'69 C10 - Black on Black

[Low Elco]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

10,000 hours. Ten. Thousand. Hours. That's a few more than me.

I bought the Torq polisher from Chemical Guys and it's way lighter and makes less mess than my rotary Makita. Not sure it will work as quickly though.

Well, I'm 49, and I learned to polish at 19, and during the year at the auction we painted 40 a day ( you heard that right) 10-12-16 hrs a day, Painter was a tweaker, and a total of 3 years in production shops mostly doing polish, and side hustling that on and off, with 3 frame offs since 2012, and metal work and paint work in between. Spent the last 3 days doing a full cut and buff on a 67 GMC and a rebuff for show on my dads 67. I feel tired, suddenly...

Those Makita's are light! I really like the Dewalt rotary, they are light and the fastest rotary you can get. I've had a Milwaukee Screamer since 1995. Not light, but built like a tank! I'll look into this Torq polisher. You're doing good!

[Scurry67]

Can’t wait to see some color fly! That is going to be a sharp looking ride in black.

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by Scurry67

Can’t wait to see some color fly! That is going to be a sharp looking ride in black.

I know. The cab is so much work and it'll be awesome to have it sitting on the frame. But the weather isn't looking good for this weekend and I'm out of town next weekend so it's probably going to be a couple weeks before I get to it.

[MDPotter]

Hope everyone had a nice Easter.

I thought Saturday was going to be the day where the cab got painted, thus marking a milestone and enabling us to set it on the frame for the first time since we took it apart. But I messed up and over-reduced the sealer and got runs all over the place. I tried salvaging it by letting it dry for a couple hours and wet sanding a few spots carefully, but I was getting holograms in the base so I decided to cut my losses and resand everything next weekend so I can try again another weekend. It was disappointing, but we managed to get the seat done and saw a lot of family on Sunday so it was a good weekend overall.





This seat frame is out of my 68, so it's a folding seat and the back is mostly springs. This is a 69-72 cover with new 67-68 foam top and bottom and we got it to work just fine. I didn't take a picture, but I found the correct clips for the bottom that pinch the cover to the frame and we used hog rings on the back. It came out pretty nice - I almost wish it was in my truck.

[TA_C10]

Sorry to hear about sealer man. Seat looks good

[MDPotter]

I redeemed myself and was able to paint the cab this weekend. It came out pretty nice! The doors and fenders are not far behind so this truck will be coming together soon.

3 coats base:



3 coats clear:

[Kronald_70GMC]

Looking very good! Keep up the good work.

[sfont66]

Wow!, very nice! Looking forward to seeing more pics, and assembly.
Also I’ll say it again, I am envious of the paint booth.

[TA_C10]

Sweet!

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by Kronald_70GMC

Looking very good! Keep up the good work.

Originally Posted by sfont66

Wow!, very nice! Looking forward to seeing more pics, and assembly.
Also I’ll say it again, I am envious of the paint booth.

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Sweet!

Thanks guys. It feels good to have the most time-consuming portion of bodywork done. Many hours repairing rust, welding random holes shut, filling, sanding, and finally painting. Makes the rest of the bodywork look easy. It's funny how on every TV show they just show a little bit of sanding and then all of a sudden it's painted. It takes hundreds of hours to do a quality job on a vehicle.

[1971Stepside]

That looks sweet! Can't wait to see it sitting on the frame.

[MDPotter]

The reassembly process has officially begun. We set the cab on the frame and started installing as many items as possible - brake pedal assembly, parking brake assembly, brake booster assembly, fuse block, interior heater box, wiper motor, dash pad, and heater controls.

Almost had the fenders and doors painted, but I'm a hobbyist at best when it comes to bodywork and this is a black truck so I'll be sanding out some imperfections and redoing those parts.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Looking sweet! Keep it up

[1971Stepside]

Woot! Cab is back on. Looking great

[Woodnears]

MDPotter, I saw what I think was your post on the SPI forum. Looks like a nice build you have here. I may have to reach out to ya when I get this far along, I'm currently stripping paint so it may be a bit. The first question I have going into this part is can SPI base be tinted to any color? lets say I want 503 green paint, can that be achieved with SPI white base and just mix to the 503 code? You went the hard way and just chose black! lol. Good looking work!

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by Woodnears

MDPotter, I saw what I think was your post on the SPI forum. Looks like a nice build you have here. I may have to reach out to ya when I get this far along, I'm currently stripping paint so it may be a bit. The first question I have going into this part is can SPI base be tinted to any color? lets say I want 503 green paint, can that be achieved with SPI white base and just mix to the 503 code? You went the hard way and just chose black! lol. Good looking work!

I'm on that forum too, so probably! SPI doesn't mix or tint basecoats, they only sell a few colors. I don't know anything about mixing paint, but if you need a certain color you'll have to go to your local paint supplier. We thought black would be a timeless color and it will no doubt look good when done, but it does make me want to bang my head into a wall sometimes.

[rodstored-72]

..... "Makes the rest of the bodywork look easy. It's funny how on every TV show they just show a little bit of sanding and then all of a sudden it's painted. It takes hundreds of hours to do a quality job on a vehicle.".....

MD, well, it would go by faster if you through a couple of sponser breaks in between the hours....

seriously it is nice to see a milestone be met & a sense of accomplishment , as always... nice job!! and waiting to see what you get done next...

[Ol Blue K20]

It's looking great so far. Keep up the good work

[Snake72]

Paint looks phenomenal bud! If I could go back, I'd use SPI primers and paint. Keep up the good work, the assembly is the fun part

[Low Elco]

Great Progress! Always good to hit a milestone. Looks terrific, Keep it up!

[MDPotter]

Finally have the doors and fenders and a few small parts painted. Only a couple minor blemishes - they came out great. Also have the core support set and radiator installed. Unfortunately we've had to redo the exhaust though - we had a conflict with the cab.

[TA_C10]

Looks good man! And that is "exhaust on the outside of frame" problems Better than first world problems...

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Looks good man! And that is "exhaust on the outside of frame" problems Better than first world problems...

We thought we had it figured out, but routing on the outside of the frame takes a little more planning and test fitting than inside where you can use the frame as the guide knowing that no part of the cab or bed drop lower than the top flange of the frame. Not so on the outside! I noticed yesterday after reinstalling that section that the bend over the axle is now too high and will hit the underside of the bed. It won't be a big deal to fix, it's just more time.

[sfont66]

That looks great!,the doors are so straight, and the black is just awesome! you should be proud, nice job, can't wait to see more.

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by sfont66

That looks great!,the doors are so straight, and the black is just awesome! you should be proud, nice job, can't wait to see more.

Thanks!