Volvo X (1967 Pro-Touring Amazon) by Iamtheonlyreal1

7 minute(s) of a 758 minute read

Here are a few more body work updates from later last week, and it is getting closer and closer now, so it is time to lock on a color.. I am going for a bare metal theme, and dont want any metallic style silver or typical greys, so I dont really have any other alternative other than a Liquid Metal Color. I plan on going with a PPG Liquid Metal paint color, and will probably still go toward the finish with a satin clear, but we will be spraying test panels to see if a gloss or satin works best with this paint. Overall, gloss would be better maintenance wise, but I am not looking for flashy high gloss style paint job for the theme I am going for.

Here are some more pictures of under the hood, and how it is getting cleaned and prepped for primer and paint. I have been battling the flu over the last week, so I havent been able to get out there for more current pics. In the last few weeks, it seems like someone in the household, someone working on items, or myself has been stricken with the flu going around.









Here are a few sample pics of the Liquid Metal Color that I am probably going to run. This stuff is about 200 dollars a pint, so we are trying to see if it is possible to put a couple of coats of a close silver base down for coverage first, and that way we can go over the top of it with with the high dollar stuff to save cost. My painter suggested using a neutral base color for initial coverage, and once initial coverage is achieved, and then apply the minimal necessary color application to save material cost. We are going to try that on a couple of test panels first, that way we can make sure the color doesnt change.

2-28-2013

Well here are some pics of our Starter Base Coat experiment.. We are using the PPG Liquid Metal Paint, and a couple of different base coat colors for this test, so I can choose the best overall color result.. I have seen that most guys tend to use a black base, but I think that gives it more a Chrome Affect, which I am trying to avoid.. I have a Black, Charcoal, and Silver intial base coat sprayed, and then we will have a Gloss and Satin clear cutting that in half to make a color grid.. I am still leaning toward the Satin Clear, but if this color looks more like metal than a paint, I may run the gloss for potential cleaning and maintenance reasons.. If it is more of a subtle difference between the Satin and Gloss, I will probably go for the Gloss, because the Satin takes alot of special cleaning and maintenance procedures, which can be a pain in the ass for a daily driver.

We have to wait for the Satin Clear to dry overnight, because it takes a bit for it to flatten back out as it dries. We can apply the Gloss Clear in the morning, and I will get those pics up then.. It is very hard to see the difference with pictures, but there is a difference between the different color base coats.

I dont have a problem with the Brandy/Wine colors, but they have there place, and it isnt on this car.. LOL JK.. I have this 69 Pro-Touring El Camino I am driving, and I like the color on it..

3-2-2013

Well the Spray Test was a fail, and we will have to try again.. It seems that the application process is completely different than typical paint, so we ended up with nothing more than a couple of variations of Silver Paint.. LOL My painter applied the Liquid Metal mixture as if it was a typical paint process to gain coverage, and this is apparently the wrong process for this Color, because the heavier the build the more it looks like regular paint. I called PPG and talked to them, and found out that our paint supplier also supplied us with the wrong Reducer, which also caused it to have a more silver paint appearance.. I was advised that the needed application process is more like a Pearl Application Coat, and if you go beyond or heavier than that, it will look like standard paint.. A black base coat is needed, and you apply thin fast layers of the Liquid Metal over the top, but you arent going for coverage with the Liquid Metal layers at all.. It is completely trial and error to get the metal look you are going for, and that is accomplished by the very thin application of the Liquid Metal Paint over the black, while not completely covering the black base coat... It sounds like we are going to have alot of practice on test panels, and it might be a respray or two, because this could be a very difficult paint job to get uniformity over the whole body.. I feel sorry for the painter on this one..

Here is the Liquid Metal Affect, and this is basically what it should look like on the car, but as you can see from the pictures below, it isnt how it came out after application..