My 83 Wagon

Longroof79 said:

Btw, the three holes in the back floor are indeed for carpet snaps. I found three snaps on the old carpet that I found at the junkyard.

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Funny, the second time I painted the floor pan I took a little epoxy and filled those. I dont know how they'll hold up but Im probably going to have the back in carpet anyway. The previous owner had Ozite back there. I think I'll use something similar.

BTW, I ordered the Dove Grey carpet from rockauto today. Should be here by next Thursday. I also bought a set of grey repro mats from the parts place on ebay. I have a set in black but Im thinking the grey will look a whole lot nicer.
I also sent a sample of the material I need for my seats and door panels to SMS Fabric in OR. I cut a section out of the spare rear seat bottom I got from the junkyard. It had the patterned cloth, the straight cloth and the vinyl. Hopefully they'll get it right the first time. Not like the fiasco I went through getting the material for my 81.

Made a little progress. Most of the serpentine stuff is now on the motor. I still have a few more details to take care of like the fuel line at the pump and I need to order a bolt from GM because I didnt want to use a stud in a through hole. LOL

I finally have the rear interior panels back in the car AGAIN. I dont think theyre coming back out. (I hope) It took a little while to figure out a solution to the rear glass fiasco. Turns out it was a fairly easy fix after I saw how another car looked without the glass installed. Jim and Jack, I'll fill you in.

I spent a little while redoing some of the seam sealer on the front part of the floor today. Im probably going to tackle the dash this coming weekend.
I cant finish the rest of the pillar trim until I get the retractors back from seatbeltplanet. They should be here by the beginning of next week.

I ordered the GM cloth from SMS Fabrics. They said theyre running behind by two weeks as far shipping. I have no idea when that will get here. Its okay though. Ive got plenty to keep me busy.

Hi Scott,

Yes, its been quite a while !

Theres quite a story behind the interior color but I'll give you the short version. The paint supplier near me tried to match the original fern grey multiple times and couldnt get it right. SEM offers a free color matching service. I sent the original door panel down and they got the color 100%. Problem was it was way too green. I went to a local yard and pulled some trim pieces out of an 86 Cutlass with a grey interior. The color looked good against the color of my car. I went back to the paint supplier and looked at the aerosol colors that they stocked. The Presidio Grey was VERY close to the original medium grey from GM. I called SEM back and they matched a gallon to their factory color. So far Ive used a half gallon to spray everything including the cargo area floor and the rear seat back. I still need to spray 2 door panels but Im going to have a lot left over. I sprayed the dash in the dark fern grey a long time ago and I think it will look pretty good. I'll see how it looks when I put it back in. That might change.

Im doing the interior over in grey 86 GM Olds cloth that Im buying from SMS Fabrics. Theyre not cheap. They should wear a mask the prices are so high but I wanted OEM materials. I looked at samples of cloth that the upholstery shop could get and I like the Olds cloth much more.
You can see how green the original color was in the first photo. Of course ACC discontinued the color that went with that. The new carpet color is Dove Grey (sample is on the seat). Thats the cloth that Im using. Having the same pattern done too.

FYI, I STRONGLY suggest using all SEM products for the prep. I know some folks use other solvents but Ive had really good results with their stuff. I still wash everything with Dawn and hot water first but after that its SEM stuff up until the adhesion promoter. I use Bulldog because the local supplier has it in stock. I would also use a good mask and filters. The last time I tried to spray without one really kicked my butt. I got dizzy and felt pretty sick.

StreetStock#72 said:

Love it! Looks magnificent. No Bull.
Can you pleeeeze do mine next? With all that experience it shouldn't take as long(roof)

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Hey, if you were close by I would gladly help you out. As strange as it sounds I really enjoy spraying interior parts. A couple of years ago I did close to 25 pieces for a friends 79 Camaro. Hes owned the car since 1980. He was pretty happy with the results. All the headliner trim, seat trim, rear side panels, kick panels. Even the coat hooks ! I also sprayed the console lid. That was a different color. Dash and console are original. Started around 10 AM and he had everything back at the end of the day. Thats the best thing about SEM Color Coat. It dries fast.
I wish I had the other photos but I deleted them but you get the idea.
I spray it out of a HVLP detail gun. I have a second gun set up with the adhesion promoter. Makes things so much easier !

liquidh8 said:

Looks great Mitch

Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk

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Thanks Jim ! I guess you mean the Camaro ? My friend liked the results although the right side front armrest changed color a few weeks after it was done. After calling Bulldog and SEM the opinion of their tech guys both matched. My friend used a plastic safe paint stripper to removed the old lacquer that was sprayed on years ago. He did that before he gave me the parts to spray. The techs think the stripped soaked into the armrest because it was a rubber and not a plastic and as it leeched out it changed the color of the SEM. I told the guy to get another virgin armrest but so far he hasnt bothered. Guess it doesnt bother him enough.