Back to......VANagains NEWest 65 Chevy SportVan Deluxe

Don ,Whats the story. Bill

I thought they were painting it too????

Bet Rich just wanted to blow the dust off.(cash a check,get some Liqour, some gas, & Mexican food) Sorry to see that shop wasn't working out.

I returned from my vacation on Memorial Day. The body shop wanted to get their first payment: $1000 for removing the paint and replacing the metal on that front fender. I was anxious to see the progress. They had finished welding that fender but as you can see, the old paint isn't quite removed.

Both Don and I have found it difficult to talk to these guys. Could be my book of notes and instructions for them got us started on the wrong foot. He said, "We know what we're doing." But I need to be able to talk with the guys working on my van. This is supposed to be a fun part of the process, getting it all straight and shiny! And I just wasn't getting a happy feeling about it.

Since I had just paid them for the work they'd (mostly) done so far, it was a good time to get my van out of there. Don was there to help with the great escape. Good thing, since it ran out of gas just before we were to get on the freeway!

I finally tracked down a body man that had given me a quote a while back. He'd really spent a lot of time going over it with me and we had a good rapport. He no longer works at a body shop, he's doing one car at a time at his house, which turns out to be 5 blocks from my house, which will make it so easy for me to check in on the progress. He rents spray booth time at the shop he used to work at. Plus, since he's on his own now, the hourly rate will be lower.

The only trouble is he's got three cars ahead of me. I don't mind the time to do some more finishing touches but now there's all this bare metal! And my driveway is near a big salt water bay!! So right now I'm cleaning, priming, and painting those areas, as he advised (and in a month or so he'll be sanding off again...). But I feel much better about this now.

Sounds like you did the right thing. Hopefully it will all work out for the better (and be fun in the process)! Good luck.

Uh ohhh, better treat that metal and get some DTM Epoxy primer on there pronto (been down that road before...)

Working on it every day Gov (or evening, ha ha) Business is busy but
I still manage. Just now teaching myself how to do Cad Plating at home- looks easier than I thought.

Sick of painting my nuts, only to have them chip later...

I have been where you were, you stop by to see whats going on and most of the time is we will get to it in a few days. Well the few days turns to a week then they get just a little done and you have hope they are on it then it turn back to the same crap. You'll be better of to have change bodymen

VANagain, I think you will be happier with this new situation It sounds more personal and hands on. A few years back had a friend of mine (owns a body shop)Do alot of work on my van and not only were there no problems he (and Dawn) went out of there way on many ocations.Hell in mid stream we did a V8 conversion right there in the body shop. So keep us updated and can't wait to see what comes next on your van. Bill

Here are some photos of my weekend of prepping the bare metal and painting primer. Scrub with de-ruster spray, rinse with water and dry right away, wipe with acetone, then spray paint. It was dry and breezy, which helped the cleaning (not so much the spraying). Did most of it Sunday, and I was wiped when I put the car cover on it that evening. But my work paid off because about a half hour later it started drizzling out!











I used a good primer but I could be pretty sloppy about it. All this paint will be sanded off in a month or so.

My new body man said I should put paint over this primer because primer is not a good seal. I know this is true but what do you guys think? Any rust that starts will get sanded off with the paint, right? But I'd really rather no rust was ever on that metal. I suppose the car cover doesn't really keep the ocean air off it. I did buy a quart of the two colors so I can spray a large area to make sure I like the colors. Maybe while I'm doing this I could hit some of the other primed areas.

Rich - You're body guy is right. Rattle can primer is not waterproof and moisture can get beneath it and form rust. Only a 2 part epoxy primer will stop moisture from getting through. Why don't you just temporarily move the van inland a few miles to a low humidity area. Like the Mojave desert. Or Don's house.

I share 64chevy's sentiments exactly. Rattle can is porous stuff, very deceptive.
Putting on another paint coat is adding work, it's going to have to come off.
Also, I found out the hard way that the coatings you put on underneath really
matter, go with quality from the start.

It would be best to shoot 3 coats (1 mist, 2 medium coats) of DTM (direct-to-
metal) 2-part Epoxy Primer. Shoots out of a cheap spray gun nicely.

I learned that lesson long ago, now first thing I do after stripping to bare
metal is get the DTM Primer on, then do body work followed by more
DTM/Sealer over the worked areas. Then it's time to move into shooting
a surfacer, then blocking, base coat then clear.

...Good quality Primer is available in Kearny Mesa for about 35 bucks a qt.
and worth every penny IMO.

George

Today I'm spraying some paint on that primer, focusing the areas that were bare metal. I had some acrylic enamel mixed up using my van's paint code (540AA) for turquoise (metallic) and ivory. This is my chance to paint a large area to see if I like the colors.



This shot shows the color better:



Boy, the shiny paint really shows off the dents! I wish I could find a straighter passenger door. And the rear right door.

I'm not happy with this color. This seems to be very silvery. I want it to be more blue and more saturated. I don't it to look green and I don't want it to look blue. This is what I'm shooting for:



Tomorrow I'll mask off the two-tone area and spray some white, make sure this ivory isn't too yellow.

Sunday I sprayed the white. The ivory color is perfect! When I first started spraying it I thought maybe it was too off white but it's just right. Regular white is too bright. This color looks retro but when people see it they're just going to think it's white.

It was quite windy so I tied up the van's cover and it would fill up like a parachute when the wind would blow!



I'm surprised how different the turquoise looks next to the white. I think it looks less green. But I'm still going to try a mix with more blue.



After painting the two-tone area I used the rest of the white to paint over the primer where there was bare metal. It looks funny to now see a white van in the driveway!

"I'm probably the only guy who likes factory steel rims and whitewalls! "

[img]https://i.servimg.com/u/f81/12/51[url=https://servimg.com/view/14719137/5]/89/13/th/new_wh11.jpg[/img][/url][/quote] Your Not alone!! do you know of a good multi-ply whiteline 14" ?

I like them also, something has to be said for the factory look also