Shoebox gets booth time.

It’s been very busy around the shop for the past few weeks. We have had tons of collision repairs which hasn’t left us much time to work on the restoration cars. We did manage to squeeze in a few hours here and there to get these parts ready for paint and while we were waiting on parts we we decided it was the perfect time to spay them. I’m not sure it this is an actual factory color, the owner had already picked this color before we started the project but I do really like it. We started with a coat of sealer followed by 3 coats of DBC base coat and 2 coats PPG’s 2021 clear. The body work on the rest of the car is coming along great hopefully we can get into the booth soon.

Time to shine!

Its been a long time coming but we are finally spraying some color on the C-10 project. We had intentions on painting both bedsides today but when we were prepping them, we found a spot on one of them that wasnt up to snuff. So it came back out for repair and we slid the radiator support in in its place. These parts were sealed with PPG’s urethane sealer followed by 3 coats of PPG base coat then 3 coats of clear. Things went smoothly and the turned out very nice. The color looks amazing. We will wet sand and buff the outside of the bedside before reassembly. Hopefully we will get another batch of parts painted in the next couple of weeks.

Bottoms up

Still plugging away on the C-10. Last week we finished up the body work on the cab and applied a couple more coats of PPG’s high build epoxy. Because the body work was so extensive we will definitely block that out and prime it again to be sure we didnt miss anything. Today we started prepping bottom of the cab for bedliner. As you can see it was blasted giving us a good starting point. You can see there are new patches in the floors in the top corners. Those areas were a little thin and the cab mounts needed to be shored up some as well. While Jordan sanded the bottom, Paul got a great start on straightening out the rockers. We still have a bit of sanding to do on the floor and more work on the rockers but over the next couple of days we should be able to get the bottom of the cab sprayed with epoxy followed by a couple coats of Raptor liner.

Just hanging around

The ’57 is getting its doors. After installing the door and trunk rubber we are ready to get these back on where they should feel right at home. Lining up the left door went pretty smoothly. We still have some fine tuning before moving to the other side. We will be installing the latches and catches once we are happy with the fitment.

All hands on deck

Great progress was made on the C-10 project today. Cole and I worked a good portion of the day blocking out the roof and fixing dents. We worked some on the inside of the cab as well as the left door jamb. The fire wall is pretty close to being finished as well. Tomorrow we plan on attacking it like we did today and hopefully that will put us pretty close to priming it again.

C-10 body work continues

The progress continues on the C-10. We are working hard to make sure the body work on the cab is as nice as the rest of the panels we have ready to paint. The cab needs pretty extensive body work but each day we get a little closer.

Slicky slicky

Still working on the ’57 to wrap up the week. Today we were able to get the doors and deck lid sanded down for buffing. Jordan started on the deck lid then moved to the doors. Paul couldn’t resist the fun and quickly helped Jordan out. Once they had the truck ready, Paul started the buffing process while Jordan sanded the doors. Just like the sanding process, the buffing process consists of 3 steps. First step is a cutting compound. This process removes the sanding scratches but leaves its on scratches from the process. The next step is a polishing compound that removes the scratches left by the first, but it too leaves really fine swirl marks. The final step removes the really fine swirls and leaves the paint super smooth and scratch free. Its a long process but very worth it when only the best will do. We didnt quite get done with the buffing, but the last picture shows what the paint looks like after one round of step 2. Yes, sometimes you have to go over it a few times to get it right but its worth it in the end.

It all hinges on this

Yesterday started off with a little sand blasting. Jordan blasted the hood hinges and the door hinges for the ’57 Chevy. Once they were done, Cole took his turn sanding them back down smooth. Once that was finished up, Paul cleaned them up and sprayed a coat of DP epoxy on them and followed that with the appropriate colors for the parts. The hood hinges were painted a soft silver color with a flat clear coat and the door hinges were painted the factory Tropical Turquoise then cleared with a high gloss clear. Today we started the wet sanding process. This part of the paint job separates the men from the boys. This is where the super smooth, mirror like finish comes from. Jordan started with 1000 grit sand paper and carefully sanded the clear coat to remove what little orange peel was there. He then went back over that with 2000 grit paper and followed that will 3000. This process will provide a super high gloss and an ultra flat surface. You will easily be able to shave using this paint as a mirror.

Tubs are painted

Last week the work continued with the C-10. Paul sprayed the engine compartment sides of the wheel houses and did a spray in bedliner on the wheel house side of them They really look nice. Paul also was able to get the epoxy high build primer on the doors and fenders last week. Jordan got to work blocking them today. He did have a couple of places appear on the right fender so he went ahead and fixed that while he was at it. These will continue to be blocked out tomorrow and hopefully these parts will soon be in their final urethane primer in a couple of days

Fender bender

Jordan has been devoting the past few days to the C10 project. He has the body work on the doors pretty well wrapped up and today started on the fenders. Here again these are new parts but not without issues. The owner wanted to do fill in the turn signal holes that were in the fenders to match the way the quarters were done. This cleans up the look of the truck. It makes the sides look smoother. When that was done, they left the inner lip where the light use to mount and it didn’t look good. Although it will be hard to see and most people would never notice it, we would. So the first part of the day was spent grinding away all the metal that wasn’t needed on the back side of the fenders. He then started blocking out the front side to bring the high and low spots out. Once those were found he started straightening.  A hammer and dolly were uses to minimize the amount of filler. It looks like a little too much heat got to the panel when the patches over the signal holes were filled because the fenders were a little warped around the area where the lights use to be. Its hard not to get any warping when welding sheet metal because today’s metal is so thin. This is why there is just a large patch at the fronts of the fenders.  He should have these finished up tomorrow and the goal will be to get these and the doors in their first coats of primer by Thursday.