Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Great Build man. Like your style. Keep the pics coming

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Thanks guys, I appreciate that!

I also wanted to revisit the question about the rolled on primer. It can be done, which was my only option, but it added days of sanding. The epoxy went on fairly smooth following with a brush, but still not as smooth as spray and since epoxy doesn't sand well it was very hard to get smooth. The surfacer was so thick that it wasn't worth following with a brush and came out probably a little rougher than house paint. Of coarse this had to be sanded smooth so again a lot of extra work. So the verdict is that it can be done if needed (it was) but it will add days of boring, tedious sanding to you build.

I shuffled around the cab shims and got it sitting much better, the fenders and bed look good now. The passenger fender would tweak when tightened due to the inner brace not being right so I cut that out, bolted it to the cab, hung the fender in place, then tacked the two back together. This worked out good and didn't do any damage to my bodywork. I just had to spray the inside with some more rusoleum and put it back on. Tomorrow I have a friend coming by to help put my hood back on, then I'll finish blocking and spot prime anywhere it needs and wait for time to paint!

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

I did something really dumb today. I have a booth lined up for this tuesday so I thought I'd drive around the block. The booth is only a mile away, so I figure if I can make it around the block I can make it to the booth. Well as soon as I dropped off the curb to my driveway I hear a big boom. Yep, the bed is not bolted down. I got lucky and the damage was minimal and easily fixed with a block of wood, a little love tap and some sanding, but boy.......stupid hurts.

With that out of the way I got to work. Everything is straight, smooth, lined up and ready for paint. I'm going to break my Home Depot rule and spray the dividing stripe in the garage tomorrow. I don't like to do it this way but the shop with the booth is very busy and gave me a strict four hour time limit. That will be tight with sealer, two colors and clear, but I'll make it work. It will be four colors with the divider and I wouldn't make the time limit without getting that done ahead.

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Looking good
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Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Keep it up. Looking good.

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Here's a little tip for anyone wanting several shades of the same color. Buy the lightest and the darkest shade you need and mix them to get the intermediate colors, this way they are all sure to go good together. Darker colors have more power than lighter colors so a 50/50 mix will usually not end up in the middle like you would expect but be on the darker side, so start with the light color and add dark until you get where you want to be.

Below are three pictures - the first is a reminder of my dark and light colors, the second is an example of them mixed together for an intermediate color,,, and the last is something to leave you scratching your head until I get to the booth. See ya tuesday!!

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

get that stripe on bud!! lovin this doing some great bodywork to get her straight I like your style

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Nice work !
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Re: Driver on a budget.
 

great work, love this thread!!!

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

looking forward to Tuesday

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Thanks everybody! Cheby, I'm surprised with all you have going on you have time to comment, thanks again.

I'll post some pictures of the paint job, but there won't be any closeups. It will buff out to look nice, but judging by this paint job it would be hard to believe that I used to be a professional that got paid a lot of money to paint cars that cost more than my house. I haven't done this for a living since 94 and I haven't painted anything since 2000, but dang I'm still a little disappointed in myself. What really brings me down though is the rolled on primer. I got sick of hand sanding and went for the DA. I knew it was a bad idea, but I thought going back to a block after would have better results than it did. DA's are great for sanding paint, but primer is too soft and it creates too many waves. I started out to build a driver, then I got carried away and now I think I ended up with just a driver anyway. Oh well, pity party over.

The first picture is the divider stripe. I love the way it turned out and almost think adding the two tone took away from it. One color with that stripe would be sweet! The next pics are the real deal. I like how it looks better in the pics then it does in person.:lol: I gotta get caught up on some two wheel fun I've been neglecting before I get my buff on so no closeups till then.

I have to tell one last funny story before you see the pics. I bought a seat off craigslist and didn't put it in until last night so I could drive to the paint booth. Well the locking mechanism is broke and I didn't have time to mess with it so I drove it like it is. The spring pulls the seat all the way forward so you're hugging the steering wheel, then when you step on the gas it slides all the way back causing you to come off the gas which causes you to go forward getting on the gas which causes you to go back and on and on. I sure am glad the booth was close and I didn't drive by any cops with no windows or lights and an undulating driving style, too cool.

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

NICE! Looks real good buddy!

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Nice to see some color and shine on it, lets you know you are getting close.

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Looks awsome! Coming right along man. Dude when you were talking about the seat latch not working I was laughing my ass off, simply for the fact that I've been there and done that. Embarrassing as hell at the time but when ya look back it's funny. Not pokin fun at ya just sympathizing. Truck is lookin great though cant wait to see it all trimmed out.
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Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Thanks!!

I'm glad you can relate. It was even funny while it was happening. Scary, but funny.

I've been sanding on the clear a little in between having fun, I even went downhill mountain biking for the first time in two years and my knee held up, yipee! I knew getting the shine wouldn't be a problem, I was mostly worried about the ripple from using the DA. I got the sides all sanded down to 1500 and did a quick buff on the doors and passenger bedside which had the worst part of the ripple. I still would have liked them better straighter, but I think I can live with this. The first pic is a pic of my truck, not my motorcycle!

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Man that turned out great! I thought I commented already but I must have been dreaming at work. I was wondering about those little tape lines in the stripe and that turned out great as well, great design. I was working in the garage earlier and thought of you when the stones came on the radio, "i see a red floor and want to paint it black" lol. looks real flat and true for using a DA, looks like a mirror really. what paint was that again?

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Thanks Dan! I used 4th Dimension basecoat and Southern Polyurethanes clear. The 4th Dimension is Sherwin Williams budget brand and the clear was the 2.1 VOC MS clear. I didn't like the basecoat much, it dried way too fast. When I bought it they didn't have any slow reducer and told me medium should be fine, I sure am glad I went back and bought slow reducer later because it still dried way too fast. After I painted the black I cleaned the gun and was able to tape on it right away for the silver. It was nice that I could tape on it that fast but it made it hard to get even, silver isn't the easiest color anyway. I was and still am a little concerned about using budget paint. When I said earlier that I used every brand known I should have specified that it was always the top tier within that brand. The only one I ever had any trouble with just happened to be Sherwin Williams, the clear started separating after a year or two on a friends car. That may have been an isolated incident and it was a long time ago so I don't think that should be a problem, at least I hope it isn't. The SPI clear gets tremendous reviews on the web and I think it does look nice. It buffs real easy, but they aren't kidding when they say put it on how you want it to look. I went a little light on the first coat because I was worried about getting a run in the transition from the fresh basecoat to the sanded smooth stripe. The next two coats I did as wet as I could and still didn't flow out the way I like, you have to go wet from coat one.

Now that my budget is into the 8's I have some decisions to make. The main one being tires. I absolutely hate the stagger front to rear and need to get four tires the same size. The big decision is do I just paint the wheels I have the same silver as the top and get tires or should I just go ahead and get wheels too. I'm not a fan of super big rims but I think some 17's would look nice! It is a bummer that my budget is busted because I did it more as an experiment than out of necessity, I could have saved an awful lot of work by buying doors and fenders in much better shape from the junkyards around here for $100 apiece, I really did think I could come in the 7's. Another thing that will push me into the high 8's anyway is the front end. I was thinking I could rebuild it on down the road and call it maintenance instead of part of the build but it can't wait, needs to be done now. I am going to hold off on the rear discs though, they're more of a cool thing than a needed thing and I can alway add them later fairly easily. Now I hope to come in under 10 - sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

For now I decided to just go with four tires the same size, it looks so much better. I'll probably still do some shiny wheels later, but I scored a craigslist deal on the right size tire off a wreck, the tires are like new!

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

NICE:metal: now are you ready to finish mine:lol:

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

That's 1 sharp truck, you've outdone yourself!
I tries a set of 17's on my truck I found
On Craigslist they were off of an avalanche . I didn't care fore them. Too much back spacing and I had to run spacers on the rear to be able to even bolt them up. The centers on newer trucks are smaller. Soooo I thought $200.00 down the tubes,but ran across another add found a 400 sbc for trade to a good set of 6 lug Chevy wheels. Supposed to trade this evening. Personally I like the truck rally's I had a few laying around so I widened 2 of them and stuck them on the ass end so where I'm at now is 10's on rear 8's on front. To me they just look classic on these trucks and you can find them cheap bout anytime on Craigslist. I love the way this thing is looking man. Are you planning any upgrades to the frontend when you "fix'er up" ?
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Re: Driver on a budget.
 

looking good man !

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

just read thrugh the build, very nice work on your "budget" build,like the color choice and layout on the paint,i will b keeping a eye on the rest of you build, again nice work

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Looks great...keep up the great work!

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

The common theme says they're never really finished, so as soon as I finish mine I'll jump right on yours!:lol:

Thank you, it is nice when the parts pile starts getting smaller.

I found a set of Impala SS wheels and made an offer, I'm glad he refused due to the same concerns. I like the look of 15's.

Nope, all the parts were on my front porch when I got home today. Well, all except for the one wrong part they sent. One of the reasons I picked this truck over others I looked at was it had a fresh -3/4 drop kit with springs, swaybars and shocks already installed. That's also why I thought I wouldn't need to rebuild the front end. It's hard to beleive someone put that kit on with all the sloppy parts. Maybe I'm not the cheapest guy around!

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

I almost forgot this one. Let us know if you got the motor, sounds like a great........wait for it...........SCORE!!!!