Painting and Detailing for Autorama

[kammi10]

Dude....your 350 emblems don't look right.

yeah there all crooked and shit

[WMCC Doug]

Your undercarridge is looking pretty good, Wade! Yup, gotta agree with everyone else, the 350 emblems need a little refinement. It was a cool idea, though.

Get better! Being sick sux ..... I know!

[JoeliusZ28]

hey wade, did you drop your rear axle to paint it? I tried attacking mine the other day and gave up before i got into it... which i rarely do. I started with the sway bar and busted a ratchet on an the first end link and quit. Mine is too rusty to do a good job whilst in the car... i need to wire wheel it down or something.

car is lookin really good btw.

[thursday12889]

i was gonna do the rear on my truck, ended up only doing the cover because the brake lines were so corroded on it, and brake lines like that with a wire wheel would be bad news. Cars looking good though, and yeah agreeing with everyone else, the 350 emblems aren't looking right. And are those bungie cords you hang your calipers with?

[thursday12889]

oh yeah, you should pick up some stainless steel exhaust clamps from auto zone

[SoulTerror]

Looking awesome man!!!

[GETGONE]

The emblems aren't crooked. They look bad because I had to space them out so much and the top hockey stripe isn't perfectly straight because of how I had to angle it to make the end of the stripe stop just above the door handle. I guess I'll have to cut it straight across to make it look better with the letters. It was that way with the stickers but I guess no one looked that close or said anything.
I didn't drop the rear other than it just being at full droop on jack stands. It was a major pain in the ass painting the top of it since it's hard to see and reach up there. I just degreased it with some brake and parts cleaner than brushed up with I could with a wire brush then started painting.
Yes that's a bungie cord I had the caliper hung with. I made sure it was at full stretch and not causing strain on the brake line. The rear I have the caliper resting on the lower control arm since there isn't a good place to hang it from. You have to make due with what you have at hand. Retard zone probably doesn't have a stainless clamp that large. The selection at the one near me sucks. That clamp is the one that came on the car from SLP. I have to clean and detail the undercarriage and polish the exhaust. We'll see what I can do to pretty it up.

[JoeliusZ28]

ok, im probably gonna try it again some other time now that i know what im getting myself into.

[WMCCjames]

FYI..Napa carries those nice stainless exhaust band clamps all the way up to 4 inch.

[WMCC SSLS1]

FYI..Napa carries those nice stainless exhaust band clamps all the way up to 4 inch.

Exactly! These are the only ones I use as they do not crush the pipes to allow easy removal later.




Overall it looks nice Wade, but here is a few tips to consider..... You should sand/file the casting/parting lines off of the calipers before painting them, makes for the "attention to details" look. Try this on the rear calipers before painting them. Another idea is to paint the caliper bracket a different (maybe darker) color than the caliper itself as it avoids the "I just spray bombed everything at once as I was lazy" look. (I realize you didn't use a spray can).

It was a good idea to remove the brake pads as many just leave them in the caliper and spray away giving them the same color as the caliper and the brackets once again giving that lack effort look.

It's all the little (not so obvious) details that will set your car appart from others at a show.

Are you going to be lowering the car before Autorama? What parts are you using?


Lastly, I see you have the factory installed SLP Dual Dual exhaust, have you checked to see if you have the dreaded "Ring of Silence" in your exhaust pipe? Click here is you are not sure >>> http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showth...t=ring+silence

Here is a pic >>>>>

[GETGONE]

Too late on the sanding the calipers. I just got in from painting them. They are pretty ugly with all the rough edges and stuff. I stuck with all the same color because I wanted it to look somewhat factory but if you really know what you're looking at custom look. I don't care for the trend of painting calipers a bright "look at me" color only to realize they're just stockers and nothing special. Unlike the way I dress sometimes, I like my cars to be subtle, smooth and timeless. I wish I had more time and money to do things better. I have to make due with what I've got for now. Oh..and the front outer pads did get hit with the silver paint. They were rusty and wouldn't clean up so I hit them with silver. the backs look decent and I left them black. Not ideal but have to work with what I have at the moment. I don't have any other color high temp paint to hit the pads with.

I am lowering it for Autorama provided the parts get here. I won't be able to get it aligned I doubt. It was kind of a last minute got suprise money from Stacie for Christmas so I decided to lower it. I bought Vogtland springs that are supposed to be 1.2" drop front and rear and went with Tokico HP shocks. I would have loved Koni's but don't have the extra $500 over what the Tokico's cost me for them! I eventually want to do air ride so cheap will work for now. I did a lot of reading and researching on what to get. I hope I won't be too disappointed after I'm done!

[MiT/A'96]

:snowman: ... Hey ..Wade ,lookin' good !! You did a lot of hard work there.Nothing that can't be redone later to your liking .

[GETGONE]

Greg...I believe that "ring of silence" thing was only in the early dual dual systems and the late 01 and 02's don't have it because the changed the muffler. I never knew about this but did some more digging after I heard about it and found it was later taken out by a guy that used to be an SLP engineer.

[WMCC SSLS1]

That's cool Wade, just trying to help a bud out.

I like my cars to be subtle, smooth and timeless.

AMEN Brother, thats what I like a clean flowing theme to a car.


But I must say I'm surprised to read that from a guy with BRIGHT WHITE hockey stick, hood and tail stripes on a black car. About as subtle as getting someone's attention by hitting them in the face with a brick. Just kidding I couldn't resist that one!

Seriously though, good luck on getting that rusted passenger's side nut off the top of your stock shocks, it can be a real PITA!! Be sure to coat the new shock shaft threads and nut with a good helping of grease to ease the future removal of you new shocks for airbags. Helps prevent rust and you can thank me later.

To ease the install pain I recommend taking the whole strut assembly to a local shop and just have them swap the upper mount from the old to the new shocks/springs and let them worry about the rusted nut. Plus you won't have to deal with home spring compressors.

Keep us updated on how the Tokico shocks work out for you, might need a set for Peg's car someday.

The ring of silence was found on later cars origionally shipped with SLP DD systems after GM asked SLP to add the disk so the cars would meet Federal noise standards. The DD systems shipped by SLP did not have this as the system was going to be installed on cars after they were sold to the public.

No reason to not know if you have it or not, just takes a simple test. Start the car and feel if the exhaust pulses are stronger on the passangers side than the drivers side. If so you have it. Or just run a coat hanger up the drivers tailpipe and see if you hit the plate. Might as well know for sure, right?

BTW, I hope you are feeling better!! Greg :reidneer2:

[GETGONE]

Well the black/white was always one of my favorite first gen combos. It was factory so it wasn't TOO wild! I thought only Gary was a hater on my stripes!
I planned on taking the struts to a shop to have them swapped. I just got a tracking number and the shocks are going to be delievered on the 8th! I've got like two days to get the springs swapped and then back on the car! Nothin like a little last minute pressure!
I tried the coat hanger and I don't think the ring is there. I pushed the coat hanger all the way in as far as I could and it didn't seem to hit anything. As sooty as that tailpipe is I doubt it has the block in it.