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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
I hope everyone is having a great New Year, we have and it has been a busy one so far, just not a lot to show yet we are exhausted every day. I have a small update, not much has been happening with the car, I have been working on things that have been put off around the property. The Suzuki...- SirReal63
- Post #75
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
That brings me up to today. I have had a blast the past 14 months of working on this car. I have learned a lot, spent very little money and have my actual blood on most parts of this car. :D I had always been told you cannot paint a car with spray cans piecemeal and get a good consistent...- SirReal63
- Post #74
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
I had been fighting a high idle since I bought the car, no matter what I did, it would idle at 1050 rpms. A good friend suggested checking out the ECM and making sure it had not been changed, this poor old car has been messed with a lot, different block, wrong year intake etc. Sure enough...- SirReal63
- Post #73
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
I don't think the car will ever be "done". With that said, it has been drivable for most of the past year, and has been driven. I have a list of what I still want to do in 2025... Drop exhaust to wrap it and replace temp gauge wire that is burned and corroded. Refinish the stock 89 wheels and...- SirReal63
- Post #72
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
I bought the parallel flow A/C condenser several months back and now was a good time to install it. I had to have a small leak somewhere in the system but my R134 sniffer could not detect it, I checked everywhere but the condenser as I could not get to it when it was all buttoned up. My UV dye...- SirReal63
- Post #71
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
I decided to tackle the hideous Janus shop doors and get them sealed and insulated. This should help with the temps in there this Winter as I hope to be out there more than normal. I learned my lesson with trying to do epoxy work in cold temps, the 24 hour set up time was not going to happen...- SirReal63
- Post #70
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
I took a pic on an overcast day before the rain came. It does photograph better in the shade without bright sun on it and shows the color better. The hood is still obviously a lighter shade but the rest on the same plane is consistent, though the reflections still make it hard to show the color...- SirReal63
- Post #69
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
Some outdoor shots of the mostly finished product... The goal was a 10 to 20' improvement and I surpassed that I believe. There are some areas that need refinement of the paint as some small scratches are visible at the right angle but that can be done...- SirReal63
- Post #68
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
Paint conclusion (mostly) and pic heavy. I am mostly done with paint for now. I still need to work on the bumpers, they will need another coat of paint to get closer to the color of the rest of the car. Since I applied to paint over a light colored primer it did make the final color lighter...- SirReal63
- Post #67
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
Bumpers painted... Clear going on... I had managed to burn through the clear in one tiny spot on the trunk where a gnat had landed area so I shot it again. It is sanded down here and somehow I worked right through it without taking more pics, though they are not needed, I boo...- SirReal63
- Post #66
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
On to bumper "repair". I have no idea why someone previously tried to smooth out the rear bumper. Whatever filler they used was applied too thick and appears to have shrunk which caused the paint issues. I chipped out all of the filler and paint, sanded it smooth and discovered a couple small...- SirReal63
- Post #65
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
A small update but I have been busy with sanding and priming. The car had an annoying gap between the passenger side hood and the bumper cover. It bothered me but there were so many other things to do I left it alone. It became more of a priority while buffing out the hood so I decided to dig...- SirReal63
- Post #64
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
The pressure is on since I did this car with spray cans, it is direct reflection on me (pun intended) if it looks like crap when I am done. I am mostly surprised at the hood, it really looked bad before. I am going to have to spray this in the Spring, the color difference, though slight...- SirReal63
- Post #63
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
I decided to focus on the hood the past couple of days as I knew it was not in great shape. I bought a new heavy cut pad and compound from Menzerna as I was running low on 105 and only had one old cheap heavy pad from SPTA. Surprisingly the cheap pad was courser than the new pad and cut faster...- SirReal63
- Post #62
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
I was always a fan of the older Vettes, after the C4 I lost interest in them. The C4 was such a ground breaking car, it destroyed everything in stock form. Banned from SCCA showroom stock class and had to have it's own race for a few years until the rest of the world caught up.- SirReal63
- Post #61
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
I made a lot of slow and painful progress this past week. I had concerns about the quality of 2K clear out of a can, those concerns were unfounded. This is the hardest clear I have ever touched. I made a mistake by waiting so long to wet sand, this stuff was so tough in a few places I had to...- SirReal63
- Post #60
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
As for the handles and pin latches, no matter what color I paint them, I will have to completely strip and sand them as they are hammered. I considered briefly just replacing them, they are all available but that kind of defeats the purpose of this thread and these are the original ones, I...- SirReal63
- Post #58
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
I went ahead and moved the car out of the shop, SprayMax TDS says 12 hours to cut and buff and it has been well over 35 hours so I moved it into the sun to do any last outgassing. I took the opportunity to take a few shots of the color. Ignore the orange peel and overspray, those will be gone...- SirReal63
- Post #57
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
I worked a little more on the hood, I clayed it and hit it with some 105 and a wool pad. It is going to take a 2000 grit sanding to remove the scratches, I had hoped to not sand the hood as I have no idea how thick the clear is. If I burn through I will have to paint and clear the hood. I am not...- SirReal63
- Post #56
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
This will be a large update, I got a lot done in the past week. I may disappear for a few weeks as I need an impromptu vacation from the car and the farm. We had someone steal chickens out of their coop and lock it back up so I also expanded the CCTV out to the animal areas, something I wasn't...- SirReal63
- Post #55
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
I also had some slightly more difficult body work to do. One of the reasons I had to tackle this work, other than the unpainted doors and variety of shades of paint there was this scrape... The area was actually slightly rippled. I checked the backside and it fine, same texture as...- SirReal63
- Post #54
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
My old arms hurt, lots and lots of sanding this past week and more to go. I have been working on the rear of the car and it has been way more work that the doors were. The doors had almost no defects but the rear lid and back half have a lot of little pock marks that appear to be something like...- SirReal63
- Post #53
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
The side mirrors were really sun baked and cracked in the paint. The cracks went all the way to the primer but I stopped just shy of getting into the primer. With a bright LED I can still see remnants of them but the eye cannot without a bright light source. At any rate I won't re-do them, they...- SirReal63
- Post #52
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
I did most of the work on the passenger door. It has been clayed, cleaned, sanded, cleaned, painted and cleared. The SprayMax is such a great product, minimal orange peel and the nozzle is just about perfect for a spray can. The passenger door with the first coat of paint and nib found. I am...- SirReal63
- Post #51
- Forum: Other Vehicles
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1989 C4 Functional Restoration
I experimented with some U-pol 1k clear last night, it was a disaster. It was around 72-75 degrees in the shop and the stuff just would not lay out correctly. I had a lot of dusting and uneven spray from drying way too fast. The only way to get a decent coat was to be about 3" from the surface...- SirReal63
- Post #50
- Forum: Other Vehicles
