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She's comin apart Cap'n

5K views 50 replies 20 participants last post by  cadavev 
#1 ·
As Scotty would say on Star Trek.

I have finally gotten my 03 Smokin Asphalt SSR in my shop. :party Pulled it in about 4:00 this afternoon to start the disassembly process to prep everything for painting.

As some of you know I've been planning on doing a full custom paint job on it for some time now. Kept having people showing up wanting things done, and me being a nice guy, would always put off my own projects to help some one else.

Well everything is caught up, and no others scheduled for the month of April, so it's my turn to spend some quality time with and enjoy learning much more about my SSR by disassembling everything but the interior and drive train. Well O.K. part of the interior is disassembled too (door panels, water fall area, console, and windshield trim)

I'm including a shot of day one as of midnight, and will up date as things get completed.
 

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#9 ·
Day 2

Everything on the outside of the SSR went from shiny to dull by midnight. All interior parts will be painted later.


I checked my materials that I had picked up yesterday. Set them out on the paint bench to organize them, and whoa betty, some one ordered me a wrong color :mad . Checked the sales slip and it had the same number but the wrong color label. They were supposed to get me lime gold kandy, and instead they ordered organic green kandy (no I didn't change the color scheme, It has a planet green base and a lime gold kandy top coat to bring out the brightness). BOY was I FURIOUS for a moment. I then figured the best thing to do was call the supply rep at home at 11:30 at night :thumbs . I left him a not so furious message to try to get him on the problem first thing in the morning, so that they could get me the correct color by Friday night at the latest.

At this point I feel I'll be spraying color by noon Friday and don't want to have to wait for three days for my other color to get here. That would really throw my whole schedule off for completion.

Now all I can do is wait till morning to see how soon they can find me the correct color. :banghead
 
#10 ·
Day 3,4 And 5

The last couple of days all just kind of ran together.

Day three:
Went to the supply store and the guy I called the night before wasn't even in the store. Turns out he left for Martinsville for the races the day before (lot of good my 11:30 pm phone call did). When I talked to the gal at the counter I explained what happened and she made a stupid comment, that she had to wait for the owner to get in since he handled the order. I said whaattt!!! Get him on the phone cause I need this paint today not next week. Talked to the owner and he found the correct Kandy in another town nearby and it would be here that afternoon. Went back to work on the SSR. Started painting at about 1:00 Friday afternoon, (masking, painting, masking, painting and so on) and was still painting at 7 am Saturday (where as day three turned into day four), when the wife came out in the shop and looked furious. She asked me of I had been in the house at all last night? MY ANSWER, NOPE STILL PAINTING. She raised her hand as if to slap me and turned around and walked out. Kept on painting. Finally took a break at 6 pm for dinner and to get cleaned up for our bowling night (was informed earlier that day that I WAS GOING BOWLING WITH HER SATURDAY NIGHT, SO THE SSR WILL HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL SUNDAY.) Gotte keep the wife happy. (once heard some where that "if momma aint happy? Aint' nobody happy")

Well we went bowling, and I must say that for some one who was about to fall asleep if I sat still, I did pretty well. rolled 656 with the last game of 238.

Got a few hours sleep Saturday night and was up at it again at 8:30am Sunday (

DAY FIVE:

Started checking what I had done so far, and begain masking for the top color.
Was spraying the upper base color by 11:30 am. Boy there's a lot more surface area to an SSR than you think. Took three quarts of color (mixed 2 parts paint to 1 part reducer. Actual mixed anmount being 1 gallon and a pint) just for the top half.
Stepped outside for a while to let the base coat set up. Figured I would shoot my bow for target practice. First shot, over the target, whoops used wrong site. Second shot right in the middle, as were most of the successive shots (with in a 6" circle at 50 yards). Enough playing, time to get back to painting. Went back in and mixed up the Kandy top coat for the upper half. Got done spraying the Kandy about 5 pm. Let that set up for about half an hour (while I cleaned the guns out) and began unmasking the tu-tone area, then began prepping for shading to give the graphics a three dimensional effect. Completed this by 8:30 pm and thought to myself do I wiat and spray clear in the morng or keep going? You guessed it I kept going. Proceed to spray clear on the SSR and had it all shiny by midnight Sunday.

Figured I better get on the web site to see whats new and to post the update on the project. So here it is, and I 'm going to bed.
 

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#13 ·
Congratulations

Thats the love and dedication of a Real Artist!!! Cant walk till its done!!

I am jawdropping excited for you!! What an accomplishment :thumbs
You are definately a talented one!!

the mechanical and interior end of things........been there, heard it was a pain. I have no doubt you will conquer this in the same quality manner!!

Thanks for the photos! Great work!! Painting all nite stories are great!! Hows the wife now??? :angel Waiting for a ride??? :)
 
#15 ·
Best

The purple and yellow from a year ago, and your color combo/design are neck and neck the best SSR custom "standout" paint I have seen. Along with the Piston fan and his "sutile" style, things are looking good. :thumbs
 
#16 ·
kind words

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Yes it' been long and tedious, but well worth it.

Axiom: I din't think the diassembly process was all that difficult. The vehicle actually came a part fairly easily. Trick was finding out what was bolted, suicide clipped (my special nick name for the clips that hold in, say, door sill plates. If it doesn"t come out with the part you may end up with one of two things happen, one being you destroyed the clip removing it with pliers or screw driver, or two if you didn't notice it was still in there you could inadvertantly slice open your clothing and or yourself), push pinned, two sided tape, or in one spot velcro.
 
#17 ·
Yeah, comes apart okay, it was the tedious painting that was the pain.

Each little nook and cranny and all the bracketry. Then the windshield came out to paint the dash trim below the windshield, and lots of other little hidden areas that appear. The finishing touches!! At least you started with Asphalt, and have the option of keeping the engine bay as is - or are you jumpin in there too??

Well worth it when you get it all done though. You have done a fantastic job! Serious dedication!! Cant wait to see it completed!
 
#20 ·
Day-6

OK day 6 is ending early 9 pm.

Spent the entire day blocking the clear with 400 grit to lesson or eliminate the edges of the stripes. Found a couple of spots where the tape rolled before the colors were completed and decided to respray those areas. Guess I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my paint jobs. Ordered more clear today seeing as how I'm using a little more material than I thought I would (actually has more surface area than a full size pick up). I had already sprayed on three coats of clear that were blocked out today, and will be spraying four more coats on tomarrow morning. Depending on how it lays out, I may or may not block it one more time and reclear it again to get that super deep gloss and shine. Will have to wait and see.
 

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#23 ·
Fumes

Have the shop set up with a cross ventalation system that works OK. It's sure not as nice as a down draft paint booth, but with HVLP spray guns and propper suit and face mask I don't have any trouble.

People in my area (including the GM plant manager) can't understand how I can get such clean paint jobs out of a shop that doesn't have thousands or millions of dollars on a spray booth. Told them the secret is training the dust to stay on the ground :lol

Well my order for more clear will be here later this morning so I'm headed out to the shop to warm it up to about 80 degrees(outside temp dropped to 34 degrees last night and with the wind this morning it seems like 29 with a chance of rain).
 
#24 ·
Day-7

Started off day 7 with some fine detail work. real close scrutiny of the graphics, and found two more spots I wasn't happy with, so I took care of them while I was waitng for the Klear to arrive this morning.
Finally had everything the way I wanted it, and the Klear showed up right on time.
Mixed up the Klear and went to grab a sandwich before spraying (gives the Klear a little incubation period to prevent runs) proceeded to Klear the vehicle and found that it is taking alittle longer today since the air chilled off outside (42 degrees) , so I had to keep the heater on today.
Finished Klearing everything by 2:00, so I went in to take care of some computer work for the bowling league tonight.
Boy bowling was terrible tonight. Could hardly get a strike if all I had to do was hit the broad side of a barn. Left single ten pins, big splits, etc. Just wasn't my night for bowling.
 

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#25 ·
Well, you may have had an "off" night at bowling, but your talent and skill with a paint gun is stunning! "She's a beaut!" Also, thanks for sharing your project with all of us. How fun it will be when the inevitable "Wow! where'd you get that paint job?" comes up! :thumbs

Blast
 
#26 ·
I especially love the way you did the tailgate with simulated PinStrip brush shapes in teardrop style. Very nice. The interlacing of the teardrops with the with the pinstripes and drop shadows is terrific work. Congratulations. Will she be a trailer queen when done or do you plan on driving her a lot? :seeya
 
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