Deal on a 94 V6

[TraceZ]

Those rims and tires look good! Very nice!

Thanks for all the kind words fellas! You guys are all great, and inspired me to learn a new skill with outstanding results. I was always intimidated by paintwork... not any more! I'd paint a whole car in a heartbeat now. It's not that hard to do with the correct supplies, tools, patience and technique.

The rims did come out pretty nicely. They looked kinda rough when they arrived, but I washed them down with simple green and a scour pad (on the inside) then I used my dremel to sand off the curb marks and poilish the lips, then I waxed them. It was a lot of elbow grease, but they are corrosion free and look pretty good now. They really do need to be repainted, though. The paint on them is peeling and dull in places.

[Dave M]

It will be interesting to see what you can get for the car when you sell it. Then again, after putting all that work into it, you may not want to sell it!

[Joe 1320]

Thanks for all the kind words fellas! You guys are all great, and inspired me to learn a new skill with outstanding results. I was always intimidated by paintwork... not any more! I'd paint a whole car in a heartbeat now. It's not that hard to do with the correct supplies, tools, patience and technique.

The rims did come out pretty nicely. They looked kinda rough when they arrived, but I washed them down with simple green and a scour pad (on the inside) then I used my dremel to sand off the curb marks and poilish the lips, then I waxed them. It was a lot of elbow grease, but they are corrosion free and look pretty good now. They really do need to be repainted, though. The paint on them is peeling and dull in places.

And to top it off, you enjoyed the heck out of the experience didn't ya? That's the real payoff right there, not how much you sell it for. Although making a profit makes it even better.

Why not paint the rims? That is much easier than the fender.

[TraceZ]

And to top it off, you enjoyed the heck out of the experience didn't ya? That's the real payoff right there, not how much you sell it for. Although making a profit makes it even better.

Why not paint the rims? That is much easier than the fender.

Yes, I did enjoy the heck out of it. We may have more fun too, it looks like we are going to touch-up, wetsand and re-clear the nose. It wont be perfect, but it will be a *huge* improvement. All it will cost us is the price of the flex agent for the clear.

The nose is the weak part of the car now. I didnt even notice it when the car was dirty, but now that the rest of the car looks sweet, the nose looks ratty. Fixing the nose will make it a 5' car all the way around.

[TraceZ]

Before and after pics! It's lookin' good.

as requested:

Before:



After:

[78formula78]

wow its hard to tell that its even the same car

[TraceZ]

wow its hard to tell that its even the same car

no kidding.

Tonight we took a look at the nose. The paint is badly etched from bug guts and full of stone chips. The clearcoat is also peeling off it in a couple places. It is the only part of the car now that looks less than showroom new.

I got out some 600 grit paper and started wetsanding on the areas where the clear was gone to see if I could feather the edge well enough for a new coat of clear. I went right through to the black plastic.

note: GM did not use any primer under the base coat on their bumper covers. all that is on there is base coat and clear coat.

So, I decided to do a repaint of the front bumper cover. I wetsanded the entire thing well. The paint is not spiderwebbed on it anywhere and the paint on it is original so I am not going to strip it completely. My bro is going to pick up the necessary flex stuff to make our paint and clear flexable tomorrow. We are going to do it the same way GM did. I'm going to use some color to touch up and blend the spots where I sanded through the paint and then we will clear the whole thing. The black paint around the lights is in good shape, so we will mask that and leave it alone. It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

[TraceZ]

I'm liking this DuPont Nason paint more every day.

My bro taked with the folks at body shop supply again today asking what type of additive we'd need to add to the paint to make it flexible for the front bumper cover.

Guess what?

The DuPont Nason paint system does not require any flex aditives for bumper covers. It is by nature flexible enough that it does not require any special additives. Wow!

So, we have the front bumper cover masked, wetsanded and ready for shooting. And the best part is it won't cost us a dime because we have enough leftover materials from the quarterpanel!

Nice! I'll post pictures of the nose afterwards.

[99v6cam]

Wow, so all together only $1500... that's nutz. Awesome job on that quarter panel as well. I wish I had the money to do stuff like that... maybe after college.

[FroSSty]

Those before/after pics are great! You did a beautiful job under the hood. It makes me want to go out and detail my car!

[crazycooter]

how did you clean that engine bay? looks great!

[TraceZ]

the secret ingrediant is Tire Wet.

On my LT1 car I use a bucket with simple green and a long bristled brush. I scrub everything well, get in all the cracks and I rinse it with a garden hose. Dont let the opti get wet! Then I dry it with compressed air and a towel. once it is dry I spray the entire engine bay down with Tire Wet. Follow up immediately with a rag to remove the residue. It dries looking like showroom new. My cars have always had the cleanest looking engine bays as a result. It really does an outstanding job. The silicone gets on the surface and the dirt floats to the top. When its wiped with a towel all the dirt wipes away that was in any cracks and the finish it leaves looks like it was just released from the mold at the production facility.

On this V6 car I saved my simple green and used gumout foaming engine brite with a pressure washer instead. There is no opti to worry about, so blast away. You LS1 guys can go that route too, it's a little more thorough than the simple green and brush.

The trick is the Tire Wet though. Seriously.

[crazycooter]

engine running or not? heard when presure washing you should run the engine? thanks for the help.

[TraceZ]

not running.

[TraceZ]

Update:

The nose is repainted and looks great. We did get one run, but it wetsanded out fairly well and is not too noticable. I think the body shop supply sold us the wrong temperature hardener. We were shooting at 50 degrees. the hardener they gave us was for 60 - 85 degrees. we should of gotten the next level lower.

I think this error made the paint flash really slowly and as a result we didnt wait long enough between coats, resulting in the run.

We painted the quarter panel at 65 degrees, so that turned out perfect.

Anyhow, it looks good. We wet sanded it and buffid it up nice. We actually compounded the entire car. it just needs to be polished now and waxed and the project is complete. I'll post tons of detailed pictures of the finished product once we are done and I can get it outside in the sun.

total investment including cost of car:
$1550

Here is a complete list of everything we did:

Replace or repair list
1. Remove front license plate and plug holes.
3. Install Chrome Valve Stems and Caps
4. Remove parking stickers from the windshield and drivers door
5. Remove panoramic adhesive mirror
6. Install Fuel Door Bumpers
7. Replace Spark Plug Wires
8. Rebuild EGR Valve
9. Rebuild Throttle Body
10. Replace cigarette lighter
11. Remove and discard hood liner
12. Replace serpentine belt
13. Replace spark plugs
14. Replace fuel filter
15. Replace Battery
16. Replace PCV Valve
17. Tighten and repaint the antenna mast
18. Replace windshield wiper blades and rubber
19. Repaint the wiper arms
20. Change rear end fluid – add Teflon
21. Buff out scuffs on door mirrors
22. Buff out the black plastic triangles behind the windows
23. Remove Seat Belt Tags
24. Remove Sun Visor Slings
25. Repaint and Tighten drivers door handle
26. Repaint lock cylinders in doors
27. Fabricate new window bumpers on drivers door
28. Repair glove box light
29. Glue catalyst sticker down
30. Replace EGR riser gasket
31. Fix (fiberglass) ashtray lid/ spring
32. Fix (fiberglass) broken center console mounts
33. Replace motor mounts
34. Fix loose headlight housing
35. Replace front brakes (rotors and pads)
36. Replace brake fluid, bleed brakes
37. Replace the driver’s door window
38. Remove the tint from the passenger door window
39. Replace the catalytic converter
40. Mount / Static Balance new rims
41. Repaint the lock cylinder for the rear hatch
42. Replace the rims and center caps


Cleaning List
1. Can of SeaFoam in the engine
2. Can of Gumout in gas tank
3. Can of Duralube in the engine oil
4. Can of Duralube in the Transmission
5. Duralube in the power steering
6. Detail (rebuild) the center console
7. Rebuild passenger seat, wash covers in laundry
8. Shampoo the passenger side of the interior
9. Rebuild drivers seat, wash covers in laundry
10. Shampoo the drivers side of the interior
11. Shampoo the trunk area
12. Pressure wash the engine bay with Gunk Engine Brite
13. Detail the engine bay
14. Clean bottom of hood
15. Detail the dash
16. Wash the exterior
17. Buff the paint
18. Wax the paint - still needs to be done
19 Detail the wheels
20. Detail the wheel wells

Rust & Paint repair list
1. Grounding post/nuts
2. + Battery box
3. Engine bay by relay box (rust hole)
4. Touch-up nicks in paint
5. Repaint front edge of hood (underside)
6. Repaint Rear drivers quarter panel
7. Repaint front bumper cover