Topic: Where to Begin

[reborn79transam]

Hi all, name is Nick and I've just purchased a 79 to begin restoring. I have a few questions for anyone whose kind enough to give me their view.
  1. Since the Tranny and engine are already out of my car, and the bottom is rust free, I wanted to know what color and how the boottom of the actual F-body would be painted. Is it undercoated, or powder coated, Or just painted.
  2. what kind of Mods can I do that will raise the value of the vehicle rather than lower the value? Some examples of mods I would like to do are: Put a nicer cam and intake on it, put a fuel injector kit on it that replaces the carborator, and a couple flowmaster mufflers, and then just a nice sound system. You know kinda get the car into this century, while keeping everything else factory.
and 3. Is it your opinion that getting the car running and driving is a good step phsycologically to keep me motivated? Any constructive input would be appreciated

[reborn79transam]

Oh, and one other rhing, I don't know what color bird I'm supposed to buy. It's missing from the hood, and the other decals are like grey. The paint is platinum poly and inerior is carmine. Those are on the body tag

[RENOVATIONS]

I wanted to know what color and how the boottom of the actual F-body would be painted.

A '79 would have a black chassis...earlier models used red oxide.

Is it undercoated, or powder coated, Or just painted.

Undercoating would have been a dealer item more than likely but black paint would be correct.

  2. what kind of Mods can I do that will raise the value of the vehicle rather than lower the value?

In all honesty, a "factory correct" car will typically hold greater value at resale time than one that has been modified from stock.



 

3. Is it your opinion that getting the car running and driving is a good step phsycologically to keep me motivated? Any constructive input would be appreciated

Agreed

Oh, and one other rhing, I don't know what color bird I'm supposed to buy. It's missing from the hood, and the other decals are like grey.

If the remaining decals are light grey, the hood bird should be grey/silver...see examples here:  www.phoenixgraphics.com

[Grand73Am]

Here's a pic of a 79 on a rotisserie. As Renovations said, the bottom is black, and it has body color overspray around the edges, in this case Nocturne Blue.


If you are going to do a frame-off restoration, you would normally take the car all apart and do like in the above photo. Paint all the pieces separately and put back together with new or restored parts. Body and paint would be first. Then the glass, wiring, frame, suspension, rearend, steering, engine, trans. The upholstery would be last. So, in my opinion, there's no point in getting it running now, since you'd just have to take it back out. There are a few good threads in the "Restoration Projects" forum showing restorations from start to finish, so you could find a couple of those and see the order in which things were done.

If you just wanted to clean it up and leave it as it is for a while and would like to drive it around for fun, then yes, you could put the engine in and get it running for that. If you decide to go the fuelie route, it would be better to go ahead and put the engine in, since it's not an original setup, you have alot of things to figure out to set it up to run that way. And it would be better to set all that up and get it working right prior to doing the restoration work I think. You'd still have to take most of it back out afterwards though to go through the resto phase.

I wouldn't try to do fuel injection. It's extra money, extra work, extra parts, extra complexity...computer, electric pump in tank, extra wiring, shaker won't work with it. Plus if you have the Olds 403, I don't know if there's even a fuelie kit for it. So, that kinda thing doesn't interest me. I like the last century setup, with the q-jet, simple and cheap, and I can work on it  . And when done right, it's dependable and fund to drive with the shaker where it should be...sitting on the carb.

Hitman sells the decals here. Here's a link that shows the decals for a 79. For a silver 79, I'd get the orange ones: http://www.78ta.com/store/home.php?cat=14

Here's a pic of a silver 79 with orange(and red) bird:

[reborn79transam]

Is there no identification number that tells you exactly what bird to put? Also as far is interior options like power windows, is there a code for that, or can I change it to power options without affecting the value? Or does all that info come on the window sticker from PTS?

[reborn79transam]

I mean PHS ofcourse

[RENOVATIONS]

Also as far is interior options like power windows, is there a code for that,

The RPO for power windows is A31...sometimes stated on the cowl tag under hood.

can I change it to power options without affecting the value?

Adding factory original options won't affect value much

Or does all that info come on the window sticker from PTS?

Yes, the PHS documents will tell you what options your came with originally.

Have a look here: www.phs-online.com

[CT Bird Fan]

Also look for the build sheet in the car (behind back seat, under front seat, on top of gas tank, other spot?) as that will tell you info the PHS docs won't have.

[Nexus]

I would like to tell you more but I'm late and it has already been covered by the other responses

Oh btw

We are picture whores so a picture or pictures will greatly satisfy our needs!!!

makes no nevermind about condition or make so let us have it!!

oh and welcome to the site!!!

[reborn79transam]

how do I load my pics on here?

[RENOVATIONS]

how do I load my pics on here?

http://www.78ta.com/smf/index.php?topic=5167.0

[kjkjkcjkcj]

hey you might have a 10th aniversary car if the graphics are grey.  If thats the case you would wanna keep it as stock as possible IMO.  But i would say scratch the fuel injection kit and go with a stroker kit.  that will give you some serious HP gain and the motor would look completly stock from the outside. 

[Justin]

Welcome. Congrats on the car. PICTURES!!!

[reborn79transam]

I can't figure out how to load the stupid pics and put them in my posts

[brian c]

Quick and dirty synopsis of posting pics in your posts:

1. Signup for a FREE hosting account over at Photobucket.
2. Upload photos to Photobucket. **Mark your album as Public otherwise we won't be able to see your pics!
3. Copy the entire contents of the box next to "IMG".
4. Paste that line into your post here.

If you do that, something like this will happen....