>Emery, I was looking at your pictures. On your toolbox compartment, was the
>existing wiring adequate in length to relocate the power box?? Your paint job
>looks great and I think that same sort of scheme will work on my beige
>(almond) background color.
>
>Larry Nelson
>Springfield, MO
>GMC 1975 Palm Beach
>WB0JOT
Larry - The wiring was fine to just swing the box around and move the
wires with it. The only wiring I had to change was the wire going to
the hot water heater switch box because I wanted to move it to the
other side of the breaker box.
If you decide to paint your stripes, first clean them with lacquer
thinner. Then sand them lightly with wet or dry sandpaper and then
clean it all off. Mask off the striped and spray them with light
coats. If you put it on too heavy it'll run on the vinyl. You might
need three or four light coats. When I took off the masking tape I
found that there was some bleed through under the edges of the tape.
I waited two days to let the stripes dry and then masked onto the
stripes and used a paint to match the sidewall color and feathered a
couple of light coats over the edges. It blended well into the
sidewall color.
In a few minutes, I will add another picture to the PhotoPoint site
that shows what I did to the rub rail. My chrome plastic edges were
discolored, peeling and fraying. I decided to peel the plastic off
and then paint them the same orange as the small stripe. First I had
to do something about the crack between the top of the rail and the
sidewall. I filled it using my finger with some seam sealer. This
can be bought from an auto paint supply shop. It dries quickly
(probably a lacquer base) but remains flexible. I then masked off
the area of the top and bottom stripes and sprayed them with a couple
of light coats. After drying, I had to mask over the orange paint
and then spray the bleed through edges just like I did with the
stripes.
Be sure to use light coats and let them dry in between applications.
You'll probably get shiny and dull spots on the stripes because of
using a spray can. It's impossible to get a smooth, uniform coat. I
waited a couple of weeks and then used a light application of rubbing
compound to blend the paint on the stripes and to give a uniform
shine to it. Don't rub too hard or you'll go through the paint.
Emery Stora
77 Kingsley
Santa Fe, NM
