Geo Tracker paint job

Hi Gang! I took a little time and labor to give my ’97 Geo Tracker a “face lift”! After spending great deal of time on the mechanical aspects of making it reliable, it was time to make it look fresh again.

It’s had some years of neglect (not by me!) and lots of whiskey bumps, including needing a left front fender. Actually from a short distance, it doesn’t look all that bad!

 

 

 

 

 

Backing up a bit, a few months ago, I bought a kit from eBay which allows one to remove the doors. It’s pretty much remove the old door pins and install the new pins which allow the doors to be removed for off-roading or just looking cool! Here, I’m utilizing My Little Mule to aid me in removing the doors.

 

Here the door totally off of its hinges (that’s funny), allows for a “breezy” ride! However, I’ve heard said it’s illegal to ride around like this. I do plan to make a bar type door to temporarily replace the original doors, but that’s down the road, or another project;)

Here are the new pins, very simple. The instructions show this to be a one person job, but I suggest two people would be best, especially if wants to protect the paint! Pull the pins and the doors come off! The doors are heavier than they look!

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the doors removed, I needed a place to put them and be able to work on them. This makeshift “door holder” did the job! Just a quick trip down to Lowe’s and an hour later, I’m set and ready to roll these out of the way or work on them at my leisure.

 

A few days later and a lot of sanding, I shot on some epoxy primer and put them away until I’m ready to do body work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The driver’s side fender was beyond repair, but new ones are available on eBay for about 70 bucks with Free shipping! Can’t beat that!;)   I also bought new side mirrors as mine were broken.

With the fender off, exposed the air intake system for the engine. Not much to say here other than I cleaned it, but I didn’t expect to see all of this.

The new fender required very little “massaging” for it to fit. Many times reproduction parts don’t fit like the original parts.

 

 

 

 

The hood was probably the worst part as far as dents went. They’re not noticeable in the picture below, but believe me, it must have been in a hail storm or someone used it as a workbench! When a shiny clear coat is applied, even the smallest of dents/lows are noticed.

 

I just happen to have enough aircraft paint remover, and stripped the old paint. Nasty stuff! wear a respirator, eye protection, gloves, etc.  

 

Now that the hood is all bare, I can prep it for epoxy primer.

This is actually after I had actually painted it, then discovered I did a piss poor job on finding low spots, plus having never sprayed metallic, I had some noticeable zebra stripes, not bad, but bad enough! I redid the hood!

This is how it looks now!;)

 

 

 

This below is probably the reason which launched the paint job! This rust around the windshield needed to be repaired ASAP! So, that being said, the windshield needed to come out. So I called my friends at Two Stars Auto Glass (they had installed the windshield in our 59 Chevy truck), they came out and removed the windshield so I could get busy on this. Luckily, it wasn’t rusted all the way through, it was a bad case of surface rust that just bubbled up. It was actually an easy fix.

 

 

Well, when removing the plastic grille in front of the windshield, I noticed a crack around the windshield wiper mechanism:(.  I had noticed my windshield wipers weren’t in unison, so this was most likely the cause!

Using the old fender, I cut out a piece and welded it around the damaged area; a patch. The small vice grips are on there for a ground for when I welded the patch in place.

After welding it into place, I sprayed it with some undercoat and hope that it stays OK for a while. Today the wipers are in unison and that makes me happy!;)

 

 

 

 

Since I’m limited on space, I can’t paint the entire Tracker at once. I made the project into two segments. Pretty much all the bolt on parts were worked on, epoxy primered followed by 2k build primer, body filler, re-primed, then painted, then clear coated. Wasn’t too bad.

 

Then after I painted the bolt on parts, they were put in a safe place, I rolled the body in, and began working on it. Notice my ventilation system has been implemented.

 

I got my mom to come over and help me with the masking process. She’s a remarkable woman and my best friend, 87 y/o and going strong! Masking this thing was quite tedious!

Say hello to my incredible Mom~ here’s she’s sitting in our ’70 Triumph TR6, my next project;)

 

If I had it to go over again, I would have bought a new passenger side fender! These fenders are cheaper to replace, but I made do with what I had.

 

 

 

Putting it back together!

 

It’s always exciting to unmask a freshly painted car! The next day, I backed it out of the garage to take a look at the new Scuba Blue Metallic paint. I had a notion to paint it another color, but I’m happy to have stayed with the original color!

 

 

Just a picture of the grill in front of the windshield. I painted it the same color as the Tracker as well as the windshield wiper arms.

 

 

Finally I had Two Stars Auto Glass come back out and install a new windshield! Nothing like a new windshield! Total for the install was 185.oo.

 

These little Trucks or mini SUV’s are quite cute! I feel they are practical and fun to drive. They get decent gas mileage, I’m getting 27 mpg and that’s running the AC all the time here in Houston. I imagine during our “winter”, I’ll get 30+;) Plus I need something fun to haul our cuter than ever 5y/o grand-daughter around when she’s here~ we must make memories~!;)

 

 

 

Adding a few graphics~;)  I found these graphics on eBay which were for a Mini-cooper, but will fit whatever you want to put them on as long as they fit the dimensions. Promotorstripes is the seller and they were good by contacting me with regards to color choices. Good job!

http://stores.ebay.com/ProMotorStripes

 

My little engine is a 1.6L, so I thought this was a nice addition.

Just put the TRACKER graphics on today (11-29), a company made them, see link below, which is as close to original as I could find! They did a great job!;)

http://www.aftermarketgraphics.com/

A little more work including a 2″ lift kit, 1″ wheel spacers, and fender extensions really gave it an awesome stance! Then my husband bought this top for my birthday! One of these days I’d like a hardtop, but this will do for now;)

I almost hate to drive it! It looks too nice!;)

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