My '83 GLX T-Top Coupe Junk Yard Find

[Davedacarpainter]

The last thing was the assembly of the seat bottom (which I'm sitting on as I type this!)

I had to make new listing rods for it since the old ones were completely wasted away. I glued some more plastic to the bolsters and to the foam front. Then I used those new listing rods to hog ring the cover to the foam and fitted it all to the repaired base.

Here's a before and after shot.

[Davedacarpainter]

I need y'all's opinion. I'm getting ready to spray the vinyl for the door panel. I was thinking of painting the two chrome strip areas the same grey as the trim grey.
What do you think?

[NY5speed]

I like the trim grey idea for the chrome.

[Davedacarpainter]

I believe I'll wait until I have the vinyl mounted on it's new backer before i paint it. I don't want to stretch it so much that I crack the paint.

[Davedacarpainter]

I finally finished the driver's seat today
Tomorrow I'll start to reassemble the door panels.

[Davedacarpainter]

I also started working on the driver's door panel after i finished the seat.

I used rivets, washers and panel bonding adhesive to attach the new panel to the metal upper.

I drilled out nine holes for my nine rivets i was using. Then sanded the surface with some 80 grit to give the pba something to bite into.

I ran a bead of pba along the attaching edge.

Then i riveted it and used a little extra pba to fill in the extra holes. These panels are NOT separating!
Tomorrow i'll do a little trimming and attach the vinyl to the panel and get it stapled and glued in. Once i have the passenger side done, i'll paint the panels. I have an idea for the paint that i think will be tasteful, yet kind of nice. I'll show you what it looks like then. It'll be wednesday or thursday before i shoot them.

[Davedacarpainter]

I don't have a lot of time today so I thought I would hook up the passenger side today. I'll lay out the vinyl on both panels tomorrow.

[84StangSVT]

Hey Dave, have you figured out what to use for the gasket behind the door mirrors yet? I know this is a bit ahead of your stage, but I'm curious as I need to do something there also.

[Davedacarpainter]

Hey Dave, have you figured out what to use for the gasket behind the door mirrors yet? I know this is a bit ahead of your stage, but I'm curious as I need to do something there also.

Not yet, I'll give it some thought soon though.

[83GTRAG]

Thus is such a cool life saving build. Way to save this car! It's gonna be better than new.

[Davedacarpainter]

Thus is such a cool life saving build. Way to save this car! It's gonna be better than new.

Thanks, i don't know if i would have gone so crazy over my '86. This is probably my only chance to have a t-top coupe. So I kind of gotta!

[Davedacarpainter]

I got the vinyl stapled and glued to my new backing panels today. Maybe I'll get them painted tomorrow. Depends on my customer workload.
I also got my new dew wipes in, aren't they nice?

[Davedacarpainter]

So I thought I would bring the carpet pieces to work with me today to see how they would look on the door panels.

They're too tall by about a half of an inch. One more difference between our cars and the areo style.

I can either cut and sew again, or just cover up the bottom stripe with them as they are.

[slopoke76]

nice build. following

[ponie1992]

Gotta follow this one

Jeremy
83 T-Top coupe
89 LX 5.0
16 PP GT

[Davedacarpainter]

Alright, I'm done being a seamstress. I ordered new carpets.

[qikgts]

Alright, I'm done being a seamstress. I ordered new carpets.

loling at that...

[Davedacarpainter]

Here's a small one for you. I think I'm going to paint the trunk GLX emblem green in it's center. The same green used on the hood GLX of course. What do y'all think? Sound stupid?

[84StangSVT]

Alright, I'm done being a seamstress. I ordered new carpets.

You did it longer than I would have had patience for.

Here's a small one for you. I think I'm going to paint the trunk GLX emblem green in it's center. The same green used on the hood GLX of course. What do y'all think? Sound stupid?

I think that will be a good idea. It will give it a little symmetry from the front to the back.

A bit off topic but along the same lines. I really want to refurbish my Marchal covers and when it comes to the cat head and lettering, I want to do it body colored instead of white. I have tried a few times to do it but it ends up coming out looking like crap. I got about the same results as the PO that tried refurbishing them also.

I'm about ready to abandon that idea and just leave the whole cover black.

[Davedacarpainter]

You did it longer than I would have had patience for.




I think that will be a good idea. It will give it a little symmetry from the front to the back.

A bit off topic but along the same lines. I really want to refurbish my Marchal covers and when it comes to the cat head and lettering, I want to do it body colored instead of white. I have tried a few times to do it but it ends up coming out looking like crap. I got about the same results as the PO that tried refurbishing them also.

I'm about ready to abandon that idea and just leave the whole cover black.

Yeah, that's a pita. You need a steady hand and a touch up brush. Use a small one with a relatively minimal brush length to aid in control of the flow and steadiness of your brush stroke. Though you might consider getting a paint pen with a color close to your car's color, that would be the easiest.

[84StangSVT]

Yeah, that's a pita. You need a steady hand

I need to read no further. I can make an amazing TIG weld by doing nothing but rotating the pipe. Steady hand and small detail is not one of my strong points.

[Davedacarpainter]

I need to read no further. I can make an amazing TIG weld by doing nothing but rotating the pipe. Steady hand and small detail is not one of my strong points.

Lol, drink a shot of Booker's whiskey first, wait five minutes and proceed. Or get your wife to do it for you.

[Davedacarpainter]

I painted the door panel vinyl black today. I finished with my half an eggshell finish. I decided that the mouldings needed to be glossy though.
So i'll get the moulding part painted in the morning. The paint is still wet here so it looks a little more glossy than it will hardened. So, this is now:
Tomorrow, i will spray the moulding part the accent grey and a little extra something i'll show you tomorrow.

[jlehma13]

Looks great. Enjoying seeing this build every day!

[Davedacarpainter]

I painted the mouldings on the vinyl my trim grey and I two toned the upper. The upper I painted what was the chrome strip kona blue. It's hardly noticeable, but I like it. Today I'll get the dew wipes on, then I'll get the new carpets on whenever they show up.