[73LeMans]

The real problem with any of these issues was only having 2 days a week to address them. Even then, those would never be full days - too much other stuff to do when you're the only one on the job. Painting issues are the worst because as anyone who ever picked up a spray can knows, they require a process each and every time to ensure a decent outcome. If you skimp, it'll show.

When it came to painting the sealer for instance, each time I could only bite off what I could complete in a reasonable time frame, and then I'd use that time to strip, clean, weld, clean again, sand, mask, clean yet again, and finally, reseal. This is why a couple of pictures could easily be the result of two weeks in time. When I look back and ask myself 'why did it take me so long', its easy to forget. Seeing these pictures brings it all back.

With the sealer finally complete, I knew all of these painting issues would just fade away. <<little paint joke there for ya. Fade? If I only knew what lie ahead...
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My goal for the front end was to look more factory 'type' in appearance. I researched this board almost exclusively for what folks were using for chassis and firewall paint and I looked at a ton of pictures. The effect I was going for wasn't necessarily what GM did in 73, just something in general to mimic the factory contrast between a shiny frame rail and a semi gloss firewall. I didn't want flat paint, and I didn't want multiple shades/sheens of black. All I needed was something that looked good, was tough, and would clean up easily. (without fender wells, dust happens just looking at it)

There is a lot of paint out there for restoration and many places claim to have the correct GM sheen for any piece you may want to color up. Of course they will gladly charge you a premium for such correctness, so I decided on something a little less extravagant.

Ta-dah!!!


Yup. Same stuff I used on the core support.

I wasn't convinced a spray can could get me the consistent results I needed for this large area, but the core did come out pretty good, so I was willing to give it another shot.

I guess its nice not having a good memory sometimes, right? The pain fades, the results stay and you eventually say to yourself, "yeah, Id love to do that again!" Why does that happen? Is it a coping mechanism? I suppose without it, we'd never fall in love, trust, build another car or get back up on that proverbial horse, right?

I hope you like these pictures. Took me 3 rounds of paint and wet sanding (400) to get the finish to feel smooth.









Danny LaRusso never did this much sanding, I can guarantee you that.

This time around, I think it was more a lack of proper lighting than anything paint or condition related. There isn't a ton of room to get lights up and under along with me, and most of the issues I had were either on the inside, or under the rail.


On to the firewall!



The firewall only took two rounds of paint with a wet sand (400) in between to get good. I guess that's progress??






In retrospect, I wont say I wont use the MS paint again, but lets say I was fully appreciating the Rustoleum in these shots. Don't get me wrong - I love the way it came out, but over a wide range of conditions that I never gave any mind to, Rustoleum came out exactly as I planned. This stuff? I guess I need to be more of an expert to figure it out, or at least commit the proper technique to memory.

OK, what technique was that again? You mean TECnique paint? Ooohhh, frame rails you say? Sure! Let me get my tools....