'02 Suburban re-paint thread

Dean Jenkins

Promoted Users
My ultimate goal is a really nice paint job on my 1968 el Camino restomod project.

Working on the skill and confidence to do that.

So, I'm going to test myself on my 21 year old Suburban. I was talking to Barry and told him that and it made him laugh. He said something like "you must be serious about this if you are going to test paint a whole vehicle."

Paint arrived today, time to get started. SPI boxes are like Christmas in August! Just need a garbage can for all the peanuts...

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Here is the truck. In really good shape.
Luckily not one of the GM's with all the paint flaking off.
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One small Dent, some scratches, and a handful of door dings. Going the same color so not shooting the jambs or pulling any glass, only the trim. And not painting the roof. The roof rack and hardware is a nightmare. 6" lift with 33" tires, Shaq can't see that roof and it's in good shape anyway, with a nice seam to tape at.

Going to add cowl hood and pocket fender flares for a more custom look. New hood showed up Monday with a forklift tine sized hole in the box and a big Dent, so that got sent back.

This "SHOULD" be almost a simple scuff, tape and shoot job. Famous last words, right?

With me luck!
 

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New hood arrived (first one had shipping damage - this time it was double boxed and no damage.)

Did a test fit and what a shock, aftermarket hood didn't fit well

Hours of metalwork later (had to roll the edges of the hood to match fenders, reshape the "ears" at the back, and hammer the hinge mounts down 1/4") it is ready for epoxy primer.

**At one point I considered cutting the cowl scoop out of the new hood and then cutting the stock hood and welding the scoop on it. I took detailed pictures of the stock hood "in situ" and it didn't fit that great either, and I never really noticed. So decided to make the new one work.

80 grit to bare metal and then washed with Dawn dish soap/water, rinsed, dried and then SPI waterborne wax and grease remover. Amazing how much dirt comes off even after washing. Clean now.

Waiting the prescribed 45 minutes for the WG to dry and then will shoot the epoxy.

**Learning the work flow here, mix the epoxy BEFORE starting the cleaning, then induction time will be done without standing around waiting.

Wish me luck!

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Ok. 2 good coats black epoxy. 90 minute induction, 30 minute flash.

Tomorrow I'll flip it over and epoxy the underside. Mixed enough epoxy so I have enough for the underside and it will induce overnight since it will be final coat.

I sanded the exterior to bare metal, but will just 180 grit scuff the under hood EDP and shoot it.

Then, polyester primer and blocking the exterior.

suburban hood epoxy.jpg
 
Ok. 2 good coats black epoxy. 90 minute induction, 30 minute flash.

Tomorrow I'll flip it over and epoxy the underside. Mixed enough epoxy so I have enough for the underside and it will induce overnight since it will be final coat.

I sanded the exterior to bare metal, but will just 180 grit scuff the under hood EDP and shoot it.

Then, polyester primer and blocking the exterior.

View attachment 16932
I wouldn't polyester that hood unless you just want to practice with it. Block that black epoxy and paint it. The epoxy probably sands easier than the spray polyester any way.
 
I wouldn't polyester that hood unless you just want to practice with it. Block that black epoxy and paint it. The epoxy probably sands easier than the spray polyester any way.
I do want the practice, and It needs some leveling - tool marks where I started grinding the EDP with too aggressive of a tool and gouged the metal a bit. And some tooling marks where I had to reform the edges.
Could probably do what I need with a little filler and then 2K, but I want to practice the Slick Sand for the next project.
 
Ok. 2 good coats black epoxy. 90 minute induction, 30 minute flash.

Tomorrow I'll flip it over and epoxy the underside.

Flipped it over and scuffed the underside with 180. Big, flat exterior surfaces are so much more fun to sand
This detailed work on the nooks and crannies of braces etc. is a drag
And I kept thinking "more than 3/4 of this will be covered by the acoustic/heat blanket." But it's about preservation, right?
Anyway, got it sanded and painted. On to more fun as stuff, like Slick Sand and blocking.
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Still messing with the hood for this thing. Aftermarket sheet metal . . . :mad:
Had to reshape the lip where it meets the fender, reshape the back ears, and deal with tooling marks right in the hood scoop line.
All good practice I guess, but challenging.

Burb hood bondo.jpg



After getting the filler work as good as possible (for me) I reshot epoxy and then 2 coats of Slick Sand poly primer.
Good thing I did the Slick Sand, the brand new sheet metal had lots of highs and lows, as well as my work needing some leveling.
Here it is after blocking out the slick sand and some additional minor filler work.
I really like how the slick sand color changes for the sanded areas and reveals the lows, and having black epoxy underneath shows the highs.
I'm going to do one more round of slick sand and blocking and then seal it all with epoxy.
Could probably seal it at this point and 2K would take care of remaining highs/lows, but I've got plenty and want to practice more with the poly.
Wish me luck!

Burb hood slick sand.jpg
 
Finished with 2nd round of slick sand, sealed with reduced black epoxy and then 2 coats of 2K primer. Here we go a blocking . . . Should be very close now.

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I was so discouraged . . .
After all my work and what I thought was diligence and attention to detail, I shot reduced epoxy sealer, should've been a no brainer.
It came out like absolute crap! Craters and orange peel everywhere.
Hit a pretty emotional low to be honest.
At one point I decided "I'm going to have to pay someone to do this, I just don't have 'it'".
I searched older threads here and found that craters in epoxy are pretty common. Too much pressure, or fluid, or too close. But easily fixed. (Really appreciate the collective knowledge here.)
Ended up being able to block it out nicely, had 3 coats so plenty of material to work with.
Got it flat with no sand throughs to 2K.

Feeling much better and shot 3 coats of base today. I think it looks good. I can see some 400 grit sand marks under the base, but I think it is ok. Going to wet sand the base, 2 more coats and then clear.

Wish me luck!

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It looks great !!!. If it's any comfort, even the best of the best make a mistake every now and than. Glad you didn't give up and forged ahead.

Looking forward to seeing the finished product.
 
After smoothing out the cratered sealer coat, and shooting base, I just wasn't happy with it. I could see scratches that looked deeper than 400 grit. I just don't have the confidence or experience to know what the clear will flow into and cover.
I confess to being super paranoid about putting down the clear. It just seems so final, and if not good, a lot of work to remove it.
So, why not shoot another round of sealer and 25% reduction? I did and the scratches filled very nicely.
Blocked out the sealer with 600 grit wet sanding and then it was smooth as could be, so happy! :)

Today I shot the base, 2 coats with 60 minute flash.
Totally happy with it!
Here is a shot after the second coat, still wet (whatever may look like imperfections are just reflections from the shop)
This is the base I want to clear over!

Burb hood in base.jpg


OK, not perfect. A few very minor sags to block out before the clear, but overall, very flat and smooth.

As a side note, I shot this base with my Anesta Iwata Supernova 1.3.
You may say "hey, that is a clear gun." And most think it is. But it can do base as well, with the right settings and technique (not that I have this all mastered by any means . . .)
I was planning to do the base with my Tekna Prolite, but as I mentioned in a previous post, it was having issues. I ordered the re-build kit from Devilbiss, and tried to rebuild the gun. Destroyed the "front seal" trying to remove it, and of course it was not in the rebuild kit. So, it is on the way. I'm now $120 into rebuild parts for a $400 gun, hope it ends up working out . . .

I re-watched "The Gunman" (really legit YouTuber from Australia) and his review of the Supernova. He gave some very helpful setup tips for using the Supernova. Here is the link if you are interested:
Bottom line is that this gun is different and finicky, but if you dial it in, it is amazing.
Fan is turned way in, fluid way out, and pressure at a crazy 40 PSI . . . and then it lays down glass.

Anyway, tomorrow I fix the sags and make the commitment to clear. Wish me luck!
 
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