 2010, 09:47:55 PM
Quote from: Eliminator;309234
Man, Ford sure didnt want these things to rust. They also never intended for the molding to come off, that glue was crazy strong. Except where the old redneck used Dry wall screws to hold it on. We have to remove the rear glass to fix some well rust and some trim clips and pegs but the work is proceeding well


I believe that black E coating was only on aftermarket panels. none of the panels I ground down ever had that. They had a redish brown primer coat on them.  Was that the door you ground down?
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Watchdevil on February 04, 2010, 09:51:54 PM
Looks like a great project! Looking forward to the final results!
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Eliminator on February 05, 2010, 02:15:34 PM
yeah but most of the body had it. My teacher said it was the corrosion protection. The white door is off a southern 85. But like I said the old man probably hit everything at one point but the passenger side looked all original. The repairs on the drivers side was evident. The inferior paint and clearcoat that was falling off.
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: daminc on February 05, 2010, 11:22:40 PM
Cool, I heard stories about certain cars getting diff. primers for the areas that they were to be shipped and sold. My car doors actually started rusting when the car was only 2 years old. It never had that coating on it.
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Eliminator on February 07, 2010, 11:51:39 PM
yeah this Tbird was bought and sold here locally in Georgia. The Thunderbird I got the door, front fender and front clip off of Im not sure. But its funny that the front finder was rusting some. Im still trying to figure out what to paint the grille headlight buckets and trim. I dont want them to distract from the all black paint job (like a 35th Anni Tbird) but the 86's lines arent as clean or slabbed either.
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Eliminator on March 07, 2010, 12:18:25 AM
Some more pix of the progress. Had to cut holes at the bottom of the window in back where water collected and rusted em out. My first welding ever, and I did the patch holes. Two valuable lessons were learned, one rear deck speakers that are 24 years old are flammable and always use a welding blanket! lol:flame:
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Eliminator on March 07, 2010, 12:20:42 AM
and here she is, almost ready for paint. almost. shes wet sanded with 500 grit
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: ProTouring442 on March 07, 2010, 06:07:14 AM
You're getting there!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: vinnietbird on March 07, 2010, 07:19:25 AM
Nice work,keep it up.I like to saa a car come together.I need to take all of my pics and make a big picture album.
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Romeo2k on March 07, 2010, 08:10:49 AM
Quote from: Eliminator;312974
Some more pix of the progress. Had to cut holes at the bottom of the window in back where water collected and rusted em out. My first welding ever, and I did the patch holes. Two valuable lessons were learned, one rear deck speakers that are 24 years old are flammable and always use a welding blanket! lol:flame:


Good Work, Now come fix mine! :rollin:
I have rust issues n the same spots, The only major body rust I've encountered so far.. :punchballs:
Title: more work pix
Post by: Eliminator on April 22, 2010, 09:04:48 AM
here are more pix. Have to repaint driver's side (can see through it in strong sunlight) and I messed up on some clearcoat. Heres a shot of the seat theme too
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: shorangerbird on April 22, 2010, 09:44:53 AM
-nice work!
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: joefriday on April 23, 2010, 02:30:46 PM
Man...LUCKY!  Lol.  I've always wanted a silver 86 V8 TBird, with red interior, for a sleeper car build.  HO conversion with Ported E7s, Tmoss ported lower, roller rockers, extrude honed exhaust manifolds, true dual exhaust, and a hidden under manifold nitrous kit.  Stock interior.  Widened stock steelies for the rear.  That would be a fun ride.
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Clintd on April 23, 2010, 07:32:58 PM
Quote from: joefriday;319409
Man...LUCKY!  Lol.  I've always wanted a silver 86 V8 TBird, with red interior, for a sleeper car build.  HO conversion with Ported E7s, Tmoss ported lower, roller rockers, extrude honed exhaust manifolds, true dual exhaust, and a hidden under manifold nitrous kit.  Stock interior.  Widened stock steelies for the rear.  That would be a fun ride.

It would cost more in machine work for the E7's then it would just to pick up a set of GT40's off of a 97 explorer.
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: daminc on April 23, 2010, 08:19:40 PM
There's a lot of car painting going on around here this year.... Good job on the car
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: joefriday on April 24, 2010, 12:30:32 AM
Quote from: Clintd;319429
It would cost more in machine work for the E7's then it would just to pick up a set of GT40's off of a 97 explorer.


You miss the point.  GT40s have external features that make them identifiable.  E7 vs E6?  Almost impossible.
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Eliminator on April 24, 2010, 08:18:37 PM
wait 97 Exploders' heads were GT40s???
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Clintd on April 24, 2010, 10:22:42 PM
Quote from: joefriday;319464
You miss the point.  GT40s have external features that make them identifiable.  E7 vs E6?  Almost impossible.


The three bars on the front of the heads are Coverd by the accessories and if you realy want stelth you could grind the "GT" off of the corner of the head. The plugs are in the same position on GT40 heads.
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: vinnietbird on April 24, 2010, 11:17:17 PM
Quote from: Eliminator;319591
wait 97 Exploders' heads were GT40s???


Most of them .The early 97's if I remember right.After that,GT40-P heads...which,I finally have.The "P" heads are great,and the plug angle is different.More centralized.The BBK shorty headers (unequal length) are working great as well.Mine were ported and etc.
Title: some taillight mods
Post by: Eliminator on May 21, 2010, 10:52:37 AM
Heres some of the work I did on the Birds tailights which were not bright. I painted them with CHROME (lol) paint and they look pretty good. Its easy to remove the inner reflectors (like on an 87-88 Cougar) so Im thinking about it.
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Eliminator on May 21, 2010, 11:00:58 AM
lets try this again
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: gumby on May 21, 2010, 11:15:20 AM
that is exactly my plan for the headlights on my tbird. have everything here except time and motivation.

thanks for the motivation!
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: vinnietbird on May 21, 2010, 04:40:18 PM
That's how I did my tail lights.Made a huge difference.
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Watchdevil on May 21, 2010, 10:29:45 PM
Quote from: Eliminator;322745
lets try this again


I did that too with the same paint you used!
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: FLSTCI71 on May 22, 2010, 11:25:48 PM
Lookin' great!! Any more exterior shots?
Title: "New" door panel
Post by: Eliminator on June 06, 2010, 11:46:08 PM
Front and rear bumper covers and a door panel
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: hcor on June 08, 2010, 06:07:22 PM
wow looks awesome!  can't believe thats my old bumper, real nice work
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: T-BirdX3 on June 08, 2010, 09:16:56 PM
Those door panels look sweet!

Good job man!
Title: more pix of Raven Thunder
Post by: Eliminator on June 20, 2010, 02:45:47 PM
Almost done with reassembly. Have to wait til school starts back on July 12th :( So Ill work on my XR7 some. Theres a nice Turbocoupe for sale near me for $400, needs work, hmmmm:burnout:
Title: even more pix
Post by: Eliminator on June 20, 2010, 02:57:20 PM
I used a polishing kit from Harbour Freight to shine up the old lights in the front bumper. The small wool wheel worked awesome. I used a pint of SEM trim paint on the "chrome" and on all the molding including the front bumper to look more factory then keep it all shiny
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Eliminator on June 20, 2010, 02:59:41 PM
oh and the grille is off an 84. I liked the eggcrate more than the original and the oldschool tbird symbol
Title: Sh'es coming along....finally
Post by: Eliminator on July 15, 2010, 10:56:30 PM
Well I got the windows back in today. I tinted them (first time ever). Did ok but wow Im going to pay someone to do my Mazdaspeed3's. What a pain in the but and they were out of the car! She should be done soon!
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: 5.8fastcat on July 15, 2010, 11:28:43 PM
Lookin Good
Title: Bondo Bird become RAVEN THUNDER!
Post by: Eliminator on August 08, 2010, 01:31:37 AM
Im done! Well almost. A few small detail stuff (like fog lights) and shell be 100%
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Eliminator on August 08, 2010, 01:36:07 AM
and more
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Eliminator on August 08, 2010, 01:40:39 AM
still more
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Eliminator on August 08, 2010, 01:51:25 AM
done
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: 1Bad88tbird on August 08, 2010, 09:17:04 AM
Looks good, nice job with it! Even the wheels look nice painted black. I had them on my 85 Bird and thought they where the ugliest things! But they actually look good.
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Scott D on August 08, 2010, 11:11:30 AM
That is a nice looking Thunderbird, sir
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Eliminator on August 08, 2010, 11:32:26 AM
thanx! not bad for my second shot at painting
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Bob on August 08, 2010, 01:28:06 PM
Good work! looks great..
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: vinnietbird on August 08, 2010, 04:36:08 PM
BEAUTIFUL car !!!! Great looking paint. I think it deserves new wheels,though. Like these maybe......

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/17-Black-4-lug-Cobra-style-wheels-rims-fit-Mustang-R-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQitemZ220650009776QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Eliminator on August 08, 2010, 09:57:46 PM
Thats gr8 Vinnie, 2 problems. 1) there are only 3 rims avaiable and 2) I have to sell her :(
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: 1Bad88tbird on August 08, 2010, 09:59:14 PM
Why do you have to sell it after all that work? That really sucks man!
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: vinnietbird on August 08, 2010, 10:00:20 PM
Quote from: 1bad88tbird;331231
why do you have to sell it after all that work? That really sucks man!

x2 !!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh,and when it shows that there are 3 available,that means 3 sets.
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Eliminator on August 09, 2010, 12:19:55 AM
To make room in the garage. It wa only supposed to be a practice car as I learned in school..but she has to be sold to keep my other (cougar) projects safe
Title: The BondoBird
Post by: Eliminator on August 09, 2010, 12:20:17 AM
ooops@vinnie