Back from the paint shop

[moparroy]

Thought I'd share - came back from the paint shop a week or so ago. The guy who did this paint works for one of the top commercial shops in the area. He did the final fit and finish for me too. This is 3 coats clear - NOT polished - straight out of the booth as you see it. An awesome job. Tahitian gold the original color. Had some issues finding a good quality JY9 match - all I could find was PPG Omni which no one here wants to paint with - and a Valspar supposed match that was a way different color. What I ended up with here is a custom matched water based Sikkens paint - side by side with the PPG omni for color its bang on with a little more pearl highlights - was looking for a little more sparkle anyway. Now the assembly work begins!

[Cuda Cody]

Looks great!   

[anlauto]

Would you care to share the paint shops info ? I'm always looking for a reasonably price shop that can turn out nice work in our area...
PM me if you prefer..

[headejm]

I like that color! White interior? 

[cuda hunter]

That is SaWeeet!  looks great!  Super deep.  Can't wait to see more pictures of the car and the color and depth! 

What's the interior colors and details? 

[jimynick]

Good for you! Getting final paint is something that many of us aspire to, and you've achieved that, in spades! May I ask what shop did that nice paint job? 

[71340RT]

Looks good and good luck putting it back together as it can be very rewarding seeing it come together.

[ledphoot]

Lookin sharp! The hardest part is done, let the fun begin.

[JS29]

EF8 is the same way, Omni. The reason is that modern color mix's use pearl's that weren't around back in those days. Omni base coat isn't difficult to apply,   

[moparroy]

Thanks for the comments. The guy who did the finish and paint does not really want his name advertised or passed around - I had offered - it took me longer than I expected to find an arrangement. Most of the shops that do resto work around here said come back in a year or did not want to even talk about it. He did this at the shop where he works full time but as a government job (ie on the side) - with their approval - but he only really does one car a year in his words. He has his own projects to do too. I really lucked out - this guy was super fussy and went way deeper than I really asked him to - stumbled onto him through a friend of his who lives one street back and saw me doing the body work in the driveway last summer Was not cheap though but definitely happy with it.
I painted the underside and interior with Omni myself - with my limited experience and not the best equipment it came out ok - but I had several shops say no to using Omni. Either did not want to use Omni specifically or only wanted to use water borne as that is mostly what they use here - which surprised me because at a seminar in Carlisle couple years ago the shops all said they use only solvent based paint.
The only complaint I have with the omni is it did not adhere well to the PPG epoxy primer they sold me - even applied within 1-2 hours. If I put a surfacer coat in between it was fine - but direct on the epoxy it chips easy. Nicked a few spots in the process.
Original interior was white - I am really not keen on a white interior (hard to keep clean) and the interior is easier to change than paint that's why I went with the original paint color. The interior I got with the car - not installed - just with - is black and I think I will use that. At some point the interior may have been changed to black as some of the trim pieces are painted black and I think the trim around the headliner was installed in the car when I got it some years ago. The car was a bracket racer toy in past life based on several signs.
Other details - its a Cuda 360 Auto car - numbers matching engine and 727. Valve body in the trans swapped out with a '71 for some reason - B&M 10025 shift kit was race tuned - I will detune it to HD. Motor came with X-Heads (part of the racer lineage I am sure) and a single plane Holley Strip Dominator. I just had the X-Heads redone - the engine comes home from machine shop tomorrow - I'll do final assembly.
More to come but I don't expect it will see the road this year - my target will be next year - taking my time and learning as I go. For me its as much about the journey as the destination for sure.

[anlauto]

Understand "your guy" not wanting his name out there, he would be swamped, everybody I know is always looking for a good body and paint guy 

I see you're in Rockwood, do you know Glenn McMeeken right there on HWY#7 ?

[moparroy]

Yes I know Glenn - if I started to list the miscellaneous parts I bought from him for this car I'd be here a while LOL.
He helped me with details on parts quite a bit in the early days. Have not spoken to him in a while now though.

[anlauto]

Yes I know Glenn - if I started to list the miscellaneous parts I bought from him for this car I'd be here a while LOL.
He helped me with details on parts quite a bit in the early days. Have not spoken to him in a while now though.

You should swing by and say HI some time, I helping him finally finish his 71 Cuda convertible....he's only had it 20+ years

[70 Top Banana]

That looks terrific! Good luck finishing the car