Planning the paint job

[Jeff Groves]

Not committed fully at this time but I am looking into something I did to my '75 Trans Am years ago.
I did some mods that had the hood lift forwards. I used the stock springs and hinges and a little bit of HillBilly engineering but it was killer! I've never seen the same thing done the way I did it.
The Tahoe uses a pivot point and a separate hood spring. The Older Fire Birds and such it was a one unit hinge/spring setup that could be swapped in.
That would require moving the battery and air intake system and added bracing to the fenders to support the hinge/spring set up. Also bracing on the hood.
I don't think moving the battery is a big issue. The Air intake system is different.
I plan a new hood so may go with something I can make a functioning Cowl Induction system for.
That gets the stock Air intake out of the way.

 

[mountie]

Jeff G.... As you probably know there are many tricks to achieve your painting finish.

As you have access to a decal cutter, you could 'dye-cut' a word or letters you can then paint inside the space then remove the decal then brush the edges ( Or air brush).... ( Vintage "Tahoe?")
( On the Snake II body I painted the 'Coca Cola' & 'Wynns' logos easily by brushing inside the decal. Then I removed the decal.)

I used dye-cut 'circles' to guide me as I air brushed the " swiss cheese" holes on a demolition derby car. ( I learned, by watching my friend air brush an off road beast ( ALL of the buggy sides are completely smooth - all effects are air brushed!! All of it !! ( Rivets, paneling w/ holes & everything air brushed !! ) ... Notice the decal "circles" at bottom of buggy, as I used them to stick on during air brushing, inside/outside of fake holes for shading while spraying.
The buggy was air brushed with a flat paint, then the gloss finish made it "pop".

Talk to a good decal guy... He will know what decal material will handle a paint ( Or what kind of paint will safely cover over the material) Decal materials are processed differently. ( Unless your decals are only for your letters - then they are removed )

 

[Jeff Groves]

Nice work Peter!
Wife has a Cricket Cutter thing so I'm going to test some removable stuff with it.
I still have all my Air Brushes and stuff so I'll be playing with it all again soon.
On a side note.
The place I ordered the Pearl from was not able to deliver as soon as expected so they offered to eat the shipping charges. Not that I was in a big hurry but that saved me near $43 bucks!
Probably gonna get a new hood from Summit or Jegs. Jegs is about 45 minutes away so I can save money on shipping. Summit is about 2 hours away.

 

[mountie]

Yea, it's fun stuff !! I have a classic air brush ( from Coast Airbrush, Huntington Beach, Ca), and a wonderful Sata gravity feed airbrush ( same as on pic of 'Cuda tail light job)...

My airbrush friend?...... ( Google him).... Kenny Youngblood aka "Blood Did It". He taught me a lot. ( '57 - Mongoo$e .. ALL airbrush, inc, all chrome, lights, etc. )

 

[Jeff Groves]

I don't need to google that name!

 

[Clinton Ellyson]

Same here.

 

[mountie]

Being a close friend to "Bleeder" for almost 30 years, it is quite a treat to watch him do his magic!

I took photos & did the masking before airbrushing.
I was at his studio when Kenny received a call from the "PCG3 Group".. ( Pete Chapurie ) (sp?)
A custom car hot rod shop in L.A. When a rock band was getting a RED Ford coup built there, and they needed a "Youngblood stripe" design on it..... Kenny created the design, after asking the name of the unknown band........and the rest is history...

ZZ Top (Band logo, came from Kenny's stripe design).

( Jeff G... the pin, I PM'd you about)

 

[Jeff Groves]

So my rear hatch has that dreaded paint peeling problem that seems pretty common.
Checked the price of replacing and decided real quick to just strip mine and do it right!
Why pay a small fortune for one that may exhibit the same problem down the road?

 

[mountie]

is the hatch paint peeling due to clear separating, or the color peeling also?

 

[Jeff Groves]

The aluminium is corroding and the paint and primer is peeling right off.