Ke55 Spruce

[Oh-KE]

Hey all, I have been looking around asking dumb questions for long enough I thought I should make a contribution to this wonderful site.

 

Here is my 1980 Toyota Corolla Ke55 with a 4k and 5 speed manual.

 

 

 

This is how it looked when i got it and I drove it this way for a few years. Then I became obsessed and started doing things.....

 

Got venetians and put nicer Ke30 lights on.

 

 

 

Ahhh ... much better....

 

Then painted window surrounds black and got some 40 dollar steal rims to replace the stockies. They look great. Very happy with them.

 

 

 

Thats all for now will update more later in weekend.

 

Ciao

 

Chris

Edited July 3, 2009 by Oh-KE

[roladude]

As they say slow and steady wins the race

Looks good so far dude.

[Murd 55]

looks rad! that the grill you got off me?

[Chobis]

Hehe.... I like the way you have gone to the effort of blanking out your rego plate in the pics yet you can still read it in the reflection on the bumper in the shots from the rear. :rolla:

 

Cool car. I love anything with a venetian blind in it. :hmm:

[Oh-KE]

Okay so next i pulled out the window trims on the front and back windscreens because they had started to crack and looked pretty faded.

 

Like this...

 

 

I bogged up the cracks and sprayed them white and this is how they turned out. (blurry but you get the idea) PIMP!

 

 

 

This shows only the bottom one finished compared to the rest (unfinished)

+my stupid dash mat which always falls off cos the velcro sticky things just melt in the sun...

 

 

 

Then i got some centre caps for my wheels and they look tops. :rolla:

 

Also used a white tire pen to do the writing on them.

 

 

And I sprayed my door trims with vinyl paint as well as putting chrome window winders on.

 

[Oh-KE]

As they say slow and steady wins the race

Looks good so far dude.

 

Cheers mate. I agree!!

 

looks rad! that the grill you got off me?

 

Sure is. :D

 

Hehe.... I like the way you have gone to the effort of blanking out your rego plate in the pics yet you can still read it in the reflection on the bumper in the shots from the rear. :rolla:

 

Cool car. I love anything with a venetian blind in it. :hmm:

 

Yeah that was stupid hehe can't be bothered fixing it now.... :D

[Oh-KE]

As you can see in some of those photos the paint and body is pretty rough at this stage so I took the plunge and started bogging and removing rust, badges, door trims etc...

 

this is the first time I have done anything like this so it was a big learning experience for me. Got it fairly straight but far from perfect.

 

 

 

 

 

The worst rust was just behind the front left wheel so I took off the panel and this is pile of dirt I found under it.

 

 

[Oh-KE]

After researching different ways of painting cars with out paying 10 grand i decided to paint it myself with a roller and kill rust enamel :rolla:

 

I chose this method because

A) CHEAP! :y:

B) No over-spray.

C) Good results can be achieved with a bit of time and patience.

D) CHEAP! :y:

 

Here is the colour. ($50)

.

 

Here is the car after a couple of coats on the hood.

 

 

Bit further along...

 

 

...

 

 

 

This is a VERY slow process because you can only do one coat per day with total of 8+ coats and requires a lot of wet sanding in between but when done correctly looks very good.

 

 

This a finished section

 

 

 

 

I pulled it outside to get a better look the other day and was impressed however it is not finished yet. still needs work in some areas...

 

 

In the below image you can see the areas that need work still eg. doors (unfinished) compared to front right panel (finished). The gloss is far better and there is less orange peel when finished properly.

 

 

So there you go, that is where I am up to with it. Bet you didn't see that coming!

 

I also have full chrome bumpers to put on when its done... CAN'T WAIT!!!!!! :D :D :hmm:

[roladude]

Dude you rock well done.

You did that will a paint roller eh can't believe how good it looks.

[JJT036]

Gee... Looks alright. Did you do all of that in 8 days? I was thinking to go with the enamel job aswell, but using an air compressor and spray gun in mum's garage. I was quoted $6000 for a full-on metallic two-tone paint job, but your do-it-at-home paint job looks alright well done. I've read an article on a forum of a guy in the U.S that did the same thing.

 

Cheers, Josh

Edited May 30, 2009 by ewt

[Chobis]

Love your work with the roller (and on the rolla :hmm: ). I did a Datto Sunny the same way after reading a massive thread on a hot rod forum a few years back about it. I trawled through about 50 odd pages of this thread after some dude in the USA posted up pics of his Dodge Charger he did. Then he gave heaps of help and instruction to others that were trying it. Great stuff that you did it. It does take a heap of patience as you said and heaps of coats, plus thinning the paint down with just the right amount of turps to allow you to get the paint on fairly evenly and then allow it to settle. I must admit that my patience ran out during the process when I tried it and hence my result wasn't as good as yours, but still worked out okay. It really is a cheap way for anybody to be able to paint a car in their own garage without worrying about learning to use a compressor or having overspray etc as you said.

 

I look forward to the next instalment. :rolla:

[Murd 55]

wow that looks amazing! i wanna paint my car with a roller now :rolla: hehe.

 

also way intrigued to see exactly how u did the window chrome bits (that u painted white) as mine are f@$ked also and i would love to paint them as well!

 

pm me if you are keen to help XD

[Oh-KE]

Roladude - cheers for the support bud. :wink:

 

 

Ewt - It has taken me a month to do the paint but I think if i did it again i could do it a lot faster, like 1 or 2 weeks. I mucked around a lot and was gathering other pits and pieces in the process.

 

I also read the thread about this method of painting and got most of my info from the many many pages of roller painting chit chat.

 

Here is the link if anyone wants to look http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showfl...part=1&vc=1 <<(the one with the Dodge Charger guy)

 

 

 

Chobis - Yes, the rolla has been rolled :y: Quite fitting if you ask me!

 

 

Murd 55 - The white trim was pretty simple really just sanded them and sprayed them. Where there was cracks, either sanded them back enough to be not so noticable or put a little bit or body filler in there and then sanded it down. Worked well and easy. It depends on how badly damaged they are though.

 

 

Cheers guys

 

I gave her another coat on the roof and I am almost ready to call it finished, although I could spend much longer on getting it "perfect". I am just sick of it basically! looks good enough to me and other people told me to stop ages ago so yeah gonna start putting bits back on...

 

Probably have it back on the road by next weekend so i will get more pics then. :bash:

[roladude]

Sweet man can't wait.

[JJT036]

Thanks, I also can't wait to see the final results in the pics aswell. Its lookin good so far.

 

Cheers, Josh :bash: