1980 chevette paint and bodywork 25/07/11

get another crossmember mate, Couple of chevettes being broken over on our site (see my sig)

nah to be honest ive bent one of these before now they do bend easy .
i'll give it a pull with the porta power and see how it goes if it don't work i'll look into getting another one thing is for sure though the amount it was bent by that would have needed recovery home the day it happened as the steering rack would have been toast as they mount on the front of the crossmember on these . the mounting points were not bent but the bolts were shot (probably took all the shock ) so chances are they just had a new rack fitted and never knew any different .
pulled the car into the middle of the workshop so should hopefully have the bay painted and the back up and rolling but soon

now the van is on the road i got a chance to get a bit done on the chevette today so i started by fabricating new radiator supports to replace the old ones that had been cut out and chucked. the new upper front panel is on but the rad mounts on that had been cut short so not having anything to go by to make a template i improvised and just made them so they look about the right shape to what i think they should be ;D




the paint in the engine bay had pickled up when i painted it last time and we had just satin blacked it to get it on the road so not wanting to keep it satin black under there i decided to sand it back and then seal it with some paint sealer before priming and painting it this time around




finished off today by spraying the front lower inset panel satin black to give the car a wider appearance

Looking Good Mark!

lower engine & box fitted now and all electrics now all working again


another couple of weekends work on the chevette should see it back up and running with a fresh coat of paint and an MOT ready for its official hand over to its new owner at the NASC nats

Like it mate. Love the contrast idea with the engine bay and body colour. Looks fantastic. I've always had a soft spot for the Chevettes too, never owned one though I regret to say. She's going to really be fantastic when all's done, looking forward to seeing more updates and progress.

thanks its house of kolor candy orange over pagan gold with orange iridescent metal flake and although very nice would be way over the top over the whole car

got a fair bit done on the chevette over the weekend. all the bodywork is done and its now all stripped and masked and in primer awaiting paint

thats still there the roof was the only panel that needed no work so its all safely masked up