[deadbodyman]

It's On Dog......I finally got mine in the shop today and started stripping it ,the nose is down to the metal...BTW, your looking pretty good for a newb,quick too....
PS, if it gets too cold up there and you want to be a little warmer come on down .I'll put you to work....

[novafreek6872]

Mike!! Glad to see you back man! I would totally take you up on the job offer! So far I have 90 hours in this beast and I am very happy with the result!

Got it all unmasked and am happy to say it really looks, great. The color is a 98% match to the door jambs (OFF THE SHELF SUMMIT COLOR!!), couldnt be happier about that!

I set one of the side GFX on there that I painted last week and it matches that too.

This thing is gonna look killer after the cut n buff.

I can feel it!!

Next time maybe I should thin the clear just a tad more, not sure. When I was spraying the paint it was going on super wet and didnt look peely. So I really dont know what else I can do other than buy a $400 gun... Happy with the low overspray gun, the HF would have killed me for sure in there...air is moving but it sure does fog up then clears out pretty quick.

I made a couple mistakes. The first was I forgot to tack off the rear bumper cover before the first coat of base... shouldnt be super noticeable but theres some trash on it.

The second is I have 2 very slight low spots on the pass. door that I should have fixed better...they arent super noticeable but I see them when I sight down the side.

All in all I think I did awesome and Im not trying to brag. The car looks just like my dark blue Nova did after the guy painted it and before the cut n buff, and he was a 40 year body/paint man...so I think I done good!!!

Andy

edit: There is 3 good coats of color AND clear on the car btw.

[69 widetrack]

It looks fabulous man, good job, the orange peel is minimal....just a little cut and polish and she'll be show quality.

Good job Andy

Ray

[novafreek6872]

Originally Posted by 69 widetrack

It looks fabulous man, good job, the orange peel is minimal....just a little cut and polish and she'll be show quality.

Good job Andy

Ray

Well.... I wouldnt go all that far now Ray... but I wont be ashamed to tell someone I painted it... I'll say one thing about the Summit High Solids clear...Its very hard to run!! And I can run ANYTHING!! lol

Happy with how its turning out and the products I chose to use.

[novafreek6872]

this is one of those colors that really only pops outside in the sun, but I tried to take one to give you an idea.

[deadbodyman]

Damn, Its all painted already ...Thats (dead) ication and here I thought I'd get mine going so you'd have to keep up and get yours done...I'm hoping to get mine finished by the end of the week but I also have a big 4 dr truck and another job to do also ...I still have a chance to at least tie ya at the finish line....Then its onto the black Iroc ...That I havent even got the tune up parts in yet...
I figured since I've already done the tune up on the Z and the bumpers are in great shape (minus all that thick paint) that this one would be faster and easier..I did like the SEM bumper stripper but ran out half way,it'll take two cans to strip the front and one for the back bumper.
I suspect some collision damage on the rt fender and door but the frame work was done real nice so I at the most I'll have to replace the door,I suspect its loaded with bondo.but theres 4 doors at the U-pull-it for 50.00 ea that look nice so not a big deal....
You find all the rubber seals yet ? I couldnt believe how cheap the Iroc door decals were, thanks for heading me in the right direction,I might even get some for the Z along with an Iroc emblem for the dash.....we'll see....Now ,I'm going to need a dash pad ,mine has a couple cracks ...

[novafreek6872]

Mike,

The only seals I'm replacing are the "window sweeps", you can get both from a place called 1A auto for around $70.

I need to black out my door handles, lock cylinders, hood louvers, headlight pockets and the inch wide strips on the t-tops. The whole car needs to be cut n buffed... I still need to base/clear the chin spoiler...I forgot about it, its in primer. I should have just enough to do it. And of course put it all back together... should be looking pretty good on Monday a week from now.

Im figuring I will have around 120-130 hours in the job, but of course I am learning and things take me longer.

I found another IROC local, same year and color but a 350 TPI with no t-tops!! Hes asking $2500 and it looks like the exact same deal, just a peeler. Very Tempting!! But my wife would kill me!!

[novafreek6872]

I kind of hate to even put the IROC decals back on the side, but I probably will... not sure about that stripe though, they look nice and clean without.

[deadbodyman]

I like the Iroc decals on the doors so the black one will deffinetly them put back on....but ,No stripes for me I never liked them ,I'm talking about the two above the ground effects ...I was debating on some white or mabee black stripes on the hood though but I dont think so, I want it nice but not too fancy , something everyone would like ,so it'll sell fast...I should get a bunch of pics so when someone wants it they can see it was done right and it'll last 10 yrs or more...I was thinking of a SS solid red but I might just sand it with 600 and put a couple coats of clear on it too,we'll see how nice it looks with just the SS first ...
Man I drove this thing around a little today before I put it in the shop and holly crap this thing'll go side ways real ez and spin the tires all the way through the beginning of third gear...Had a blast doing doughnuts in the parking lot but I can see myself getting a few tickets if I drive it much....
I'm probably the oldest teenager you'll ever meet..
I'm thinking about some kind of dropped spindles and a set of 17-18" wheels with a low profile tire (not the rubber band tires) to give it that look....
cool cars, I think their time is coming as the next restoration projects since the 1st gens are getting outragous....2,000.00 for a 68 plain jane camaro ,rotted out shell with no doors,front end sheetmetal or rear end,THATS crazy and the guy came all the way from Va to get it....
If all goes as planned I found a 65 Impala vert in fairly decent shape (to restore) for 3,000.00 Not the orig motor and tranny but it has a 283 and a power glide with power pac heads and 40,000 orig miles on them ...The exhaust manifolds look like brand new I never saw any so nice .....

[novafreek6872]

Mike, Check this bad boy out... I would LOVE to have had a cowl hood and do this to mine... the stripes look perfect to me. and yea, I was talking bout the lower body stripes earlier..

[deadbodyman]

That red and black sure does look good ....

[novafreek6872]

making progress, the orange peel was pretty bad, Im sure I didnt have enough psi now... anyway, theres enough clear on there so I hit it with 1000,1500,2000 and buff... its coming along. That clear got very hard very fast... I would have been sorry if I had waited longer. It stays in the 60's in the garage.

check it out...



IROC Photos by andyspaintshop | Photobucket

[novafreek6872]

[69 widetrack]

I see a bit of Orange Peel Andy, like in the recess of the door handle and yes it could be better but, from what I see, it's not that bad. I was looking at a 2002 TA today and it was a lot worse and it was factory. I know factory paint always has peel but is the door handle part typical for peel all over the car? How many hours of polishing have you got into it now?

I still think it looks pretty damn good for your first kick at the base coat /clear coat cat.

Ray

[novafreek6872]

Thanks,

Yea, I didnt bother cut n buff on the door handle recess... or some other nitpicky areas where I am liable to burn through trying to get everything perfect...as they say I just "hit the high spots" and the big panels... Like I said the peel was pretty bad, I had to knock it down with 1000 b/c 1500 and 2000 was a complete waste of time, after I knocked it down I went back with the 1500 and 2000 to save on buffing time.

I think Ive got this gun figured out now and next time will be alot better. I have roughly 8 hours in the cut n buff so far. Ive been using 2 products I had on hand, Megs Ultimate compound and System One from years ago, both are not super aggressive and work well on a 2000 scratch. I need to do the roof strip and the decklid as well as go over a few areas otherwise. And then Im sure once I get it out in the sunlight, I'll be going over it again on swirl removal detail...hard to see that kind of thing under shop lights.

Then I have to paint the front spoiler, the flat black items, and put it all back together...finally clean up... still have a ways to go.