Topic: My '80 T/A

[Rick]

That looks about right from what I can tell...here's a pic that shows my unmolested 75 TA interior -- you can see that same area, albeit not as clearly as I'd hoped...

[turbota400]

Thanks!  I was kinda worried I messed up somewhere.  This is my first T/A resto. so everyone will just have to bear with me.  It's been a great learning experience and a blast so far.

[Gold78Spc]

I think you have it together right but I don't ever remember turbo cars having a plate like that.  I've only had one turbo parts car and it had a solid front where the map pocket should be, not a blocking plate.

[turbota400]

mine has a piece of plastic that clips into place.

[eroc022]

yes after the map pocket is in then there is still a gap...

[turbota400]

Alright, here's my next question:  When I get ready to paint my car, what should I do about the exterior plastic (nose, flares, spoiler, extractors, air dam, mirrors, etc.)?  Should I strip it down to bare plastic, just rough it up, replace it?  There are alot of chips in the paint and I don't want to deform the pieces by feather sanding them.  Or is there a way to feather them without ruining them?  Any tips would be great as I've never painted plastic before. 
 
Also, what is the best way to prep the trim on the windshield, rear window and t-tops?  Mine is painted instead of chrome and has fairly large spots where the paint has peeled off to bare metal, especially on the t-tops.

[Rick]

Brett should be by momentarily...

[Hitman]

Well, I am not much of a body guy..... I leave that to the professionals.  But here is what I can tell you.  Especially with the front and rear bumbers, you do need to strip them down to the plastic.  Reason being is that in most instances, you have cracks in the paint from bumping the front or rear bumper (I guess hence the name"bumper")..... anyway, if you just sand the paint down or scuff it, you might think you got rid of all of those little cracks, nut you didn't.  They will show back up again.  Maybe not right away, but I bet within 60 to 90 days they will return.  So, with the front and rear bumbers, you do need to strip them all the way down in order to prevent the "spider-webbing" that is so popular with these cars.  The wheel spoilers are the same way, but worse.  If you have cracks in the wheel spoilers, I say just replace them.  Those stupid cracks always (most of the time) come back to bite you.  Again, not right away, but the materials used to repair the cracks in the spoilers has a habit of wearing out before the paint does and you will see the paint start to either crack or "sink" into the spoiler.  The rear spoiler isn't as bad as the wheel spoilers except for the end caps on 1979 to 1981.  From 1978 and earlier, they are OK just like the fender air extractors.  The rear view mirros are metal so you treat those just like the rest of the car.
With the window trim and t-tops, again, they are metal, so treat them just like the rest of the body.  Watch out for the window trim because it is thin, but you can also use a chemical stripper on them rather than sanding them.  You might want to do the same for the t-top frames because if you take a sander to them and then all of a sudden slip and sand the glass...... not good.

[eroc022]

window trim use either steel wool or a scotch brite pad, as for your body work, the abs plastics like brett said, needs to be stripped completely down to the bare plastic, and if any lines are still there you need to either keep sanding till they go away or you need to take a dremel, gouge out the material, use a rubber body filler to refill it, sand super smooth, after you have the bumpers prepped then you will need to use a rubberized primer so you dont have the same problems, then you gotta prep that primer a few times and have it super smooth for paint, then when paint is applied you need flex additive so when you re-install it the paint doesnt crack up again and keeps the paint somewhat flexable so it doesnt crack up when a small bump occurs, as for the fiberglass parts, back spoiler, and heat extractors just strip them down to either the factory primer, or to the fiberglass and prime, and repaint.
if you do decide to just sand out the knicks in the bumper then you can do it but use a finer paper like 180-200, and be sure to work in strokes and not just one section, and dont sand too fast as you could melt the abs and cause even more problems. but either way it can be done...the bumpers are the time consuming parts on these cars...