Sun's Out - Avanti's Out

[Avanti83]

Six years - 11 months and a few days ago, Judy and I towed this 1974 Avanti four-speed back home from the western side of Michigan. 

 

It was rough, the hog troughs were gone and the frame had some rust. The interior smelled of a combination of mold, varmint urine and mothballs. It had a 350, four-speed and 3:23 open rear end. It was my dream to turn it into a muscle car of my youth.

There is nothing I haven't had my hands on. New hog troughs, repaired frame and replaced rear cross member. Drive train is now a 383 SBC with a T56 6-speed and 3:55 posi rear.

The body was scraped to bare glass and coats of polyester and 2K were coated with many coats of Daytona Yellow Acrylic Enamel, all by me and then sanded and polished to a decent shine.

The entire wiring and interior were stripped out and the wiring was replaced with a 21 circuit universal harness and the interior was aired out, the door cards and interior panels replaced with ABS sheet and the vinyl redyed with vinyl spray dye. The front seats were replaced with a set of leather seats from a Pontiac G6. The heating system was replaced with a heating and cooling unit from Southern Rods.

I've always liked a cowl induction hood so I built one the way I wanted. It's functional.

The dash is from an 89 Avanti, modified to my liking and upholstered by a local firm. Carpet was purchased and the headliner is exterior carpet.

There is still a lot to finish but it has plates and insurance. It needs weatherstripping, trunk finished, door sills created but it will run, start and make me feel 18 again and at 75 that's not an easy thing to do.

I made a couple of videos of the exterior and interior. I'll do engine shots in the future but it's getting close to cold weather here so I'm pretty well done until spring.

I can only post one video so I'll post the interior one in a separate post. 

 

Bob

 

[Stacey]

WOW you have really transformed a ugly duck into a beauty. Folks that have never done body restoration can't understand the amount of time and effort put into your new car. Thanks for the video and update, you should be really proud of all the hard work and what you now have.

 

[studegary]

Really nice!  The main thing is that you did it "your way".  I like some of the personal touches such as the headlights and the fuel filler.  I don't see back-up/reverse lights.  You could make some for the lower openings, unless that is for exhaust.  

[R2W55]

Great Job! You are giving me inspiration.

Last July I towed a 78 home in a similar condition.  I have the body off, (lifted off by myself using come-alongs hung from ceiling rafters) have completely sandblasted and repaired the frame. I painted the frame and all metal parts with KBS rust coating and then top coated them.  I am currently starting to put it back together. I have also replaced the hog-troughs with the 1 piece units from Olympus. Even though they were galvanized, I still used the KBS rust preventatives on them.

I have been scrapping the old paint off the body, usually when I am scratching my head off some other issue. Even though I have painted other vehicles before, I haven't decided if I am going to try this one.  I have never worked on a fiberglass body, so I don't know all the ins and outs.

1 day at a time, And every day I learn something new about the Avanti.

I really appreciate the advice I have been getting from this forum and the members of the Chicago chapter.

[Avanti83]

1 hour ago, R2W55 said:

Great Job! You are giving me inspiration.

Last July I towed a 78 home in a similar condition.  I have the body off, (lifted off by myself using come-alongs hung from ceiling rafters) have completely sandblasted and repaired the frame. I painted the frame and all metal parts with KBS rust coating and then top coated them.  I am currently starting to put it back together. I have also replaced the hog-troughs with the 1 piece units from Olympus. Even though they were galvanized, I still used the KBS rust preventatives on them.

I have been scrapping the old paint off the body, usually when I am scratching my head off some other issue. Even though I have painted other vehicles before, I haven't decided if I am going to try this one.  I have never worked on a fiberglass body, so I don't know all the ins and outs.

1 day at a time, And every day I learn something new about the Avanti.

I really appreciate the advice I have been getting from this forum and the members of the Chicago chapter.

 

Thanks, I'd never done a fiberglass car either but I was determined to figure it out. I scraped it totally but let me share a thought. I thought about using Aircraft Stripper but I've had a couple of problem in the past with bleeding out of seams later. After I finished scraping the Avanti I bought a 14 Ram pickup and found a used ARE cap for the back. It had the OEM bc/cc paint and the next owner added a few more layers of another color in enamel on the fiberglass shell. I wasn't about to scrape it and a Google search showed West Marine makes a water base stripper that was effective on boats. I bought a quart and was surprised at how well it cut through the top enamel and the bc/cc also. It had to sit a long time but it worked.

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/back-to-nature--aqua-strip-paint-stripper--P004563136?recordNum=2

Sanding fiber glass is different in that there is no endpoint like running into metal but watching youtube convinced me that using long air boards and a variety of Dura Block sanding blocks would work. You need to pay attention to the curves and not cut into them but it wasn't as bad as I thought.

I chose catalyzed Acrylic Enamel to spray. It's not as shiny as bc/cc but it can be repaired and still look good. I'm glad I did because I had to fix several areas after I put in the interior and wiring.

Good luck with yours.

[R2W55]

Yes I am scrapping all the paint off with razor blades. Some area come off almost in sheets but in some area it nicks but I figured those could be fixed with a little Bondo or Fiberglass filler.  I had been warned by a couple of paint shops NOT to use a chemical stripper. I will review what you have linked.

Thanks for the input.