#418/2000 restore & mod thread.

[transparentdsm]

How much did it cost for the vinyl? You may make me do my galant till I can afford a real paint job.

 

[NateCrisman]

The cost remains to be seen: my brother-in-law runs a vinyl sign/wrap shop, and had like 2 rolls of this silver wrap material on hand from some sort of "overstock" mistake or the vinyl supplier sending him the wrong rolls and not taking it back. I don't have the full story on it, but Ill ask tonight. either way...Ill find out what real cost is on the material, and Ill keep track of how much we used so I could figure out what the real cost should be to do a GVR4 in case anyone else wants to go this route and compare cost to a cheap maaco type paint job.

As with any kinda of body/paint work....you get out of it what you put into it. Dings, scratches, and chips will show through the vinyl just the same as they show through a paint layer. If you want the body to look PERFECT....expect to spend 10-40 hours in labor to sand every panel down, bondo dings, sand again. Probably should prime any areas that went to metal prior to wrapping..and smooth sand again.

I don't have the cash to lay out for even the cheapest of "scuff & spray" single stage paint jobs, and my brother-in-law will cut me a stupid cheap deal on this wrap job since Im doing a good portion of the labor ahead of time, and will be there to do half the vinyl install too. Hopefully he'll be selling me the material/supplies at his cost as well....but whatever. It's still way cheaper than event the cheapest of paint jobs and it "can" be done at home.


Lets hold off till we see the final results to make a calculus on Value vs Result. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif

 

[NateCrisman]

Progress for Thursday night:

Entire car gets wiped down with Alky once, then each panel again as you apply vinyl

Going to need to shorten the exhaust a bit with the JDM-YO bumps

Up in the air...ready to wrap

That's where I'm at for tonight

 

[Yohler]

Not going to lie, that looks way better than I expected. Looking good.

 

[turbohf]

what he said. that is looking good. im in for updates.

 

[turbowop]

Vinyl intrigues me. I kinda wanna do something reversible with my car just to play around with the looks a little.

 

[VR4_1752]

Looking good, can't wait to see it finished!

 

[iceman69510]

Does look good. I am amazed at how nice the remaining paint on the car shined after the wet sanding.

 

[ApexHunter]

Nice updates!!

So far, i've got real high hopes.

 

[NateCrisman]

I made a stupid rookie mistake and poked a hole in the sheet for the rear drivers door....so I decided to try and not waste material, and gave it a go at trying to wrap some small complex pieces.:

Overall my quality level is abysmal. There are little wrinkles in the corners, and relief cuts that didn't cover 100%. Ill likely end up having to re-do the doglegs on the "inner wheel well" surface. but that area probably should be black anyway, not silver. And I don't have a technique to get the vinyl to settle into the "chrome strip" channel and stick there with sharp edges, so I cut that out on the front fender molding. But man I hate those stupid chrome strips, so Im going to have mike figure that out if it's possible to wrap all the door moldings and such in one piece without the chrome cut out.

 

[NateCrisman]

Quoting turbowop:
Vinyl intrigues me. I kinda wanna do something reversible with my car just to play around with the looks a little.



If you wrap #1051 yellow and put Performance Partout on it....Ill buy the material! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif

 

[NateCrisman]

Quoting transparentdsm:
How much did it cost for the vinyl? You may make me do my galant till I can afford a real paint job.



Looks like retail cost on 60" x 45ft roll of vinyl in this metallic gloss type is about $300-$350 depending on brand/quality/mfg. You'll spend $100 minimum on supplies and tools.....couple gallons of ally, boxes of tack cloth and lint free wipe rags, mask tape, knife-less tape, razor blades, propane for torch, squeegees and felt tips. Plus mike has all these tools that are turning out to be really helpful....this glove that makes your hand slide on vinyl, felt lined magnets for hanging it, cutting tools, special shaped/different thickness squeegees to tuck under moldings.

But just like paint...the cost is in the labor. And trust me....this is just as much work as a basic paint job I think. BBUUUUUTTTT It's DIY which I love.

 

[NateCrisman]

Quoting iceman69510:
Does look good. I am amazed at how nice the remaining paint on the car shined after the wet sanding.



The paint shined up fine in the areas that there WAS paint and clear coat left....sides/vertical surfaces. But the top of the car (hood, roof, pillars, trunk, wing) had no clear coat left on them at all, and the center of the roof and hood and a spot on the trunk....literally...had primer showing because the black paint layer had been baked off by FL sun too. There was no saving this paint job with wet sanding, that's certain.

some of the pics are a little deceiving too, like the one outside..the car is wet..I literally washed it in the rain both times. (been pouring in NJ all week) when the car dries off, it looks hideous!

 

[iceman69510]

Yeah, I understand what you are saying. My belize green 92 is about the same on the hood and roof. Hood is burned through to primer like yours in one area. I'm looking to repaint them, and kind of hoping I can wet sand/buff some of the rest of the car to look fairly nice.

 

[NateCrisman]

knocked out a rear door this afternoon before kids get home from school. Did much better in the door handle pocket this time, although I did have to make an overlap above it when I came up with too much stretched material. ehhh...by the time I get to the 5th door, Ill be good enough.

I have some wrinkles inside the door jab between the doors (where you'll never look, but whatever). That's after trying to make 2 sharp 90* angles on a countered edge. I don't think this is possible in one single sheet anyway. to do it spotless wrinkle free.

 

[turbohf]

two ideas for the chrome.
1) pull it out and put black in there.
2) bondo it up, then apply wrap over it all for smooth look.


looking good. really makes me consider doing this too. you say its worth the time/effort/money for average GVR4 owner?

 

[NateCrisman]

Some more pics of the process:

Door handles are going to be wrapped silver. (this one is just done temporary to see how it looks..theses need sealant glue under to keep it from peeling with use)

Drivers' 1/4 is done

Roof is done with no wrinkles, bubbles, or blemishes.

Pass side needs the rear 1/4 done..BUT!!!! big butt......I was finally able to do my 4th door MINT...no blemishes! woooot (BIL went back and fixed my fuckups on prior doors for me..he rules)

So....moving along.


Mike basically said those chrome strips because of the deep recess....have to be cut out and done with a second piece. so...,now that I know the procedure...Sunday Im going to make the attempt on all 4 door covers, the remaining front fender molding, and the two long ground effects. Granted..Mother's Day...I have lots of cooking to do, so might not have that much time.

 

[NateCrisman]

Quoting turbohf:
two ideas for the chrome.
1) pull it out and put black in there.
2) bondo it up, then apply wrap over it all for smooth look.


looking good. really makes me consider doing this too. you say its worth the time/effort/money for average GVR4 owner?



Thanks. The chrome strip can be covered with silver wrap...that's not a problem...it just can't be done in one continuous piece for the whole panel. I have to wrap the panel..then "cut out a window" for the chrome strip, then tuck the "window edges" under the chrome edges. Then cut out a little strip of scrap and cover the chrome strip..maybe using some edge sealer since it's so small and the chrome is kinda "slippery".

I really didn't want to get into body filler and any actual body repair/work. The car has 1 significant dent under the drivers sail light (pushed in like a full inch), has probably 7-9 significant dings that you see looking at them straight on, and honestly 15-20 little dings, depressions, and flats/bends that you can see when you start sighting down the panels or inspecting things up close. Body work becomes like a vicious cycle where you fix the major dent....then the medium dings start to stand out, ....then you fix those....now you've gone that far..might as well smooth all the little dings. Then pretty soon the car is completely sanded to metal on every panel, has bondo everywhere, and still isn't perfect. I just don't want to even start on that.

 

[NateCrisman]

Well...I did get the two larger front door moldings done tonight while watching a movie with the kiddies:

They came out pretty much perfect /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif

 

[NateCrisman]