Tooky
Serious about performance
...if "the Syclone Dream" is driving a modified truck around on pump gas and beating on it/showing off without too much worry! :lol:
4 weeks of Paint Attention/Detailing
After finishing fixing my blown head gasket in early July, I drove it for about 3 weeks before doing what any syty junky would do with a truck that runs & drives - dove right into another huge project.
It started with washing the truck from all the dust and scrubbing/cleaning the complete cladding (including the dirtiest spots underneath the truck), and then I realized I ought to wax the whole thing. Then I realized I should polish some of the more dull/oxidized panels before I wax it. Then I realized I should fix some of these paint chips in the hood that I've had for a few years, some going down to bare metal, before rust sets in...
Pretty soon I was spending hours online teaching myself how to learn the "art" of properly fixing paint chips and wet sanding. Everyone knows what those unsightly "blobs" of touchup paint look like. After carefully scouring my truck with a pair of 1000W lamps, I found about 20-25 chips that needed attention, ranging from 2 large chips in the hood to tiny spots that only required the smallest stroke of a red sable 5/0 brush. Some chips took 2-3 hours to fix (spread out over several weeks) and others went a lot quicker. The deepest chips took some primer and then at least 8 layers of touchup to level out (only 2 of those).
Here's one blob that was on the truck from the previous owner, after I leveled it out:
All in all I was really happy with the way they turned out, especially for a 1st-timer. It took a real "leap of faith" to put sandpaper on my black paint the first time! Most of them you can't even feel/tell anymore, except when a strong light hits it at a certain angle..
After the paint chips I did some polishing of the paint, the tailgate was the most faded factory original paint (the garage faces West so every day when the sun sets my tailgate gets a full blast of sun). WOW what a difference after polishing!!
Finally I waxed the entire truck, including all the cladding (even the bottom of it) with Meguiar's NXT Tech Wax 2.0 synthetic polymer wax. This stuff is great!! And it's supposed to last 2-6 months instead of just 1 month like traditional carnuaba wax.
I had to brighten this photo, the black was too dark:
Only 93 octane for this mid 11 second stock-bottom-end motor:
My local hot rod car club had a huge 100+ car show last Saturday so I wanted to really detail the truck and show it off, since I haven't taken it out of town at ALL this year yet. Following some more internet advice I bought "303 Aerospace Protectant" for detailing the interior and tonneau cover. This stuff is fantastic!! The rave reviews proved true. Here's what my Lund Premier 8-year-old Tonneau looked like BEFORE:
Local Hot Rod Club Annual Car Show
I drove over an hour out of town to get to this car show, on a hot & humid day with the A/C blasting cold the whole way there! :thumbsup:
I used "Black Magic Matte Finish" tire spray on the tires to give them that "new tire look" without the ultra-glossy (and messy) look of traditional tire shines.
When I left the show, people were doing burnouts in the streets. So I stopped in front of the crowd standing by the curb, and did the hardest boost launch the brakes would hold! :rock: Later that night I ran into some of the same people and they were calling my truck "badass" and said my girlfriend's head whiplashed into the headrest when I took off.. :rotf:
High Quality Boost Launch Video
I didn't get any video of my launch in front of the crowd. But I did get this high quality vid in a remote location!
Boost Launch Video (1.2MB WMV9, 640x480 44kHz sound)
Took a long cruise on the ride home, and turned over 1000 miles now since I did the Vortec heads & cam on the stock bottom end. I think I'll stick to driving it for a while before I do any more major projects.... :tup:
4 weeks of Paint Attention/Detailing
After finishing fixing my blown head gasket in early July, I drove it for about 3 weeks before doing what any syty junky would do with a truck that runs & drives - dove right into another huge project.
It started with washing the truck from all the dust and scrubbing/cleaning the complete cladding (including the dirtiest spots underneath the truck), and then I realized I ought to wax the whole thing. Then I realized I should polish some of the more dull/oxidized panels before I wax it. Then I realized I should fix some of these paint chips in the hood that I've had for a few years, some going down to bare metal, before rust sets in...Pretty soon I was spending hours online teaching myself how to learn the "art" of properly fixing paint chips and wet sanding. Everyone knows what those unsightly "blobs" of touchup paint look like. After carefully scouring my truck with a pair of 1000W lamps, I found about 20-25 chips that needed attention, ranging from 2 large chips in the hood to tiny spots that only required the smallest stroke of a red sable 5/0 brush. Some chips took 2-3 hours to fix (spread out over several weeks) and others went a lot quicker. The deepest chips took some primer and then at least 8 layers of touchup to level out (only 2 of those).
Here's one blob that was on the truck from the previous owner, after I leveled it out:
All in all I was really happy with the way they turned out, especially for a 1st-timer. It took a real "leap of faith" to put sandpaper on my black paint the first time!
Most of them you can't even feel/tell anymore, except when a strong light hits it at a certain angle..After the paint chips I did some polishing of the paint, the tailgate was the most faded factory original paint (the garage faces West so every day when the sun sets my tailgate gets a full blast of sun). WOW what a difference after polishing!!
Finally I waxed the entire truck, including all the cladding (even the bottom of it) with Meguiar's NXT Tech Wax 2.0 synthetic polymer wax. This stuff is great!! And it's supposed to last 2-6 months instead of just 1 month like traditional carnuaba wax.
I had to brighten this photo, the black was too dark:
Only 93 octane for this mid 11 second stock-bottom-end motor:
My local hot rod car club had a huge 100+ car show last Saturday so I wanted to really detail the truck and show it off, since I haven't taken it out of town at ALL this year yet. Following some more internet advice I bought "303 Aerospace Protectant" for detailing the interior and tonneau cover. This stuff is fantastic!! The rave reviews proved true. Here's what my Lund Premier 8-year-old Tonneau looked like BEFORE:
Local Hot Rod Club Annual Car Show
I drove over an hour out of town to get to this car show, on a hot & humid day with the A/C blasting cold the whole way there! :thumbsup:
I used "Black Magic Matte Finish" tire spray on the tires to give them that "new tire look" without the ultra-glossy (and messy) look of traditional tire shines.
When I left the show, people were doing burnouts in the streets. So I stopped in front of the crowd standing by the curb, and did the hardest boost launch the brakes would hold! :rock: Later that night I ran into some of the same people and they were calling my truck "badass" and said my girlfriend's head whiplashed into the headrest when I took off.. :rotf:
High Quality Boost Launch Video
I didn't get any video of my launch in front of the crowd. But I did get this high quality vid in a remote location!
Boost Launch Video (1.2MB WMV9, 640x480 44kHz sound)
Took a long cruise on the ride home, and turned over 1000 miles now since I did the Vortec heads & cam on the stock bottom end. I think I'll stick to driving it for a while before I do any more major projects.... :tup:
