The wheels on the Chevelle go ’round and ’round …

If the red in the second photo looks familiar, it is because you have seen it before right here on this site. These wheels are going on the red 1965 Chevelle we painted over the summer.

The first picture shows the wheels in their coat of gray urethane sealer. The sealer seals any primers and fillers below it and provides a bonding surface for the paint that follows.

The second photo shows the wheels after they have been painted and cleared.

Want to see the rest of the car? You can click the 1965 Chevelle in Categories … or you can click right here.

Pushing it to the red line

We finished up the console for the ’65 Chevelle today. Yesterday we painted the console in basic black. Today … today we added some pizzazz.

The first two pictures show the console all masked off and painted red. Red? That’s right, red. Just watch what happens when the mask comes off.

The last four pictures show the completed console with the red, the same red that is on the outside of the car, in place. Now I ask you … does it look good or what?

Yeah, I think so too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile …

While we toiled away on the El Camino for a third day, Chase broke away and shot some paint on this console from a 1965 Chevelle.

The console was in semi-rough condition, too far gone to restore properly anyway, so the owner had use grind out and smooth the ridges in the center portion then paint it a nice black to complement his interior.

This is what the console is supposed to look like, but I have to tell you, the more I look at this black, the better I like it.

Consoling the owner

Several weeks ago the owner of the blood red 1965 Chevelle we painted dropped this console of to be modified and painted. We have been working on it, off and on, since. Today we finally got around to priming it.

The first two photos show me applying the etching epoxy primer. This is sprayed on bare metal so all the subsequent layers will adhere.

The next two photos, numbers three and four, are after the application of the high solids primer. This primer is used to fill any imperfections in the surface. We will block sand most of this material off to smooth and refine the surface.

Blocking is a technique where sandpaper is attached to a semi-ridged plastic block so that the sandpaper cuts hard into high spots while gliding lightly over low spots. This removes material from the high areas until the surface is dead smooth and even. This is the same material and technique we use to produce our High Performance Finish, but we won’t finish the console to the same high luster finish.

JMC AutoworX is primarily a paint and body shop … but doing some interior work is a nice change of pace.

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.

So long old friend

At long last, after months of sweat and toil, sanding and painting, this 1965 Chevelle is finally finished. Well, finished as far as JMC AutoworX is concerned. Today we installed the hood and aligned the fenders, the last two items to finish before the car could be turned over to the owner. You can see me working on the hood latch in the first photo, finishing up the last few details.

The rest of the photos, numbers 2-5, are of the old girl, out enjoying the sun, turned out in her very best. The paint is as perfect as I can make it. The body panels are aligned and the gaps even. In short, the car is ready to go to the next step … installation of the interior, a few remaining mechanical issues and final trim out. Those operations will all be performed by the owner.

I kind of hate to see the ol’ girl go. She has been in the shop a while, taking up space and getting in the way. But just like your kids, you wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. I mean, look at it! I derive a great deal of satisfaction from taking a car damaged in a wreck and making it whole again. But nothing compares to the feeling I get when I wipe down a High Performance Finish car for the last time, the last time I feel the slickness of the paint before turning the car over to the owner. Now that is satisfaction for a job well done.

Next week a roll-back will come and take the car away. I won’t say I will shed a tear when it leaves, but like saying goodbye to an old friend, I hope to get to see it again. Soon.

Putting it all together

Today we hung the fenders and doors on the Chevelle. This pretty much completes the portion of the build that JMC AutoworX is responsible for.  We will do the hood and inner fenders tomorrow.

The owner will pick this car up and take it away for the installation of the glass, interior, wiring … along with the final installation of the trim.

Seeing one of these High Performance Finish cars leave the shop is kind of like seeing your kids leave home. You are so proud … but it is kind of sad too.

A dash style

We are down to the last couple of items on this Chevelle … then I will be bidding it a fond farewell. One of those last items is painting the dash. The gray … it just doesn’t do anything for me. I’m thinking a nice semi-gloss black.

The first photo shows the car masked off. It would be … disappointing … to get the black paint on the red. I think the customer would notice if I were to do so.

The next two photos, numbers two and three, show Chase wiping the car down with a tack cloth. A tack cloth is a lint free cloth treated with a chemical to make the cloth slightly sticky. The stickiness picks up any dust or debris and removes it from the car. A quality paint finish depends on the preparation, and making sure the surface is clean is all part of the preparation.

The next two photos, numbers four and five, show the dash after the sealer has been applied. The sealer seals all the materials below and prepares the surface for paint.

The sealer comes in seven shades of gray, from almost white to this very near black color. Each paint color has one of these specific grays assigned to it. Since the dash is going to be painted black, I am using the darkest of the seven grays.

Pictures six and seven show the dash after the paint has been applied. Unlike the red, this dash is painted with a semi-gloss paint. It wouldn’t do to have the dash so shiny that all you could see is in the glass is … well … the reflection of dash.

The last two photos, numbers eight and nine, show the car unmasked so you can see how the dash looks with the red of the car. I like the contrast between the red and black.

This finishes the painting. And it finishes it up with a dash of style I think. All that is left is the installation of the doors, fenders, hood and trunk lid, then the car will be ready for the owner to pick it up. I will hate to see it go, but it will make room for the next High Performance Finish project … and I can’t wait to get started on it.

Don’t cut yourself

Yesterday we started wet sanding the Chevelle as we transformed a merely great finish into a High Performance Finish. Today, we finished the wet sanding and polishing … and now this paint has reflections so sharp you could cut yourself.

The first photo shows what the paint looks like after we finished wet sanding the car. The car is first sanded with 1000 grit sandpaper, then completely sanded again with 2000 grit sandpaper. The abrasives on these papers are so fine the paper actually feels smooth to the touch, but the papers are still enough abrasive enough to cut and smooth the paint. No matter how fine the sandpaper, sanding fresh paint is obviously going to remove the shine … so the next step is to put it back.

The next four photos demonstrate how you use a polisher to put the shine back after sanding it off. Like wet sanding, the paint is polished using progressively finer polishes. The first step is a heavy cutting compound that removes the sanding marks, but itself leaves swirl marks in the paint. This is the step seen in these photographs.

After the sanding marks are removed, the car is polished again with a finer compound which removes the swirl marks left by the cutting compound. After this step the paint looks very, very, good. But for the High Performance Finish we go even further, using a third and even finer compound to bring the shine up to the highest level possible.

In the second photo I am dumping out an obviously  carefully measured amount of polishing compound. It looks like a great glob of it, but I will smear it around a bit before I start polishing.

The  third photo has me giving the compound a squirt of water. Not all compounds require the water but I find this compound works better if I add a bit of water to help it remain smooth and not cake up on the buffer pad.

The fourth and fifth photos show me working the paint with the high-speed polisher. The entire car is polished, one section at a time until the entire car is polished. The I switch to the next finer polish and the entire process starts over again. I notice in the fifth picture I look a little red in the face. I think that is because the car is red but also because it was hot out there today.

The last four shots, numbers 6-9, are of the car after all five steps, two sanding and three polishing, are complete. The paint shows its maximum depth and the reflections are crisp, clean and razor sharp. Take a look at the last photograph. There is nothing sneaky or tricky going on, that is exactly how the camera captured the moment.

Now that is a High Performance Finish reflection.

Slippery when wet

The Chevelle has the smoothest paint I can put on a car, but as smooth as it is, it isn’t a High Performance Finish.

These three photos show how you take a great finish to an awesome finish, a High Performance Finish. You do it by sanding the paint with ultra-fine sandpaper while the surface is wet. The process goes by a couple of different names. Some call it wet sanding, others call it color sanding, but both mean you are sanding and smoothing the clear coat to make the deepest, richest, paint finish possible.

Paint achieves its gloss by reflecting light. The more the light bounces back directly to your eye, the deeper and richer the shine. Imperfection in the paint, including those you can’t see, scatter the light and muddle the shine. Sanding removes these imperfections, reducing the amount of scatter from the reflecting light.

The paint is sanded while wet because the water acts as a lubricant, preventing the sandpaper from removing too much paint. Sanding through the clear coat would be … bad. The second reason for sanding while the car is wet is the water washes away the sanding dust, making  it far easier to see if the imperfections are removed.

Now I know what you are thinking … how can you see the imperfections while you are sanding when you said you couldn’t see them before. Believe it or not, the sanding process reveals the imperfections so you can see them, just like blocking the car revealed any dents in the car, including those you couldn’t see before. When you can no longer see the imperfections you know the car has a mirror like finish.

A High Performance Finish.