Z71Brother
I'm Awesome
Gonna be using that like from here on out.
“Taking care of business, it’s a Chevrolet job”.
Oughta make that your signature!
90’ SS truck paint revival.
- Thread starter Z71Brother
- Start date
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“Taking care of business, it’s a Chevrolet job”.
Oughta make that your signature!
Z71Brother
I'm Awesome
I won’t lie, if you live near Texas Ave. I know we’ve waved at each other. I have SCSB Z71 same color as your truck, either we waved at each other or I rolled down the window and hollered at you!
On Friday nights I’m gonna start hanging out with the C10/OBS guys at Sonic on 1st… I’ll see you there!
In the military whenever someone would mention OCD > me, I was always quick to
reply that actually I was 'detail oriented'. If that didn't work, I'd then go with fastidious.
Or even meticulous. Always with a smile, took their face to face bewilderment as a compliment.
(Pre-retirement I was F-16 flightline Avionics, so for normal folks if I didn't come across as a little bit
of a Rainman then how could I possibly be a genuine pointy-head? Sometimes it's easier to play into
a preconceived notion as opposed to trying to set the record straight. And I'd be lying if I told you
that it wasn't a wee bit fun to keep 'em guessing. :0)
****
If I come across as a 'by the book' mechanic, that's cool. On airplanes, that was a 100% true statement,
for this was my insurance policy against spending time in Ft. Leavenworth if there was a serious malfunction,
if you catch my drift. (Of course the USAF spent money to keep the Technical Orders relevant & up to date.)
On the other hand, the Service Manual for my '99 C2500 is frozen in time, so out of necessity I
have to allow myself to deviate from the book if needed. Probably the best way to describe my
approach is to *first* read the relevant section of the Service Manual, and then IF I deviate from
the book it's a conscious decision that I can explain why. Machinery has served me so much
troubleshooting Humble Pie over the years that I try to learn as much as possible about
the specifics *before* I tear into it.
****
But when it comes to something aesthetic like paint correction, I like to experiment, especially
when it comes to vehicles where the paint is 'too far gone'. As a matter of fact, for the longest
time I thought that I would never own a vehicle with nice paint, since top quality work = big bux.
And then, back maybe 18 years or so ago, while looking for an affordable fix for a rough-looking
daily driver, I stumbled across this web page, where the owner took an old Chevy Corvair and
gave it the nicest $50 paint job I've ever seen: Check it out -- it's still up for our viewing pleasure:
"The $50 Paint Job"
And that's the day I decided that I wasn't going to use the excuse of not having a paint booth =
I can't have nice paint. And that's how I started messing around with paint correction. And I
always try to manage expectations: "I just want to try & make the best of what we have to work with."
It took me years to figure this out, but now I always try to Underpromise & Overdeliver.
(Which I think you managed to do the same for your neighbor.)
It's more fun that way. And why do any/all of this if you aren't having fun?
Good stuff!
Last edited:
Great job on this. I would daily a beat up 454SS, if I polished it I’d never want to drive it!
Someday I will own a 454SS. I don’t care if it’s clean, used up, or in between. Back in the mid 2010s my dad frequently drive through MO for work and just off the interstate in a pasture he always saw a crusty 454SS just fading away.
Someday I will own a 454SS. I don’t care if it’s clean, used up, or in between. Back in the mid 2010s my dad frequently drive through MO for work and just off the interstate in a pasture he always saw a crusty 454SS just fading away.
Re: The $50 Paint Job
There's a big long discussion on the thread below about painting with Rustoleum. I have no problem painting my race car with thinned Rustoleum, but the urethane that holds the windshields and back windows in our trucks doesn't play well with Rustoleum.
www.gmt400.com
The tl;dr, I was going to paint Roscoe with Rustoleum, but ended up investing about $150 in rattle cans of 2K primer and paint just so I can paint the top and rear window. Doing it right does cost money.
There's a big long discussion on the thread below about painting with Rustoleum. I have no problem painting my race car with thinned Rustoleum, but the urethane that holds the windshields and back windows in our trucks doesn't play well with Rustoleum.
Instant orange peel.
So, I was painting the front fascia of my Trans Am. It's made of some kind of hard plastic as opposed to metal, but I don't that made a difference here. The primer laid down fine. The 14 coats (well, maybe 3) of Rustoleum black laid down great. Then, this morning, I sprayed clear and got...
www.gmt400.com
The tl;dr, I was going to paint Roscoe with Rustoleum, but ended up investing about $150 in rattle cans of 2K primer and paint just so I can paint the top and rear window. Doing it right does cost money.
If my previous came across as a Rustoleum recommendation on one of our trucks
I miscommunicated.
In a separate prep thread he detailed welding in a bit of rust repair, and then shot
the entire vehicle with rattle can high-build primer. All of which matches the normal
"prep is 90% of the success of a good paint job" theory.
But what I found eye-opening was his iterative approach on painting > wet-sanding >
painting again > wet-sanding ...and looping until he was satisfied with the uniformity
of the color coat combined with a 'better than showroom' lack of orange peel in the
paint. And then he buffed it out. In effect, he was using his (nonmetallic) paint as others
use a primer in order to take the final result well beyond a normal 'driveway paint job by a
hobbyist'.
If I had to shorten up his thread to 2 photos, I think that these tell the arc of his
story the best:
Now, without taking any possible theoretical combo off of the table, what works for me is to follow a careful conventional
rattle can paint job, followed by a generous clear coat, and after that dries, I then go to town with wet-sanding
and buffing like this Corvair owner's example. (Especially over metallic, I learned the hard way that if you attempt
to color-sand that, the look is destroyed in the first few swipes. Wet-sanding & buffing the clear coat is what gave
me an opportunity to make my paint look better than it should.)
****
As a matter of fact, those of you who are a certain age, you might remember the guys that spent *all* of their money
under the hood, and then shot their car in primer...and then drove it that way? Yeah, I was one of those guys.
Not by choice, but by necessity. I was doing this well before it was considered cool. :0)
I just shared the above because the OP reminded me of some of the stuff I've done with 'too far gone' paint jobs,
and being way happier with them than I expected. Speaking of which, before I learned, I would have tried to figure
out a 'decent' upgrade for the failed paint on the horizontal surfaces on the hood first, not like the results, and
go immediately from Hero to Zero by doing so.
Today? I would experiment on the (few will ever see) roof first. It might take 2 or 3 attempts & some experimentation,
but if I could get that roof as black and smooth as the Corvair dude got his white ride, I would do just that. And
possibly stop there, knowing that I am protecting the metal up there from further rusting. And then hand off just
the hood to a real painter, because the hood is the hood, and that is seen by everyone.
Who knows? Maybe the roof turns out so good that the OP & the neighbor agree to subsequently go for the hood
as well, with some (to be determined) paint process? And if it turns out good enough, maybe they will post their
handiwork for others to see?
That's the true fun of this forum -- the exchange of ideas. Not to mention all the great photos of people fixing
stuff up & sharing them for us to study / get ideas from / enjoy. :0)
Cheers --
I miscommunicated.
In a separate prep thread he detailed welding in a bit of rust repair, and then shot
the entire vehicle with rattle can high-build primer. All of which matches the normal
"prep is 90% of the success of a good paint job" theory.
But what I found eye-opening was his iterative approach on painting > wet-sanding >
painting again > wet-sanding ...and looping until he was satisfied with the uniformity
of the color coat combined with a 'better than showroom' lack of orange peel in the
paint. And then he buffed it out. In effect, he was using his (nonmetallic) paint as others
use a primer in order to take the final result well beyond a normal 'driveway paint job by a
hobbyist'.
If I had to shorten up his thread to 2 photos, I think that these tell the arc of his
story the best:
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
Now, without taking any possible theoretical combo off of the table, what works for me is to follow a careful conventional
rattle can paint job, followed by a generous clear coat, and after that dries, I then go to town with wet-sanding
and buffing like this Corvair owner's example. (Especially over metallic, I learned the hard way that if you attempt
to color-sand that, the look is destroyed in the first few swipes. Wet-sanding & buffing the clear coat is what gave
me an opportunity to make my paint look better than it should.)
****
As a matter of fact, those of you who are a certain age, you might remember the guys that spent *all* of their money
under the hood, and then shot their car in primer...and then drove it that way? Yeah, I was one of those guys.
Not by choice, but by necessity. I was doing this well before it was considered cool. :0)
I just shared the above because the OP reminded me of some of the stuff I've done with 'too far gone' paint jobs,
and being way happier with them than I expected. Speaking of which, before I learned, I would have tried to figure
out a 'decent' upgrade for the failed paint on the horizontal surfaces on the hood first, not like the results, and
go immediately from Hero to Zero by doing so.
Today? I would experiment on the (few will ever see) roof first. It might take 2 or 3 attempts & some experimentation,
but if I could get that roof as black and smooth as the Corvair dude got his white ride, I would do just that. And
possibly stop there, knowing that I am protecting the metal up there from further rusting. And then hand off just
the hood to a real painter, because the hood is the hood, and that is seen by everyone.
Who knows? Maybe the roof turns out so good that the OP & the neighbor agree to subsequently go for the hood
as well, with some (to be determined) paint process? And if it turns out good enough, maybe they will post their
handiwork for others to see?
That's the true fun of this forum -- the exchange of ideas. Not to mention all the great photos of people fixing
stuff up & sharing them for us to study / get ideas from / enjoy. :0)
Cheers --
Last edited:
Z71Brother
I'm Awesome
In the military whenever someone would mention OCD > me, I was always quick to
reply that actually I was 'detail oriented'. If that didn't work, I'd then go with fastidious.
Or even meticulous. Always with a smile, took their face to face bewilderment as a compliment.
(Pre-retirement I was F-16 flightline Avionics, so for normal folks if I didn't come across as a little bit
of a Rainman then how could I possibly be a genuine pointy-head? Sometimes it's easier to play into
a preconceived notion as opposed to trying to set the record straight. And I'd be lying if I told you
that it wasn't a wee bit fun to keep 'em guessing. :0)
****
If I come across as a 'by the book' mechanic, that's cool. On airplanes, that was a 100% true statement,
for this was my insurance policy against spending time in Ft. Leavenworth if there was a serious malfunction,
if you catch my drift. (Of course the USAF spent money to keep the Technical Orders relevant & up to date.)
On the other hand, the Service Manual for my '99 C2500 is frozen in time, so out of necessity I
have to allow myself to deviate from the book if needed. Probably the best way to describe my
approach is to *first* read the relevant section of the Service Manual, and then IF I deviate from
the book it's a conscious decision that I can explain why. Machinery has served me so much
troubleshooting Humble Pie over the years that I try to learn as much as possible about
the specifics *before* I tear into it.
****
But when it comes to something aesthetic like paint correction, I like to experiment, especially
when it comes to vehicles where the paint is 'too far gone'. As a matter of fact, for the longest
time I thought that I would never own a vehicle with nice paint, since top quality work = big bux.
And then, back maybe 18 years or so ago, while looking for an affordable fix for a rough-looking
daily driver, I stumbled across this web page, where the owner took an old Chevy Corvair and
gave it the nicest $50 paint job I've ever seen: Check it out -- it's still up for our viewing pleasure:
"The $50 Paint Job"
And that's the day I decided that I wasn't going to use the excuse of not having a paint booth =
I can't have nice paint. And that's how I started messing around with paint correction. And I
always try to manage expectations: "I just want to try & make the best of what we have to work with."
It took me years to figure this out, but now I always try to Underpromise & Overdeliver.
(Which I think you managed to do the same for your neighbor.)
It's more fun that way. And why do any/all of this if you aren't having fun?
Good stuff!
I liked the “detailed oriented” instead of OCD, I’ll be using that when someone asks why I’m chasing perfection with everything with the trucks.
Thanks for your service though! I was recently on USAF active duty. I was a B-1B Crew Chief At Dyess AFB. The jets a beast, but honed my skills as a mechanic. Most likely why I’m very “detail oriented”.
Ah, you worked on the 'Bone' -- very cool. (Insert salute here in your direction.)
Reflecting back all the way to Basic Training at Lackland, I think that the USAF really
hammered the 'attention to detail' tendency home. I do remember that during inspections that
the contents of my wall locker was emptied out on more than one occasion if everything wasn't
aligned exactly per the manual.
(By the way, for those who haven't had the pleasure, refer to the attached screen snap from a youtube
video by a young airman who is describing what the inspectors will be looking for. I never looked at a
closet the same way ever again. :0)
Got more of the same on the alignment bench at Tech School. (This was back when we had a mix of analog
& digital equipment, the former requiring careful alignment after replacing a failed vacuum
tube/transistor/magnetron/etc on a test bench or mockup, while the latter was more go/no-go
Self Test/BIT. (Built In Test)
...and once the humans were done, the machinery picked up where they left off.
Big picture, the aircraft would punish the pure parts-swappers, who would often take a flaky jet and
make it worse by layering in additional uncontrolled variables in the form of 'new to them' parts.
On the other hand, the jets would cheerfully co-exist with those who took the troubleshooting
flowcharts to heart.
...But I digress.
Getting the brakes or engine to work perfectly is rewarding for me as the driver, but
almost nobody else will be aware of my good fortune. On the other hand, if I pour the same kind of
focused attention to the paint, not only do I derive satisfaction from the way it looks...but it also
seems to make others enjoy the view too. Driving around in a clean 24 year old chore truck I get
almost as many smiles & waves than if I was in an old muscle car. Fun stuff!
On behalf of my daughters & my grandsons, thank you for your service to our country. (!)
And remember, it's only OCD if it controls you. If you can turn it on or off as needed, then you
get to call it 'detail oriented.' (I consider myself the latter. Proof? You should see the disarray
in my storage unit. :0)
Enjoy the pursuit of excellence. It's a learning journey, not a destination.
Cheers --
Reflecting back all the way to Basic Training at Lackland, I think that the USAF really
hammered the 'attention to detail' tendency home. I do remember that during inspections that
the contents of my wall locker was emptied out on more than one occasion if everything wasn't
aligned exactly per the manual.
(By the way, for those who haven't had the pleasure, refer to the attached screen snap from a youtube
video by a young airman who is describing what the inspectors will be looking for. I never looked at a
closet the same way ever again. :0)
Got more of the same on the alignment bench at Tech School. (This was back when we had a mix of analog
& digital equipment, the former requiring careful alignment after replacing a failed vacuum
tube/transistor/magnetron/etc on a test bench or mockup, while the latter was more go/no-go
Self Test/BIT. (Built In Test)
...and once the humans were done, the machinery picked up where they left off.
Big picture, the aircraft would punish the pure parts-swappers, who would often take a flaky jet and
make it worse by layering in additional uncontrolled variables in the form of 'new to them' parts.
On the other hand, the jets would cheerfully co-exist with those who took the troubleshooting
flowcharts to heart.
...But I digress.
Getting the brakes or engine to work perfectly is rewarding for me as the driver, but
almost nobody else will be aware of my good fortune. On the other hand, if I pour the same kind of
focused attention to the paint, not only do I derive satisfaction from the way it looks...but it also
seems to make others enjoy the view too. Driving around in a clean 24 year old chore truck I get
almost as many smiles & waves than if I was in an old muscle car. Fun stuff!
On behalf of my daughters & my grandsons, thank you for your service to our country. (!)
And remember, it's only OCD if it controls you. If you can turn it on or off as needed, then you
get to call it 'detail oriented.' (I consider myself the latter. Proof? You should see the disarray
in my storage unit. :0)
Enjoy the pursuit of excellence. It's a learning journey, not a destination.
Cheers --
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