Going rogue

This is a bumper to replace a damaged one on a Nissan Rogue. The first picture shows the bumper after it has been masked and sealed. The sealer is applied just before the paint as part of the painting process to seal the surface and to provide a surface the paint can adhere to.

The sealer is available in seven shades of gray, from nearly white to almost black. Each color specifies one of these seven shades of sealer to insure an accurate color reproduction. Normally dark colors use a dark sealer and light colors use a light sealer, but this is one of those exceptions that proves the rule.

The second picture shows the bumper after the base coat has been applied. You can see that the paint is flat and lifeless. The dullness of the paint is because JMC AutoworX uses the two-stage paint system which separates the color, the base coat, from the gloss, the clear coat.

The final picture, number 3, clearly demonstrates the difference the application of the clear coat makes as the paint goes from zero to hero. Not only does the clear bring up the gloss, it also provides a tough protective layer so the paint continues to look good, year after year.

Once we get the bumper fitted to the car, this lovable Rogue will be going home with its backside looking as good as it did before the … incident.

Battle scar

This Hyundai Veloster is in the shop to have the door ding you see in the picture touched up? I took some before shot but the damage didn’t show up at all.

In this photo the ding has already been filled with body filler and sanded smooth. A dash of paint to cover the filler and you would never know the spot had been there.

It wasn’t a big spot, but the car is too nice and too new to have battle scars already.

Back to work

We had gotten bogged down in the shop these last couple of week, but we are catching up so we had some time to work on the El Camino today. Today … we painted the doors.

The first picture shows Chris putting some final touches on the doors before they go into the booth for paint.

Picture two has Chase getting ready to paint the back side of the doors. When we do our High Performance Finish we normally paint the doors off the car. So today we painted the backside, then tomorrow we will flip them over and paint the front side.

You can see in pictures three and four the doors after the paint has been applied. The doors look black, especially in picture three, but if you look closely in picture four you can see that they are painted the same Blackberry Pearl that the rest of the car will receive.

The last photo, number five, gives an indication to what else is going to be painted tomorrow. Once Chris finishes blocking the fenders they will go in the booth to be painted, along with the doors, tomorrow.

We had built up a nice little cushion in the schedule when this car first arrived but we took a couple of bites out of that cushion these last two weeks. If we can get the doors and fenders painted tomorrow the only thing left to paint will be the tailgate, which is easy, and … well … the rest of the car.

Tickling the ribs

This original SS console belongs to the 1965 Chevelle that we painted a few months ago. While the console is in pretty good shape overall it was a little tired. Because of its construction and the detailing it contained, it would be a difficult and expensive restoration to bring it back to the like new condition the car deserves. So we are modifying it a little to make it look like new, but without all the original details it had when it was originally made.

Unless you are really up on your Chevelles it is difficult to see what we are doing. The problem with this console is the ribbing in the center of the console was pitted beyond easy repair, so we removed them. You can see what it should look like by clicking here. Sorry about the sideways picture, but, well, when you have to link a picture on the internet you take what you can get.

The first picture is the console after the ribs have been ground out and sanded as smooth as possible. The second picture has the center section smoothed over with body filler. The filler is nearly the color of the console so you will have to look close, but it is there.

The console will be painted in black with just a splash of red, to complement the paint and interior, and while not “stock” I think it will still look great.