Suburban, 53 Plymouth

[pflaming]

Well the truck is back on the road, will now fine tune as I drive around town. When I was looking for some 15" wide rims, I saw a 53 convertible and bought it. In looking for front fenders for it I bought a roller suburban for the rear bumper and parts. I found a seller who had the fenders and he was looking for a convertible, so I sold him mine.

While doing body work on the parts suburban, my shop burned to the ground, the suburban was in the house garage, but the truck was in the fire. A forum member told me of a suburban in Santa Rosa, Ca so I bought it. Then I found another with a 230, OD, and some other parts I could use, so I bought it. My total outlay is $1500.00. I recently exchanged the first suburban for a new floor in the one I will now build.

So I should now have all the hard parts to get underway. I have a goos 218 with a three speed, so I have two engine choices for this car. Yellow is #1, gray is #2, and green is #3 with the OD.

The doghouse. Is the last picture. A forum member gave it to me. My wife is going bananas. Then I remind her that 48dodger and Andy Worthington in Des Moines, IA are my friends and she calms down.

Edited July 10, 2018 by pflaming

[pflaming]

After a great deal of honest ribbing on my patina / non paint interest, I conclude that the full expense of painting and. / or body work plus the skills required possibly stop the interested novice from "doing" a vehicle. So, to the certain chagrin of many I am going to do a finish using only a DA sander. I will pictorially document all that I do and allow the results speak for themselves. At a later date should someone want a nice paint finish, I will not have taken that away from him.

Front fender in initial stages: washed, DA 320 to 230 cleaned with lacquer thinner. This fender may have had that coral color. As noticeable in the last photo, one must be careful to know when to stop. As is, I have lost that chocolate brown color on my test square which now forces me to modify to ? ? ? Stay tuned.

Final two pictures. So I continue and find original paint under the SS spear and graduated paint along its side. Water on the final pic gives me a clue as to how a coat of clear will enhance the look.

r!

Edited July 10, 2018 by pflaming

[Dave72dt]

Usually you start with the coarser grit and go finer grits to get it smoother.  Starting with 320 and finishing with 220?  If that's rust you're sanding off, at this point, you might as well finish what you started and at least get some GOOD primer on it.  Pull the trim off and get the metal under that taken care of as well

[pflaming]

I'm not finishing at 230, it's just the stage I'm in. By working a step at a time, I get good advice such as yours and that impacts my thinking. TKS.

[Dave72dt]

If that was rust, I'd be starting with no higher than 80 and working up or if some old red oxide primer, maybe starting with 180 and working up.  It'll remove more material faster and with less clogging of the paper, saving you time and money.

Edited November 2, 2015 by Dave72dt

[Dodgeb4ya]

The goal is to not remove too much of the paint or rust patina.

[dodgeguy]

Are pulling are legs? Or do you have two shops? I see a nice metal out building in background.

[Desotodav]

Come on PP, stop torturing us and just paint it !!! ...

 

 

[Dave72dt]

The goal is to not remove too much of the paint or rust patina.

He's added 2 pictures from the initial post which now show the bluish tint to be color.  In the first 4 that bluish tint could as easily have been bare steel.. If the intent was to uncover the actual base color., now that we know the dirty red is primer, starting with finer grit makes more sense.  I probably would have used a sanding block and blocked it back instead od the DA. though,. leaving the painted surface flat.  It's really hard to remove a single layer of paint with a DA and have the remaining material flat.

[46Ply]

I'm with DeSotoDav,  Put some paint on it!

[pflaming]

Read the first paragraph of my opening posts. PA and others correctly make the case to decide what you want to do, assemble the primary parts and then stay the course. I am following that advice.

At this point I only need to purchase a disc brake kit, repair parts for the front suspension, exhaust pipe and muffler, engine parts for a valve job, a set of tires, and upholstery material, which it will salvage from some Craig's List sofa.

I have a second hood, so will do some test sanding on that to ascertain which has the best 'colors'. A true patina exercise is to reverse paint by carefully removing excess old finish to discover good color and then preserve that. Thus, the vehicle becomes the palette upon which the artist works, much like the sculpturer who envisioned Venus de Milo in a piece of granite. So I ask you, would you suggest we paint that piece of granite?

Response to Lack of painting skills in post two down. That is true. I've considered learning but to be a good painter requires steady hands and very good eyes. I have neither. So my alternative is then to pay. I prefer to play with what I have yet never to leave a vehicle in a condition that cannot be reversed. I'm 76 years old, not many my age working wrenches, fewer are laying paint.

Edited November 2, 2015 by pflaming

[casper50]

To each his own.  It's your vehicle.  But, granite doesn't come painted, vehicles do.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I assure you that had Venus de Milo come complete with arms..she would have painted herself by now....leave poor ole PP alone..he does not have the skills, time and tools and ample space to do a paint job and thus he gets by the cheapest he can..

Edited November 2, 2015 by Plymouthy Adams

[pflaming]

Regarding skills, if I want them I can learn them!

I do not like the direction this is dreading so I put on the hood that came with the fenders. Will now experiment with this.

Edited July 10, 2018 by pflaming

[pflaming]

I saw this was a duplicate so I deleted that material.

To be continued

Edited November 2, 2015 by pflaming

[Plymouthy Adams]

going the route you are..yes keep the panels matching...

[deathbound]

Well the truck is back on the road, will now fine tune as I drive around town. When I was looking for some 15" wide rims, I saw a 53 convertible and bought it.......

 

15" wide rims.......it's going to take some pretty big meats to fit those.

[pflaming]

Death bound, I guess I should have mentioned that I have quietly ratrodded the truck, so I needed slicks on the back! LOL

I did a fairly thorough first sand on the hood. My truck was brown at first too, but that rust was like cauliflower heads which when they were cut off revealed strong paint. They must have used different paint on the cars because, there is no color / paint. Next level is metal. At this level, this is not rust, this is discolored metal.

This may not be news to most, but it is intriguing to me. Not be continued.

Edited November 3, 2015 by pflaming

[pflaming]

Photo #1 is mine, #2 is a photo I found on the net, # 3 from the net. I thought I would find color, I did not. The body of the car is original paint and shines up nicely, so the front will be painted to match the body. Will get some help, not to get a perfect match but an acceptable one.

So then a 70 / 30 original paint / new paint exterior. A full new paint exterior now is not totally ruled out. Question, should I remove that dark brown surface, take it down to shiny metal. I can't believe I'm posting this!

[Dave72dt]

I would myself.  It may be good underneath and it may not be.  You might as well bump out the those dents while you're at it.  You can get a pretty good color match if you match it to a freshly color sanded and buffed section on an adjacent panel.

[falconvan]

For what you're doing I'd just shoot it with a rattle can rust inhibitor, then some primer/sealer, and finally wet sand it with some 400 grit.

[pflaming]

Been surfing this morning. I found this which I really like, and while I don not have the skills to duplicate it, I can replicate it. I'll get some help so that I can paint the doghouse and top and do the best I can on the remainder. I have good bumpers and chrome rims, so I'm set to go. Wish me luck!

.

[casper50]

Looks good.  Good luck P

[Plymouthy Adams]

that dark roof may not be user friendly in SoCal..

[Don Coatney]

There has been some conversation on this forum and other forums about doing a roller/brush paint job with good results.