Yeah I found the correct mixing after looking online.

I'm going to be checking out two other places about an hour and a half away this coming weekend if they are open. One of them looks like it caters to restorers and hobbyists.

Can I spray over fresh single stage after scuffing it up? Or do I need to do another sealer layer?

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They used the camera on the fuel door and ran it through the computer. I think they were looking for modern paint code matches and they didn't come up with anything.

I asked the guy there how to use their mixing cup to measure 4:1:1 when it said 4:1:10%:1. He had no idea. That didn't inspire much confidence in their abilities to give me a paint match.

Yeah, I should have done a test panel first. I knew the paint wasn't going to be a match from prior experience, but I thought it would at least look a little closer than what it came out as. Problem is I have very little time to work on the car and things like this set the timeline back significantly. The closest paint shop is 45 minutes away and they aren't open on weekends. Makes it very hard for me to get there. Then to spray the car requires me to mask everything like crazy because I have to shoot it in the shop with it being winter outside. But if I can find a better paint match it will be worth the effort in the end.

I'm just itching to get the interior put back together though....I have parts laying all over the place (organized though) and I want to get them back where they belong.

Kev - the paint matching seems to be a tough game...the same paint code apparently doesn't mean the paint is the same across companies. The blue I got from the shop does look close to Bikini Blue....it's pretty vibrant. Unfortunately it just doesn't pair with anything else on the car.

Don - These pictures show what I'm talking about. From a distance it doesn't look terrible, but once you see the blue next to everything else (windlace, door panels, trim) you can see how off it looks. There are four different colors of blue in these pictures. All except for the jambs are at least in the same family with gray undertones. Granted these are taken indoors, so maybe it will be different in sunlight, but probably not much.

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Thanks for the info. With my current set up I have to lift my foot off the gas and over to the brake pedal, so that wouldn't change for me. And my pedal sticks out much further than original. But my braking power with the current setup is not great. Unfortunately if I ever change it out I will have a big hole in the firewall that I would need to fix.

Help me understand this paint code thing.

Original paperwork that came with the car showed the paint code that was used. GM Met Blue Mix #38144.



Cross referencing that to modern paint on paintref.com shows that as GM code WA9222 and PPG 4110. Medium Blue or Bright Blue depending on the year.
https://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplaym.cgi?williams=38144&cols=simpl&rows=200&syear=1996&smanuf=GM&smodel=Chevy%20Truck&sname=Medium%20Blue

The paint cans I got from the automotive paint shop have the above codes on it, but in addition to WA9222 they also have code 24 and 34.



Looking further into the 24 code I found two entries for GM under that code. Medium Blue and Light Blue, both with GM's code of WA4313.
https://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplaym.cgi?gmcode=WA4313&rows=200&syear=1974&smanuf=GM&smodel=&sname=Light%20Blue

At least on the computer screen that last code looks closer to the actual color on the body. All the cross references for the original paint code are steering in a different direction, but is it possible that this other code is the correct one?

-Kevin

Thanks Don. The pictures are from further away and from typical viewing angles, so it's not terribly noticeable. I'll get a picture of the windlace next to the jamb and you'll see what I'm talking about....the blue is very different.

I had tape over the VIN plate in the picture that I hadn't yet removed. It had been spray painted over before, so I cleaned all that off. Still need to polish it though.

The speaker grille cleaned up nicely and should be fine with some paint. I'm waiting to reinstall all the interior trim until I get a new trim screw set from Max Merritt. All my old screws are rusted and I'm missing most of the stainless washers as well.

-Kevin

Does the new brake pedal stick further out? Hard to tell from the angle of the pictures. I'm definitely interested to see how this kit works out. I would love to get rid of my weird manual dual master set up. It works but I'd like something that looks more factory and isn't cobbled together.

-Kevin

Over the past week I finished up prepping the door jambs to repaint. Lots of sanding and lots of masking. I think masking was the worst part, honestly.



After cleaning the jambs I sprayed two coats of high build primer






After curing for 4 hours I scuffed up the primer gently with a red scotchbrite pad, and leveled out some areas with 400 sandpaper. Mixed up the blue single stage and shot two coats.



This is where I'm disappointed. I knew the blue was going to be off (I've used it before) but I was hoping it would look better than it does. I have the original paint code from when the outside of the car was painted 20 years ago (GM metallic blue mix 38144) and the closest the paint shop could give me was GM Bright Blue WA9222. I even took the fuel door for them to match to and nothing was close. On a numerical scale where 0 is a dead match and the higher numbers are off, the closest they could get me was 25, which apparently is wildly off. When the doors are closed you can't see it, and it isn't terribly noticeable when the doors are open, but against the new windlace and the redone door panels it is pretty jarring.









Not really sure what to do at this point besides carry on and get the interior put back together. If I can't get a color match to the body paint then my options are pretty limited. I thought it would be easier to get a match, but I guess not.

On the bright side at least I got rid of all the flaking paint, rust, and paint runs that where there before.

-Kevin

Glad you were able to sell them. I would've loved to take them on, but there's no way I can handle another project at the moment. Hope the new owner joins the forum and shares his progress.

-Kevin