A long row to hoe..

[Jimmy Vegas]

I would like to start this with a big "Thank you" to everyone on the forum for all of their great advice, BillyJack for his friendship and sharing his wealth of experience, and certainly to Mike and all the gang at Autogeek for giving us this great place as well as a king's ransom's worth of instruction.

After months of reading, learning, and practice on my daily driver, I began to work on my Chevelle's paint tonight. I didn't document each step, but will as the car progresses. Tonight, I began with the trunk using Wolfgang Uber Waterless Wash, then a Mother's Clay Kit, which pulled a ton of contaminants out of the paint. Since the surface wasn't feeling as smooth as I'd like, I then switched to Backfire Poly Clay, with got sufficiently dirty in the process as well. Even though the deck lid was feeling nice and glassy, I figured I'd give it a shot with my Nanoskin fine pad on the trusty PC. Now it was smooth! (I never thought to do the baggy test. My bad.) I didn't decontaminate with IronX as there is NO WAY I'm spraying that inside a closed garage. I was born at night, but it wasn't last night.

The polishing begins.


Actually, an orang pad
after 1/2 of the deck lid.

Although that may have sounded like overkill, this car sat in a climate controlled garage for just shy of 10 years while I was living in Las Vegas, trying to get settled to the point to bring it out, etc. (A long story for another time.) During that time, she caught just a few washes when I was home visiting in warmer weather.

Again, pictures to come but there is quite a bit of swirling in the paint, so I began with a Buff and Shine Orange pad and some Mckees 37 360. The car was repainted in 1985, so it's not the original single stage paint, but it is some hard lacquer with a clear.

The 360 wasn't quite strong enough, so I grabbed a fresh pad and some HD Cut. After working in 2X2 section, doing 6 section passes each, I can see a big difference. As you can see from the above photos, the pads became black as they further cleaned the paint. I finished with BlackFire Total Polish and Seal on a B&S white pad to leave a little protection behind until I can work some more.

I'll be working on it through the winter and posting progress as I do. I can't believe how much was picked up in my orange pads just from the trunk alone. All in all, I put about 2 hours in on the trunk alone. I expect to spend at least that much on each panel before I can get to the point to start doing "normal" polishing, but I appreciate all the advice. Please keep it coming.

[BrutalNoodle]

I'll be working on it through the winter and posting progress as I do. I can't believe how much was picked up in my orange pads just from the trunk alone. All in all, I put about 2 hours in on the trunk alone. I expect to spend at least that much on each panel before I can get to the point to start doing "normal" polishing, but I appreciate all the advice. Please keep it coming.

I look forward to reading up on the progress and what pleasant or otherwise surprises you might run into.

Sorry I can't offer much on the restoration scale as my vehicles tend to be on the newer side, and my skills are very much on the n00b side of scale.

With that, if there are products that you would like to try - and if I so happened to have them in my arsenal - I'd be more than happy to send whatever to aid with the project.

Cheers!

[Jimmy Vegas]

Sorry I can't offer much on the restoration scale as my vehicles tend to be on the newer side, and my skills are very much on the n00b side of scale.

With that, if there are products that you would like to try - and if I so happened to have them in my arsenal - I'd be more than happy to send whatever to aid with the project.

Cheers!

Many, many thanks, my friend, I'll certainly take you up on that kind offer. I hadn't thought of it, but I guess it really is more of a restoration at this point. However, there is a great opportunity here as, while I'm cleaning and polishing, I can test and review many products as ultimately, there will be new paint, new upholstery, and (after talking to a buddy of mine with a '69 Chevelle) the possibility of a crate LS3, although I'm leaning away from it. (I just love a jumpy cam in a small block Chevy!) I'll be going through the whole car stem to stern. The engine bay will be particular challenging with the open carb, unprotected alternator and coil, etc.

I'll be posting a review soon of the 3M mildew remover that I used on the vinyl seats (great stuff), as well as the dressing, etc.

Thanks again.