GT-FAUX, Hatch off, seats out, color test, dents beaten, and more! Options

[Pfloyd09]

Been a little busy with life as fall approaches, but have been able to do some work here and there. I haven't sourced a clip yet (looking for a Caldina or GT-4), and there's plenty to do cosmetically, so I'm working on the body and the interior for now. As shown in previous pics, there are some issues with both the rear fenders behind the wheel, and the right front fender is twisted (getting that sourced now) enough to warrant getting a new one. Since I am replacing it anyway, I painted 90% of it with the Dupli-Color® 8L7 Stellar Blue Pearl spray paint to see how it would look. This was a rough job on a surface not properly prepared.

The camera doesn't pick up the sparkles very well at all. It's pretty much black in the dark, and dark blue with sparkles under light.



Got around to taking the hatch off, and removed much of the interior. Going to finish getting the console, dash, carpet, and back seat out this week. Once that is all done I'll be reconditioning or replacing every piece that comes out, and re-doing the floor from front to back. Will be adding in some dense carpet foam for sound suppression under the new carpet mold, then working my way up. All the interior plastic pieces that would look right with an accent color will be painted the blue paint shown in the pic above. Going to do a base coat with Krylon Fusion because of it's ahesion to plastic, top that off with the Dupli-Color® 8L7, then some nice clear coat of course.



With the hatch off, and the interior plastic removed, I was able to get to the smashed in parts of the rear fenders. Was able to get the dents worked out pretty well on the drivers side, but the passenger side needs some more work. So glad I have a friend that knows how to do the body work.

Something to keep in mind. Will be putting splitters on, so I'm not super concerned about the very lower parts of the fender.

Notice the dent gone from above the fender also..



Not quite as good as the driver side, but much better than it was. Some TLC, some sanding, and some filler will do these very nicely..



Got the engine hoist, a nice ratchet set, some ramps, and other misc tools. Pretty much set on equipment to do everything now. The biggest thing I'll need is the time to do all the meticulous interior cleaning, sanding, painting, re-carpeting, etc. Then the engine work...

Going to be doing some fun dash mods while that is out, so I'm not necessarily going to be putting it back together quickly. Considering taking out the engine, and getting it down to pretty much the bare metal, then towing it to the paint shop. That may not happen for a couple months, so I've got time to make the interior pieces look good.

[Box]

Nice blue.

[KillerCelt]

Very interested in this . I'll be taking notes for when I get started on my own "GT-FAUX." Let me know how it goes getting the hood and bumper! Best of luck moving forward

[Pfloyd09]

Very interested in this . I'll be taking notes for when I get started on my own "GT-FAUX." Let me know how it goes getting the hood and bumper! Best of luck moving forward

Thanks!

Looks like that will be a few months out. Was thinking I would get a used hood/bumper set, but after reading the sticky on the Exterior forum, it looks like I can go all new parts for about $1k, which is close the same as if I got them all beat up from Malaysia. Will budget for that, and get them after Christmas most likely. Hoping to get the engine/clip before it gets too cold, but if not, I'll wait for spring. Looking like I'll be focusing on the cosmetic/interior stuff first, then doing the engine swap last. At least it'll be sweet looking when I start 'er up for the first time.