Roll on paint plus Wood grain finish

I have used this method on several cars now, Two complete, a third almost finished and just starting on a forth, On another car I removed the old vinyl top and used the rolled on method on it.

My 1973 Ranchero Squire Cobra Jet. I painted this one three years ago, The body color is a mix of Rust-Oleum gloss Dark Hunter Green and Gloss Black.
The wood grain is a base coat of Rust-Oleum satin Summer Squash and topped off with MinWax Polyshades stain. I live in the Mountains above the snow line and I do not have any covered parking. The Rust-Oleum paint has been holding up well through the Winters.
Before paint


3 years after Paint



November 29,2009


My 1973 Cougar Convertible I painted last year just before winter with Rust-Oleum Gloss Sunburst Yellow and Gloss Black.

Before paint


After paint



I am currently finishing up paint on my 1971 Mercury Cyclone GT

Before paint


Front end after paint, before polish.


I still have a couple more coats to go on the Driver side quarter panel, but I may not be able to get to that until after the Snow season.

I just started on this next one which is being stored down the Mountain and away from the snow. It is a 1972 Ranchero Squire. It is being painted Rust-Oleum Gloss White and the top of the cab will be painted Gloss Black. The Squire wood finish will be painted with Rust-Oleum Satin Summer Squash as a base color and Minwax Polyshade over it for the grain finish.

Before paint



So far I have only painted the hood which came out fine and I experimented with applying stain directly over the faded wood grain vinyl paper which came out much better than I expected, but I still plan on removing it and going with a more custom looking grain finish.



The surround trim on the tailgate I have finished using Satin Summer squash as a base and a maple Minwax polyshade as a grain.

welcome to the forums!!

Rancheros and el caminos make great little hot rods

Squire,
Welcome from the east coast. Great looking rides. Let us in on some of your secrets.

Thank you both for the welcome, I have no real secrets to using this method. I like many others originally found out about this painting method from the Mopar board and just like many others I was not sure about how it would come out. I had never painted a car before but I had done my own prep work before and knew that any paint job is only going to be as good as the surface preparation that is under the finish paint. I practiced my roller technique and paint consistency on a few spare parts before applying it to a car. I also prefer to paint one section at a time, I feel I have more control over the quality of the finish that way and I don't end up rushing myself running around the entire car making sure everything is smooth and even before the paint dries. I find it is less overwhelming one section at a time.

As for the Woodgrain finish, I found this process to be just as easy as the roll on paint. I had originally planed on just woodgraining the surround trim and applying new vinyl woodgrain to inside the trim, but after finding it so easy to to grain the trim I decided to try and woodgrain the side panels myself and if I did not like the results I could always just use the vinyl woodgrain siding. Not only did I like the results I like it much better than the look of the darker vinyl woodgrain. Although it is possible to paint the woodgrain to have the dark brown finish of the Vinyl woodgrain, but I prefer the lighter looking grain. The only real tips I have on this process is to use good quality nylon brushes when applying the stain over the paint. The cheap brushes will shed bristles on the surface you are applying the stain to. Feel free to ask any questions about applying paint or stain, I just don't know what has been covered already in other postings.
I find that both the roll on paint process and the woodgraining process to be very easy, inexpensive, and produce good quality results.

Welcome Squire
Those are some real neat looking paint jobs. I really, really like your wood graining. You will have to give a step by step (please) of your method. I give these paint jobs and a for the wood trim.
Mike

Looks great. How did you paint the wood on?

Roadking41a wrote:Looks great. How did you paint the wood on?

I sanded the surface smooth and applied a base coat of Rust-Oleum Summer Squash satin which is a light yellow color. To create the grain I applied Minwax Polyshades stain over the base coat with nylon bristle brush creating the grain appearance with the movement of the brush.

Thanks for the explination of the wood grain. Yah, there are a whole lot of things you can do without a spraygun. Go get a book on faux interior house painting sometime and take a look, especially if you like trick/custom paint.
Mike

Just an update as to my projects.
My 1972 Ranchero Squire(the white one) I have not been able to put any time into it between Snow storms and having to install a new engine in my brother's car. I was a little shocked when my brother's car arrived by tow truck, I did not recognize it as the same car that I saw three years ago with a brand new paint job at that time. It is painted a dark Blue metallic just like my 1973 Ranchero 500 which was painted 6 months before his car.
Here is a picture of both cars

That is mosly dirt on the hood of my car from the snow melting off of it.
My brother lives in San Diego just off the water with no garage and never covered or waxed his car. I told him I could roll on a paint job while it is here but it would not be metallic and I suggested going with a lighter color since he leaves it totally exposed to the sun and ocean and fails to wax it. It's Funny, he has no problem waxing his surf boards but failed to ever wax his car.
Here are some shots after the first coat of Gloss Royal Blue. At this point only the top half of the car is going to be painted as the lower half below the belt line still has good color to it. So it will be interesting to see how the two tone paint job comes out.


I also am testing out the Rust-Oleum topside brand on the hood of my 1972 Ranchero GT 4 speed. It is currently painted white with a black vinyl top. I replaced the hood a couple years ago because of rust and rolled on some flat black at that time. This spring I plan on removing the vinyl top to prevent rust damage and I will have to decide on painting it black or recovering it. If the topside comes out great, I might just paint the whole car black. Progress is slow as I have to wait between snow storms and rain as well as waiting for days that the temperature stays above 50 degrees to apply any paint. I might have a good day tomorrow, but more snow and rain is in the forecast for this weekend.

My 1973 Ranchero Squire Cobra Jet is now posted on the Rust-Oleum website.
http://www.rustoleum.com/CBGCommunity.asp?m=pro&cc=AUTO&pid=10

I wonder if the rustoleum people just shake their heads at our ingenuity of using their paint for something it was never intended for?

I think they are loving it.

Afterall, it is metal paint .
Mike

I was able to get six coats on the hood and top of my Brother's Ranchero while also getting one coat on the rear quarter panels before the latest snow storm hit.
Here it is after four coats.



After six coats


Rear quarter panels after one coat


I also was able to get eight coats of Rust-Oleum topside black on the hood of My 1972 Ranchero GT 4 speedbefore the snow I will down load those pictures later.

The first couple of coats sure look scary don"t they? Almost makes you want to go "oh crap, what did I do".
Mike

Yea, I remember the first time I tried this and thought it was a total flop after the first coat, however, we all know that thinner is better. It's much easier to roll on another smooth thin coat than it is to sand off a thick bumpy coat.

did you wet sand between coats?

I wet sand between every two coats. I start with 400 and progress up to 1500 before polish.

Hey squire cobra

I always wanted a 70 ranchero gt! Something about them that I like.

Maybe one day I could get me one. Go my one every time I go to the mother-n-laws and the wife say's the same thing "I KNOW" LOL

Anyway you have some nice cars and by the looks of it have the roller painting down pretty good.

stang_krazy wrote:Hey squire cobra

I always wanted a 70 ranchero gt! Something about them that that I like.

Maybe one day I could get me one. Go my one every time I go to the mother-n-laws and the wife say's the same thing "I KNOW" LOL

Anyway you have some nice cars and by the looks of it have the roller painting down pretty good.

Thanks!
I come across more deals on Rancheros than I have room for. A couple weeks ago I was visiting my parents and went for a walk when I spotted a 1970 Ranchero in a yard and tho owner cleaning his motorcycle, I introduce myself as a fellow Ranchero owner and the next thing I know the guy is offering me his Ranchero for $500. It looked to be in good shape except for the paint. He was going to use the drive train for a '68 Mustang but then sold the Mustang. If it were not for the fact that my driveway is full I would have bought it.

$500? That sounds like a deal I hope to run across!

What size engines do you have and what mpg are you getting from them. Been running fuel injection for some time and used to 18 + and my 90 5.0 5-speed mustang was getting around 26 to 28 mpg. I know what your thinking BS!

But it was 3049 lbs me in it,3:73 gears,big n skinnies, no back seats,air conditioner,horns,polution control.

had kirkey light wieght aluminum seats(33 1/2 lbs both seats) anything that the engine turn that was heavy metal replaced w/aluminum or light wieght.

Used just for racing and cruising around, but the big key here was always had 60% to 75% turbo blue race fuel and on the street never over the speed limit and most of the time no rabbit starts or crazy driving, and running a stock engine!

Had a bet with a guy that I could get it in the 12's without any power adders or bolt-ons(still had stock throttle body-intake_mass-air)STOCK!

Never over 5800 rmp's shifted@5500-5800 best run was 13.42@100.9 with a 60 ft of 1.9.

Did switch to 4.30 gears and a upr pro street rear suspension, electric fan. Never really run it at the track but man could I tell a difference in the pull!

Blau Blua Blua!! Just got to typing out load and thinking about my mustang that I used to have, sold it about 6 months ago, man I miss it.

Anyway what engine's are your running in your ranchero's and is there anything done do them or just DD and fun toys!

My Rancheros have 351 Clevelands. Two are 351Cobra Jets and one of those is a Factory 4 speed. The four speed gets between 14-18 MPG and the others get 12-16 MPG

Squire Cobra Jet wrote:My Rancheros have 351 Clevelands. Two are 351Cobra Jets and one of those is a Factory 4 speed. The four speed gets between 14-18 MPG and the others get 12-16 MPG

OUCH!! but I sure bet your factory 4-speed is a blast to drive!!

nice

stang_krazy wrote:

Squire Cobra Jet wrote:My Rancheros have 351 Clevelands. Two are 351Cobra Jets and one of those is a Factory 4 speed. The four speed gets between 14-18 MPG and the others get 12-16 MPG

OUCH!! but I sure bet your factory 4-speed is a blast to drive!!

It's good for both hauling and hauling ***!

Speaking of the 4 speed, it is the one that I am trying out Rust-Oleum Topside on for the first time. I have finished the hood in between snow storms and I am very pleased with the results. I do notice a glossier shine to it than the regular Rust-Oleum and the fact that I can buy it online for the same price that the regular Rust-Oleum cost me in stores and the fact that it also has U.V. protection I will be using more of the stuff in the future and most likely paint the 4 speed completely using the Topside.
Here is what it looked like before the Topside. The hood is a replacement hood for the original that the previous owner let get rusty around the edges. at the time I started applying the Topside I had already painted the hood with 4 coats of the regular Rust-Oleum but never finished sanded it or polished it before applying the Topside.
Here is what it looked like before the Topside.


Here is what it looks like after 8 coats of Rust-Oleum Topside, progressively wet sanded between every two coats starting with 400 grit and finishing with 1,500 grit. It is polished with some cheap Turtle Wax polish and still pops a pretty good shine. I plan on polishing it again with some Meguiar's polish before waxing it in a couple months. I've had good results with the Meguiar's in the past.
The picture has too many shadows and reflections for my liking but the batteries in my camera gave out while downloading the pictures and I will have to post the better shots after I get some new batteries.

That does shine pretty good but I bet it will be even better after a colorsand and buff because I can detect a bit of orange peel. Actually, when you are showing off a shiny finish, you want some reflections
Mike