Thread: Roadster pickup getting closer

Tweet

There are a couple of reasons for the semi flat color he is thinking about, Jim. (Dupont Hot Rod Black) Mainly it is economic. A proper gloss paint job will cost between $4,000 and $ 6,000 for the body and bed. Time is against him for being able to swing that mount in the next 90 or so days. The second reason is that he likes that look, and has enough chrome to offset it (complete front suspension, rear suspension, nerfs, windshield, and engine chrome.

He is frankly tired of dumping money into this car and just wants it on the street sometime in his lifetime. He has no idea how much he has invested, and then turned around and scrapped, but it is enough to build a couple of rods, I bet. He hasn't cut any corners on anything, but everything has it's limits. He still has some major expenses to cover in a short amount of time, like Wilson Welding front brakes, a custom top, paint (whatever that ends up at) lots of chrome plating and powder coating, stainless brake lines, fuel tank, etc, etc.

All told, he probably still has to spend $ 5000 minimum for those items, maybe more, so putting another $ 4 to 6K on top of it just makes it very tough. And, like I mentioned, he is just getting tired of this car consuming his life, both timewise and financially.........it is just time to get it done and go fishing for a while. He and I both need a break from this car stuff.

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

He is frankly tired of dumping money into this car and just wants it on the street sometime in his lifetime. ... He still has some major expenses to cover in a short amount of time...he is just getting tired of this car consuming his life, both timewise and financially.........it is just time to get it done and go fishing for a while... Don

Points well taken! I tend to forget what a paint job costs these days; I do all my own paint work, so, for me, it's just whatever the materials cost (even that's not cheap now days)...

That's the thing too, Jim. I agree a brand new body and bed deserve shiny paint, but without a booth it would be hard to get a paint job worthy of the car. If he goes with the satin we can pay the shop that shot my T and Don's T just to wheel it in the booth and shoot it, with us doing all the prep work. Satin will be more forgiving, so the shop won't have to spend lots of time getting it perfect for shiny black.

He is making the body and bed easy to remove, so if he decides a little while down the road he wants glossy paint all he has to do is unplug some stuff and pull them off.

For the past four years he has been dumping every spare dollar into this thing, now he just wants to get it on the road and enjoy having some extra money for a change.

Don

If I lived closer, I would shoot it for him... Did you look at that website I posted? They have all kinds of colors including metallics and pearls that are flat! Good prices, too. You might want something there for your truck, also.

My son is talking about using their midnight purple (flat) with the flames, engine, and pinstriping in lime green (gloss). Time will tell; he changes his mind every week...

Yep Jim, that Hot Rod Flatz stuff is pretty cool, and they now have a bunch more colors and shades than they used to have.

As for my truck, I still have almost a full gallon of black that I bought when I was doing my T, and a full can of flattener, so I will probably use that to save some money. Dan also gave me some satin black he bought to do a Dodge truck he once owned, so I plan on doing the bed frame with that. I hate to think of dragging out the paint equipment again............my sinuses are just getting back to normal from the last project.

Don

Another long day working on Dan's hot rod, but we REALLY made some great progress this weekend. The one job that we have been dreading and putting off is shortening the frame 3 and 3/8 inches to fit the new Brookville body. (it is shorter than the one Dan built originally) So we decided to dedicate this weekend to getting it done once and for all.

It was really hard for us to make the decision to cut up a frame that was basically done, but it was the only way to get it to look right and fit, so out came the sawzall.............we gotta start buying blades for that thing by the gross! It took longer to measure everything up than to do the actual cutting, but it went very well. Dan's cuts were clean and straight, so it only took some minor grinding to get things to fit up tight.

What we did was insert a 1/4 inch plate, 4 x 12 inches into the backside of the frame as a gusset, and it is now fully welded in place. The frame is probably stronger now than before the cut. Dan is going to box the entire frame yet, so that will make it even stronger.

We must have flipped it over and over 10 times or more, so that Dan could get a good weld on every surface, thank God for our Gantry crane. The frame has gotten too heavy for two of us to lift, and when it was clamped to the jig the two of them are impossible to move by hand. But now this last big fabrication job is done, and we can start concentrating on more of the little stuff.

This is the third night in a row that we have put in some long hours, so I think I will sleep in tomorrow. Here are some pictures of how it ended up.

Don

Wow! You guys make a hard job look easy! Nice work, must of felt great getting that done! Also nice to get the non glamerous stuff that you know is going to hurt, over and done with. You deserve a real breakfast!

Hehe, it was McDonalds again this morning, but they weren't serving breakfast yet, so it was a Big Mac this time.

Yep Steve, getting over this hurdle really feels good. Up until now the fact we had to drag out the jig, cut it up, and reweld it has been on our minds. We feel like there is really light at the end of the tunnel now.

BTW, Dan is now thinking gloss paint again. He saw a maroon today that he loved, and thinks the car deserves shiny. That is this week, we will see what next week brings. I do like the color he found, we stopped at a new car dealer and looked at it today, it really pops.

Don

Somebody else here was looking for a black cherry a few weeks ago. Saw a new Caddy that reallylooked great in that color. What ever he choses will look great!
PS there is nothing like a burger to fill that hungry spot after a hard days' or nights' work!

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Hehe, it was McDonalds again this morning, but they weren't serving breakfast yet, so it was a Big Mac this time.

Yep Steve, getting over this hurdle really feels good. Up until now the fact we had to drag out the jig, cut it up, and reweld it has been on our minds. We feel like there is really light at the end of the tunnel now.

BTW, Dan is now thinking gloss paint again. He saw a maroon today that he loved, and thinks the car deserves shiny. That is this week, we will see what next week brings. I do like the color he found, we stopped at a new car dealer and looked at it today, it really pops.

Don

the maroon wouldn't happen to be a Lexus color would it?

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

He saw a maroon today that he loved, and thinks the car deserves shiny. That is this week, we will see what next week brings. I do like the color he found, we stopped at a new car dealer and looked at it today, it really pops.

Don

Print this up and post it on his toolbox for inspiration http://www.clubhotrod.com/photopost/...=big&ppuser=32

Maroon is alwayyyys a good choice........

I have been partially "away" again and just reviewed the whole thread here to see all the nice metal work and the Brookville parts. I found the comments about trimming the metal interesting because I was feeling defensive about the trimming I had to do on a Bebops 'glass body; especially over the rear coilovers. Apparently the Bebops trunk floor was molded for a gennie transverse spring mount while as IC2 showed above the newer Brookville frame has a horizontal kickback and coil-over mounts need cutouts for service and adjustments. My work is way down on the skill scale compared to this work and the metal trans tunnel is really neat! If it is possible could I see how the top tabs are mounted/welded inside the rear panels? Here is a picture of how I mounted tabs inside the 'glass body with bolts to the 1" square tubing inside the body. This side is pretty good but the other side is slightly crooked and I need to redo it with another fresh piece of angle iron. I find that usually the first piece I do is terrible and then the second piece on the other side benefits from the experience on the first piece so I just have to go back and redo the other side, but how does the Brookville steel fasten the tabs? Any pictures from the RPU or IC2's roadster? IMO the only way to improve on maroon is to use "Metallic Maroon"!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

I'm pretty happy that he has decided (well, "decided" is a relative term when it comes to Dan.........and me, for that matter ) to go with Maroon. The color is actually called Wicked Merlot Jewel Metallic, a Pontiac color. It has very heavy metallic flake in it from the car we saw on the dealers lot. I like it a lot too. I stopped at the paint store this morning, and they couldn't find it, mainly because he didn't have a 2009 car color chart, so I am going to call Dupont to see.

Don, the top tabs are welded on the Brookville body. I think they slip through slits and are welded from below. Let me see if one of these pictures shows how they do it. Yeah, here is one, the best view I have of that section of the body.

Don

Thanks for the picture, maybe the tabs are spot-welded, I can't quite see. Maybe IC2 has a picture of his Brookville tabs? My paint has a fine metallic content and looks different in different light. I selected it from a bank of plastic paint samples with at least 200 options. The shop then used the formula on the sample patch I selected and a paint machine formulated the liquid. I have had three patches/repaint on the steering column and the firewall using the paint formulation machine and the match is perfect so I would think you can get any variation you want. The shop I went to (Haskins Body Shop in Ashland Va) suggested a fine grain metal particle choice with the comment that the larger flakes were mainly for 'glass boat hulls (their opinion). However the interesting thing is that with the fine flakes it does seem to have a magical effect of changing color a bit in different lighting. I guess Merlot is on a lot of minds because my shop named my paint formula "Haskins Merlot" but that shows how arbitrary the colors are and that they can match most anything with the paint formula machine.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

That's really a pretty color Don. The one we like does what you describe, it changes colors to almost a black shade on the contours. Very deep, like yours.

I'll snap a picture of the way Brookville did our top tabs next time I go to the shop.

Don