VGJONO's 76 Hardtop build

[VGJONO]

Well here it begins, ive been biting my tounge about this and been very excited for probably the good part of 2 months since putting a deposit down on it, im now glad to say its home and now the building process can begin.

The car

She is a bone stock 76 GD coupe, a little worse for wear and probably a little lighter due to cancer. so far the stock 1600 is in unknown condition, although it will not be staying in there, the seats are pretty trashed, but other than that she seems solid (but you never know)

The Plan

Since im going to turbo the Sedan, i figure it may not be very reliable as a daily anymore, so when i seen this thing i though great, i can do a quick fix up of it and use it as a daily, not only will i then have a coupe, it will also be a bit more comfortable for me as a daily (being 185cm+ tall and a very rounded figure climbing in and out of the sedan can be entertaining for those watching at times) so first up i will be fixing up the rust, then since i am not really earning a great deal i will be doing something a bit different for paint to last me until such a time as i can paint it properly, now is anyone here familiar with plasti-dip???? its basically a rubberised paint, that when you are finished with it, you just peel it off, as it it was a vinyl wrap. not 100% sure on what colour but im leaning towards matte white with some black wheels and black grille/blinker lenses ect. like the sedan.

Now since im tired after running around all day im going to finish writing my plans at a later date. For now heres some pictures. enjoy

Pics


all ready to go (knowing 75glnt will ask why i did not include the story about the VP commondore, he is more than welcome to explain down below )


In the yard with the herd


Cheers
VGJONO

[75wagon]

Ah nice.
I quite like the look of the TRX mags with the silver on the hardtop.

I'll be interested to see what you do with this.
I'll be watching for sure.

Dave...

[A112H]

Nice pick up Jono, will be watching this one to see how it unfolds

[VGJONO]

thanks guys, she is going to need some work, thankfully last night a mate of mine offered to do some body work for me (mates rates weekend kind of stuff), hopefully the amount of rust doesnt scare him off and we can get underway

[A112H]

I see on the owners register it has X2 trim. That is what mine had, the black is soooo much better than the brown IMHO

[VGJONO]

yep, sadly the seats are pretty beat up so it will need a new rear seat and i will get some aftermarket recaro's or something with the same rail width for the front. keeping the old seats in storage until such time as i can have them repaired.
cant wait to get stuck into this, but firstly i have to help the little sister with the GA

[VGJONO]

So while my sister and my father where giving the GA a wash they decided to give the coupe a clean while they were at it. it has some ugly rust in it, but still well worth the effort. havent had time to clean it up yet today, helping the little sister with "Grumpy Al"

More coupe Photo's














More to come later

[A112H]

Not sure what this coupe is you keep talking about but there is some serious rust in your hardtop. I think I would be more concerned about the dent but the rust around the back and side windows is pretty bad. Think once you strip the paint off of it you will get an unwanted big surprise.

[VGJONO]

Not sure what this coupe is you keep talking about but there is some serious rust in your hardtop. I think I would be more concerned about the dent but the rust around the back and side windows is pretty bad. Think once you strip the paint off of it you will get an unwanted big surprise.

haha fair enough, Hardtop it is but i am expecting some bad rust now, when i first looked at it i didnt think it was so bad, but now i have it i see its worse, doesnt matter, it will just be a little longer in the rust repair stage than i first thought. good thing is, unlike the GA, the motor turns over, only thing is i am not keeping the 1600 out of this

[A112H]

Chuck the 1600 out of this into Grumpy Al

[VGJONO]

that is what will have to happen if i cant get Al to crank. i dont want to as moving the car around with no motor will prove difficult since we live on a hill

[75glnt]

You should post a close up of the interior pattern! It's bloody sexy!

Also.. I will add the hilarious story of the commonwhore tomorrow. I'm tired.. Lol.

Expect more help from me with both grumpy al and the hardtop. No point standing around if I know what to do is there?

[VGJONO]

haha all good man, Al will be easy as once the motor is sorted, the hardtop is going to need a lot of love and attention.

had a quick look through the glovebox and found some info on the car, aswell as a few names of previous owners. looks like they werent the best at keeping on the good side of the law


And something else i found out, the rego was last renewed in 2006 so its been off of the road less than 7 years, looks like its been off the road for 15+ when you see how its rusted.
and another handy thing, she was registered as a sedan, may seem like a small thing but registering a sedan is 100 bucks cheaper than registering a 2 door up here.


Cheers
VGJONO

[75glnt]

Wtf?! How is that possible?! Haha! It's clearly got, 2 doors!

[A112H]

They are all like that. Galants, Colts, Lancers, Scorpions all listed as sedans

[VGJONO]

Thats neat, means i still get cheap rego

also while im at it, these are the two options i have for rims
First off if im lucky and have money these

spewing as a workmate got this set for $500, with a Sigma attached to them

Or these if im broke as usual


either way i will be happy, if the right set comes along before im ready for the hardtop to have them they may just have to spend some quality time on the sedan

Also for those who dont know what Plasti-dip is heres the website
http://www.plastidip.net.au/
I Know not everyone will be a fan of this but its what i can afford seeing as i will be dumping cash into rust repairs. not only that i can also see if i like the Hardtop in white (although seeing other members ones i know they look awesome in it )

Cheers
VGJONO

[A112H]

Wheels are a personal choice and you will not make everyone happy but it is your car and you are the only one who needs to be happy with your choices
I personally love meshies, SSR Reverse Mesh in particular but there are two reasons I don't have them. 1) Very expensive new or in decent sizes. 2) Seem to be getting hard to find in a full set, usually just pairs and I know if I bought a pair the other pair in the right size would never come up and I would be stuck with odd wheels

As for the plastic dip, I think it is a waste of time and money. I get that money is tight, it is for all of us but for what ever the dip costs you I am sure you could buy a cheap or used compressor and equipment and paint it yourself. Then if you change your mind paint it again, 4lt of base acrylic will only set you back $150-200. Hell is you like it offer mates dodgy paint jobs for $1500 and make some cash on the side

[75glnt]

I'm pretty sure a plasti dip kit for an entire car is something like $60. Pretty cheap and a piece of mind when you don't know what colour you want

[jvflash]

Hi Jono,I found a GD Galant Owner's manual kicking around, do you have one?
The book calls the coupe an hardtop which is probably a reason to call it an hardtop, as that is what Chrysler named it
Let me know if you need the manual.
JV

[VGJONO]

Cheers JV PM sent

No movement on the hardtop side of things, looks like an engine swap will be needed in the GA which will mean it will be a while until i can do anything major to this, going to clean it out tomorrow if im feeling upto, and if im super enthusiatic i will take the carpet out aswell and chuck it (the carpet is super nasty)

Cheers
VGJONO

[75glnt]

I wonder where I'd find carpet that's the same as the rear in your hardtop?? It's sexy!

[75wagon]

I'm pretty sure a plasti dip kit for an entire car is something like $60.

Where can you get it that cheap?
From the research I've done, it costs about $100 just to plasti-dip your wheels.

As for the plastic dip, I think it is a waste of time and money.

It depends on what you are using it for.
From what I can tell, the purpose of plasti-dip is for those that want a change that is reversible. I will be plasti-dipping my 16x8 rotas. The beauty of it is, when you get sick of the colour you can change it without damaging the paint (or whatever finish) underneath. When you get sick of it, or want a change just peel it off.

I am not however seeing plasti-dip as a substitute for paint.

Plasti-dip is an interesting product, and used correctly, and in the right way can be useful. I would not think of it as a permanent.

Here's a question:
I would be concerned about the rust in the body, it is quite extensive, and the reality of what is there, is always worse then what you can see on the outside (as cars rust from the inside out). Do you have the skills and materials to tackle the amount of work to repair the body?
From the pictures, the area's I would be most concerned about are these:

1.


2.




3.


I have often seen people get carried away in the moment. Hell. I've done it myself (I ended up giving up and buying something that required much less work).
I'm not saying you can't do it, but what I am asking is, are you prepared to put the time and money into this to do it properly?

I wouldn't bother doing anything with this car or spending any money on it at all or even making plans for it, until the repairs to the body are made.
Anything that bolts on can be replaced.
Start with the body, anything else at the moment is a waste of time and money.

I suppose I am telling you what to do, but I just don't want to see someone buying stuff and putting a lot of money into something that may not get finished.

Dave...

[75glnt]

I'm pretty sure supercheap does a 4l kit of some sort for under $100??

[VGJONO]

I'm pretty sure a plasti dip kit for an entire car is something like $60.

Where can you get it that cheap?
From the research I've done, it costs about $100 just to plasti-dip your wheels.

As for the plastic dip, I think it is a waste of time and money.

It depends on what you are using it for.
From what I can tell, the purpose of plasti-dip is for those that want a change that is reversible. I will be plasti-dipping my 16x8 rotas. The beauty of it is, when you get sick of the colour you can change it without damaging the paint (or whatever finish) underneath. When you get sick of it, or want a change just peel it off.

I am not however seeing plasti-dip as a substitute for paint.

Plasti-dip is an interesting product, and used correctly, and in the right way can be useful. I would not think of it as a permanent.

Dave...

It will depend on how much i will need, i know its propably going to cost the same as paint, the thing i like is i can save money buy spraying the car myself and if i do mess it up i can just peel that section off and do it again (i have never painted before so i like that luxury)

And as for a permanant thing its not going to be like that, firstly the idea is i can peel it off in about 2-3 years time when i hopefully have the money to get the hardtop painted professionally, the other upside of putting the plastidip on is that it doesn't chip off easily, not such a big deal if you live in a town or suburb, but i am in a rural area full of inconsiderate 4wd owners that love flinging rocks everywhere, women with shiny ass diamond rings that accidentally nick the corners of the car as they walk around it, and people who do not care enough about other peoples cars to watch where they swing their car doors. so i see it as a bit of a win win

I wonder where I'd find carpet that's the same as the rear in your hardtop?? It's sexy!

from what i can see its actually a floormat that goes from one side to the other, so you could probably find it at autobarn or supercheap

[VGJONO]

I'm pretty sure supercheap does a 4l kit of some sort for under $100??

i dont think supercheap does the plasti dip, i know autobarn does it for $25 per can (typical spray can)

Edit:

Here's a question:
I would be concerned about the rust in the body, it is quite extensive, and the reality of what is there, is always worse then what you can see on the outside (as cars rust from the inside out). Do you have the skills and materials to tackle the amount of work to repair the body?
From the pictures, the area's I would be most concerned about are these:

I have often seen people get carried away in the moment. Hell. I've done it myself (I ended up giving up and buying something that required much less work).
I'm not saying you can't do it, but what I am asking is, are you prepared to put the time and money into this to do it properly?

I wouldn't bother doing anything with this car or spending any money on it at all or even making plans for it, until the repairs to the body are made.
Anything that bolts on can be replaced.
Start with the body, anything else at the moment is a waste of time and money.

I suppose I am telling you what to do, but I just don't want to see someone buying stuff and putting a lot of money into something that may not get finished.

Ideas are free to have i wont be spending anything until i get the body sorted out, no i dont have the skills to fix the body myself, i am trusting that a friend who has offered to help me will pull through (probably the stupidest thing i could do) If he doesn't come through for me i will send it off to get the rust repairs done, i know of a place that does top quality rust repairs ect. for a decent price (that decent price includes the quality) and if worse comes to worse i will take the car to them. im not doing some super high quality rebuild on this thing, i will be fixing the rust, tidying the inside up and then sorting the paint at a later date (hence the plasti dip for the time being) then driving it and enjoying it like its meant to be, yeah it may not be the nicest thing in the carpark, but something i have learnt the past few weeks is that it doesnt matter if what you drive or how it looks, aslong as you enjoy yourself and get out there and have fun

[75wagon]

That sounds fair enough Jono

It sounds like you've got things gong in the right order.

Dave...

[VGJONO]

thanks mate

also i know what its like to have a project that is never finished, this thing laughs and tuants me everytime i open the garage.
http://www.moparmarketforum.com/forum/v ... hp?t=17879
Its a long story as to why i dont do anything to it, and one i would rather not go into

Cheers
VGJONO

[VGJONO]

Its Alive decided to start it up so i could move it around the back, we figured that the points were stuffed so we pinched some off of a spare motor i had laying around and fitted them, poured some fuel down the carby and away she went. admittedly running better than the GD sedan for now it will be parked out the back, in a few weeks ill drop some cash on some rust preventative supplies ect. and give the car a once over wire brushing any rust and putting a coat of etch primer and paint over it to seal it until the rust repairs can be done

PS. i would have gotten video but as soon as i pulled the camera out of my pocket it started pouring down rain

[VGJONO]

Video Proof now that the rain has gone away

http://youtu.be/sYYSRv73hU0

[A112H]

No ringies on the grass

Nah, that this runs smooth, nice one