1984 El Camino

WOW! Thank God that I found this form and thread, I have been reading the other HUGE thread for a week about roller painting a car and thus am still in the "study" mode
in preparation to do my '84 El Camino this next Spring/summer. My Elky was Lt. Powder Blue on top and bottom and Dark Blue in between when I bought it 10 years ago...I
had a "cheapo" ALL DK Metallic Blue painted on the whole car about 5-6 years ago and the paint job on hood and top is totally SHOT now [car must be parked in ALL the elements];
anyway, I stumbled into this Paint it Yourself Method after I found that on my meager income I could never afford a real PRO paint job.

So - I was thinking about using this method to return my Elky to TWO Tone Glory, two Blues, and after much reading decided that Brightside would be my choice to use too....so I needed to decide which of the Blue hues to use BUT that got quite narrowed when I saw samples of cars painted with Brightside, say Largo Blue, Ocean Blue, and even their Sapphire Blue [which in their color chart I thought would be THE one for me - turns out too Bright for my taste]. That left B. Dark Blue and Flag Blue........I do LOVE this Dark Blue, similar to the Blue already
on my Elky but a tad brighter, which I like...........I have seen one sample of a sail boat painted with B. Flag Blue and from a distance you would swear that it was Black.
NOW before painting weather arrives here in the NW I must decide between ALL B. Dark Blue OR the Dark Blue for main body and B. Light Blue for top and bottom. Any other ideas out there?? I will now search to find a real example to B. Light Blue painted on a car to see how it would look with their Dark Blue.

Thanks again for sharing your project with us and thus enabliing this "roller" to decide to buy Brightside Dark Blue.

Michael

Glad I could help someone in this process. That why I decided to take all of these pictures and put them here so I could show what to expect when doing this.
I went into west marine with the intention of buying flag blue. Dark Blue was all they had, and in a way I'm glad that is how it worked out. I'm really happy with the color.
-Trent

tzyong: I may have missed it BUT I was wondering what proportion Thinner to Paint you used in your various coats and did you use 100% Mineral Spirits and/or the Interlux 333 Thinner?
Also - did you add any Penetrol? Did you find any preferred test to tell you when the paint was "READY to ROCK & ROLL"? [ie. time to drip etc.]
I believe the guys over at the Mopar site using Brightside thinned it like with 30% M.Spirits - not sure.

TKS Michael

I love El Caminos. Good luck on your project, please post pictures when you get a chance.

Matt wrote:I love El Caminos. Good luck on your project, please post pictures when you get a chance.

Roger that! I can't find any good photos of anything painted with some Brightside Light Blue, which I have considering for the top and bottom with the Dark Blue or Flag Blue on main body........so I am now thinking of a light gray instead of lt,. blue..........might look pretty classy that way......wish I could find a silver like gray. Getting everything together slowly but surely for doing the job this Spring and Summer.

More laters, Michael

Sounds good. Have you seen the paint chart posted under the Exterior > Paint and Other Coating forum? It has the colors for Rustoleum and Brightside. There are several blues. Here is a link to that thread

Available Colors Brightside and Rustoleum

Thanks Matt - Yes, I have looked a ALL of them and then found out that seeing those little samples and then seeing wheat that color actually looks like on a car ARE often
TWO DIFFERENT things and this totally threw off my plans of what I might use to paint it back Two Tone. Over on the Mopars HUGE thread on this subject I finally saw cars
painted with Brightsides' LARGO Blue and Ocean Blue and the one I thought I'd love - Sapphire Blue BUT ALL were too bright for my taste. And really threw off what I had been considering
putting alongside each other. I will go in the near future to a retailer here that sells Brightside and get one of their color charts, which I hear are much better than what we see on their
web site, then I can come home and cut out the various candidates and put them side by side on my Elky's BOD....will help make decision. I attach the following LINK to an Elky that is
quite siliar to mine that is painted Bright Blue [similar to Brightside Sapphire Blue] and either Lt. Blue or Gray - - - I think that that is Gray [what do you think?] I don't think I want that bright of Blue BUT The Dark Blue used on that Honda here might look dynOmight [sp] and very RICH together........what do you guys think?

http://autotrader.autos.msn.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=228923013&dealer_id=60951175&car_year=1987&make_desc=Chevrolet&browse_path=cars&search_type=used&distance=100&model_desc=El+Camino&address=90014&cardist=13



PS - - - Has anyone here used Top Secret Paint on their rigs....IF so.....please give me some feedback on it and/or ANY Other paints used similar to Rustoleum or Brightside [Top Secret is in that ball park]

TKS Michael

I like Elkys too I had a 76 at one time. I think yours will look good in the colors you have chosen.The Lt.Blue and Dark Blue Or Gray and Blue or a solid color.You can't go wrong all those colors fit it so well. I plan on painting my 85 F150 Yellow with the old Boss 302 Mustang Stripes.

Sounds COOL - what kind of paint are you planning on using?

Rustoluem Paint they have the exact color of Yellow I want but unfortunately it will be a while before I can get to it after moving I need to find a rust free bed for my truck

I think your on the right track cyberized. Your right about trying to distinguish these digital online colors to the real thing. I think it just gives folks a representation to go by. Keep us updated and let us know how it turns out.

I used the Ace Hardware brand of rust paint. I can't ever remember if it's "Rust Stop" or "Stop Rust". The color I went with is called International Blue. Going by the sticker on the can or the color sample in the brochure the color should have come out much darker. I'm satisfied with the color I got so no real complaints. I don't know how well the color is conveyed through the internet but it is identical to my Weber charcoal grill that is also blue.

http://rolledon.com/projects-f2/1997-ford-f-150-t35.htm

Thanks Frank --- I am REALLY leaning toward doing my Elky in ALL ONE Color now and that would be my choice - the one you used - that is a beautiful BLUe and you did a GREAT job on it. I would hope to do as well. I had written you previously about how it is holding up etc......and you gave a positive reply. I have been planning on using Brightside because I "think" it must be a higher quality paint [being a polyurethane etc.] BUT I am certainly NO expert.....just after reading ALL this humongous pile of posts on this subject that is kinda what I garnered.
Although Charger69 used Tremclad which would be probably roughly the same mix as what you used and his vW and Charger are still looking good after several years or more.

The local West Marine Outlet that carries Brightside kind of PO'd me.......I called yesterday because I had been playing with color patches for hours and had it narrowed down to several possiblities as far as two tone combos went and to really make my mind up as to what to buy I NEED to SEE a good sample of something painted with B. Lt. Blue.....he only had the same color patches that I am playing with and had none in stock. He said that they are painted with the actual color on top of the lids............BUT indicated that he would not order that color in w/o a purchase.........what a "H" of a way to do business eh? Do not know WHY he could not return the can IF I did not burchase it - - - I still would be buying 2 qts just gray instead of lt. blue if I did not like it. I will be calling him back to SEE if I heard him right on that - know that I did though.
Meanwhile - tommorrow I will go to my Local Ace store and check out the Ace Rust Stop selection IF they have one. I searched for it one the WEB but was surprised it is hard to find.

Laters Michael

From the discussion I read about the Brightside brand of paint it sounds like it's a real good option. I had trouble tracking it down in my area and that's why I ended up with the Ace brand. The Ace brand is really strong. The other day I was at a restaurant that has a notoriously tight parking lot and when I was leaving I had to scrape by a bush/tree to avoid a car parked in the driveway. I wasn't worried about it ruining my nice paint work but checked when I got home and saw no damage at all to the paint. It would have easily scratched the original black on my truck.

The Ace Hardware here is a dumpy old mom & pop style hardware store. I went there hoping they could tint a base to get me a good "Ford Blue" but as soon as I walked in I knew there was no chance of that. Fortunately they had a color I liked. I had to visit my parents and go to their Ace Hardware to get the color sample sheet just to compare it to how the color came out on my truck.

TKS again Frank, well the Price is SURE Right comapred to the Brightside, I checked at my closest ACE and they do not carry it, BUT, the ACE in the next Suburb over does carry the product and it is $7.49 QT; $25 GAL. My Elky would look DynOmite in that color [I think] International Blue. I will go there soon to see if I can get a color chart from them. Brightside is from $35 to $40 a QT.

Were you able to get those imperfections out of your door?

Were you using two rollers - one to roll on the paint and a 2nd "dry" one to roll down bubbles?

Do you think that the paint formula of Rust Stop is the same as Rustoleum but it just has Ace's Name on it and you can get custom colors?

TKS Michael

A 3rd BEFORE shot is my Avatar.

WHAT do YOU think about this idea? IF you notice that bloth bumpers on this model have the black rubber impact strips on them - BUT - on the LEFT Rear Bumper part of it was missing when I bought the car......they make you buy the whole package for the rear NOT just that section and it is NOT cheap, plus I would have to pay someone to put it on for me. Last night when working on this project in bed.....had IDEA......I could paint all of the black bumper strips with the B. Dark Blue and mask between that area where it is missing and paint between that gap also [would not be as noticeable]. The rubber always gets kind of funky looking anyway - that Glossy paint would take care of that. Know this idea will make a "purist" puke BUT......

TKS for any and all feedback.

cyberized wrote:

Were you able to get those imperfections out of your door?

Were you using two rollers - one to roll on the paint and a 2nd "dry" one to roll down bubbles?

Do you think that the paint formula of Rust Stop is the same as Rustoleum but it just has Ace's Name on it and you can get custom colors?

TKS Michael

I haven't gotten that texture out of the door yet because the good weather is finally getting here and I just haven't done the polishing yet. I am almost certain it won't be a big deal to get it out.

I used one roller and a regular foam brush. I bought a 3-pack of the foam brushes for the detail work. I rolled on the paint/thinner mix with the roller and then just lightly dragged the foam brush over the section I painted to pop the bubbles. Worked like a dream. Others were using two and just lightly rolling over it with the 2nd to pop the bubbles.

I think the formulation of the Rust Stop is very similar to the Rustoleum brand if not identical it will be close enough that it shouldn't affect the procedure.

We finally got a NICE GRAY Day w/o rain here in the NW and it was in low 50's - - - I could'nt wait and went out and started sanding with 400 W&Dry [using dry] - going to take some time to finish this prep work that is for sure. Knew that coming - feels good to get me feet wet. May do some more today IF the rain holds off.

Going to order the paint pretty soon, still waffeling between ALL ONE Color. Brightside Dark Blue [SEE 89 Honda Dark Blue thread]; OR 2 Tone, Brightside Light Blue on top and bottom, with B. Dark Blue in between. OR i other option to consider for my Elky is ALL B. Flag Blue [ this Blue is very deep dark blue, looks black in the shade, with direct light can tell it is a very dark Blue].

PLEASE - "Vote" here as to which choice that you would make.....and

THanks Rollers, Michael

Hey Cyber check out the top of the page I created a poll for everyone to vote. You said you wanted to know what people suggested so there you go.

TKS MATT! Have one vote from my Sister for ALL one color BUT she mainly voted that way because she said it is more work to paint two tone [she thought].
Today. cool here, turned outsde water on so i can wash my Elky and get the tanneu cover off and get sanding as time permits.

Laters Rollers!

Taking a BREAK - been sanding for 6 days and my fingers are RAW and me OLD Body has been SCREAMING at me - this is almost all of my Elky sanded with 220, have to work outside and now that it is supposed to start raining here again - I will rest and heal up for another GO when we get clear weather here again. Will next do the entire car again with 400 [guess that is necessary]......one fella said that since it appears prestty smooth right now that I could skip 400 and go to wet sanding with 600 prior to painting????

MATT - tks for adding the POLL to my thread BUT the BIG decision has been made as of today, I ordered my paint this AM, what a TOUGH decision it was for me, every day I knew it was going to be "this" and the next day it was definitely "that"; my choice as you will see was not made using the Democratic Process; I opted to TWO Tone using Brightside's Light Blue and their Dark Blue [based on Trent's great results on his Honda]. Will be interesting to see what their Light Blue actually looks like when it gets here......hope I don't have to add White or Dk. Blue to it to get it "right"!

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/orbeavhawk/HPIM0194.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/orbeavhawk/HPIM0190.jpg

ROLL ON Men! Michael

Cyberized;

I notice that you sanded around your emblems. I would strongly recommend that you remove those and put them back when your done. While I realize that taking the body moulding off is a royal pain and I can understand not taking those off. But emblems are generally held on with 2 sided tape.... sanding around those emblems is gonna be He**....

cyberized wrote:Taking a BREAK - been sanding for 6 days and my fingers are RAW and me OLD Body has been SCREAMING at me - this is almost all of my Elky sanded with 220, have to work outside and now that it is supposed to start raining here again - I will rest and heal up for another GO when we get clear weather here again. Will next do the entire car again with 400 [guess that is necessary]......one fella said that since it appears prestty smooth right now that I could skip 400 and go to wet sanding with 600 prior to painting????

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/orbeavhawk/HPIM0194.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/orbeavhawk/HPIM0190.jpg

ROLL ON Men! Michael

You're doing a great job with the sanding. I only did a 400 grit on mine. I wish I would have had a power sander but I just wrapped the paper around a foam block and went at it. I don't know how much sanding is really necessary. I may have gotten down into the original paint maybe. I think for the most part I just "roughed-up" the factory clearcoat to give the new paint something to adhere to. I sanded in the morning and rolled the first coat in the afternoon. It seems to have worked as I don't have any problems I could attribute to an adhesion failure.

EDIT: Sorry, that's a mistake. I was looking over my project page and I used 220 grit for my prep.

I got my paints in the mail yesterday [quick] and at first I thought "OH, NO, that light blue is not going to work for me!" But after setting both cans on the hood of my Elky - I do think that the Dk Blue and LT Blue right out of the can would work together and be an eye catcher. BUT to further my choices this AM [SEE enclosed photo] I mixed 1 TBS LT BL to 1 tsp DK BL [that is painted on the top of the LT BL can] then I mixed 1 TBS LT BL with 1/2 tsp [that is painted on the top of the DK BL can]. So - now I am trying to decide between 3 LT Blues for the top and bottom of my Elky. PLEASE feel free to choose which mix [or NO mix] to use.

I am getting closer to actually painting - have sanded until my finger tips started bleeding and now I have to wrap them and my thumb with tape before I go back to the project.......have several places to do some Bondo work........will start painting around door jams and tail gate while I do other prep work. My neighbor is going to let me use her car port - thank God, when I get to the actual rolling.

I like the two tone collaboration from the can on the right. It's like NC Tarheels theme. I think it would look really nice.