PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

Hey everyone, I have a 94 Bonneville SE with just over 131,000 on it. It was given to me by my cousin as a 16th birthday present, i didn't get my license until a year and a half later however so the car sat for that time non-registered only being moved around my driveway and front yard. Runs and drives like a dream now that it's getting the TLC it deserves, many fairly new parts(starter, radiator, pads, rotors, flex hoses, brake power booster, plugs and wires, throttle position sensor and master cylinder.) I treat this car like its my life, I wash, wax and polish it every couple weeks, vacuum the carpets, seats etc. I couldn't have chosen a better first car to have being that i'm 17, luxury with attitude as some people say. I'm not done with the visual look of it however, this car is cosmetically banged up a little, it has its dents and scratches. The worst being the hood, the original was pried open by my dad with a 2x4, yes a 2x4, because the hood cable came undone. I paid $160 for a used hood, grille, and latch. The used hood was off an SSE hence the badge on the underside. Thanks to those of you who read this, you know that I want to do something with the potential it has. I want to paint the car flat black, with the stock rims black as well minus the center caps cause they're beat to hell, an yellow tint the fogs. Performance mods will come afterwards, suggestions are welcome as i'm not sure what i want to do with it yet.

Here it is, hope you like it!







Nice and shiny.

Freshly washed, waxed and polished the day before.

I love the look of the rear end on these cars.

I have the center console in the trunk i just have to re-install it due to the fact that the shifter was stuck at one point, so i had to take it out and now i cant get the pin out that lets the knob come off. I also need a new latch for the glove box, which is why it's tied shut.



3800's are arguably the most reliable motor that gm has made, or at least i hear that from a lot of people. I love mine!

Side view:

Me next to my buddy's 92 Saab 900, also a pretty good car, ive seen those motors run close to 300k if well taken care of.

This last one is a picture of my moms 3800 series II powered 2000 buick park ave, 190k and running strong, recently had a new MAF sensor, brake lines, battery, light control module, and 2 new front tires. With the 900 and my other buddy's aztek in the background!

Looks like you somehow got your shifter handle on backwards?

Looks like a pretty straight car, though, has a lot of potential!

Not bad for an old car, treat her right and you should get plenty of miles out of it yet.

I like it. I vote that you don't paint it flat black though.

Very nice. I do like the flat black paint idea... Coincidence? Haha

ga93sle wrote:Looks like you somehow got your shifter handle on backwards?

Could explain why its getting stuck!

haha you'd think that it gets stuck because its on backwards, but putting it on backwards is what got it unstuck! The cylinder that comes down when you push the button on the shifter was bent for some reason so it got stuck in park, i took the knob off, put it on backwards for *shoot* and giggles, and boom havnt had a problem with it since and that was months ago! Thanks for all the positive feedback guys, makes me feel good about the car!

Looks good! Love the green. She's got tons of potential.

I actually like the flat black paint with yellow fogs idea.

I like the flat black idea, as long as it's done right. Please please don't go to Wal Mart and buy the cheapest black primer you can find and rattle can your car. It'll look like it was in a fire or something.

to see what can be done with these cars, look at what zuper8 has accomplished with their Bonnevilles and the before and after condition. No reason you can't eventually do the same. The forum has plenty of information and knowledgeable members. Nothing better than a Bonneville - jmho. - BC

datbonneville wrote:haha you'd think that it gets stuck because its on backwards, but putting it on backwards is what got it unstuck! The cylinder that comes down when you push the button on the shifter was bent for some reason so it got stuck in park, i took the knob off, put it on backwards for *shoot* and giggles, and boom havnt had a problem with it since and that was months ago! Thanks for all the positive feedback guys, makes me feel good about the car!

Haha dang! Mine does the same thing (but mine's the plug underneath the shifter) It went bad and I got stuck in park, went to take the one off my other Grand Prix, and broke the same exact wire that I needed :( So now I'm stuck using shift lock release cuz it doesn't sense when I have the brake pressed in.

ah *shoot* man that sucksss. and i got my center console back in today! so my interior looks semi normal again aside from my glove box. bought a couple decals the other day too! ill post up some more pics in the thread when they get here.

What a great first car! And compliments to your friends' Saab too.

nice car, I've always been more into the 92-95's myself, and I gotta say go for the flat black with yellow tinted fogs, that car will really look sinister. Btw what decals did you get and have you got them yet?

I have the pontiac arrowhead. Show Stoppers is my cousin and other buddy's car group that they're in, they have some real cool stuff if anybody wants to check it out. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Show-Stop ... 08?fref=ts or their website http://www.weareshowstoppers.com/ Can't forget about my wonderful paint peeling on the roof! lol

This one is my favorite decal, because it's true, they're luxurious in ways, but can get up and go if you need them to.

Classy Euros is my cousin's other group, i like to promote local groups and all that haha. Also i put that there cause it's ironic cause i'm not a euro. Edecals is the website i got the arrowhead and the bonneville decal from.

I also gotta have the club decal, it's a must. I have that one there and the other one on the opposite window.

Last, i also have the "Objects In Mirror Are Losing" decal on my rearview. It's not readable in the shot, my bad on that.

Here's the full view, when it's done i want it to go all the way down the rear window on both sides.

I wanna show you something real quick, man. Take a good look and listen closely haha.

This is one of my projects, I had just watched Expendables and wanted a kinda flat black look, but more black then grey which alot of them look like. This is what I started with.


I sanded it all down:


I mean ALL down haha:

I washed off all the sanding dust and dried it immediately:


Then I went to Walmart, got myself Rustoleum black paint in a gallon bucket, some mineral spirits, a roller and rolling pads, and some sand paper, shop towels and tack cloths. Wipe the surface downwith the tack cloth and then with mineral spirits berfore laying down paint. ALWAYS! apply your first coat of paint using a 50/50 mixture in a roller pan of paint and mineral spirits. bassically there should be roughly 3 seconds of continuous flow from your mixing stick before it drips as an easy way to figure it. allow it to dry, then wipe it down again with the tack cloth and with mineral spirits (I used shop rags for that). it will look something like this dry:


then wet sand it (I had a spray bottle of water and used that and a block with the sand paper attached to it so i didnt groove the paint with my fingers). This is where you want to be careful. I made the mistake that cost me a lot of time and effort, started with 320 grit sand paper and sanded so i could see no more orange peel, when you only want to relieve the paint of about 50 percent of its orange peel. DO NOT EXPOSE THE METAL UNDERNEATH! If you start to, stop and move on, keep in mind these 2 layers are still very thin. what you do want to use is 400 grit sand paper here for your wet sanding. after your done wet sanding it all down, clean it with the tack cloth and more mineral spirits and apply a third coat. dry,wipe with tack cloth and mineral spirits, apply coat 4. dry. during this time you will get very close to your car, and you will know every crack and crevice of it through touch. Same thing after the fourth layer of paint, you will feel the orange peel a lot more then see it. this is what it should look close to after the 4th coat is dry:



Now you will wet sand it down with 800 grit sandpaper. dont skimp on sandpaper, its cheap, dont allow buildup to occur, change it frequently. Mine looked like this afterwards:


Now I followed the same stuff again, wiped it down with a tack cloth, then mineral spirits. but for the next layers I used a 4 second drip rule to get the paint a little bit thicker. I was worried it wouldnt work after the 5th coat turned out like this up close:

and like this from a slight distance:

but the rest of the truck looked like this:

so there was hope. I applied a second 4 second drip coat, and this is where I stopped, no more wet sanding, no more painting. My truck still looks like this today too.






And the best part? it looks a hell of a lot better then a rattle can job, and cost me less then a hundred bucks total! If you want you could spray some clear over it, but I didnt and its holding up alright, but I think I would recommend it. But at the very least, its an idea for you to consider and toy with.

Didn't mean to hijack the thread lol, just wanted to show whats possible with 100 bucks and some time and labor. It looks a lot better then a rattle can, but still, didn't mean to hijack it haha.