Need your thoughts on paint

[cody]

I have a 1978 Revcon that I bought in 1983, for those that have never heard of revcon, it's the sister ship of the GM motorhomes of the 70's but made by oldsmobile with the toronado style front wheel drive.  Jamie has been eyeing it up for her own use but the paint needs freshening, the body is rivited aluminum and painted, I don't have a clue what to do about paint but the spirit is as willing as the body is foolish and I'll attempt almost any endeavor.  I need thoughts on this project as I can't afford to hire out the paint job, the finish has scratches and chips here and there and in a few spots the paint is lifted around the rivits, I'm thinking that a couple of lifetimes of wet sanding followed by a shooting spree on a calm dry day may work wonders for it and then I can load it up with winnibago graphics and make myself proud, is there an easier way to make myself proud that is affordable?  I thought about using a buffer with some kind of a compound that would cut or level the chips, that would be faster than a sanding block and wetsanding it. I realize that I'm clueless in this regard but also poor, thoughts on this are welcome.

[bevans6]

Random orbit sander, 120 grit, take the paint to "scuffed but not broken through", spot filler on the bad chips, high fill primer, 220 grit by hand, spot prime where you broke through, three coats of 2 stage colour, clear coat if that is your thing, and done.  your classic 50/50 race car paint job.  Looks good at 50 feet or 50 mph!   

Brian

[FloridaCliff]

What Brian said, plus  painted White and your graphics can hide a multitude of "errors and omissions"

Isn't it snowing up there yet? 

Cliff

[cody]

Cliff, we had a few flakes in the air a few days ago, wayyyyyyy to early in my opinion but it happens. Another project that I may tackle at some point is replaceing the massive 4 barrel on the 403 engine with a fuel injection set up, with the carborated 403 the gas mileage is horrible, I heard that it's possible to put a fuel injection system and really perk the mileage somewhat better than the 6MPG I'm getting now.  The 403 in it has enough snuff to spin the front tires so power isn't lacking but it sure doesn't like to pass up a gas station.  I'm not sure if it's possible to mate another engine to the front wheel drive set up, it's like a toronado drive system but massively overbuilt.

[bevans6]

I know Holley has a carb replacement fuel injection throttlebody kit, they used to advertise it on the back of Circle Track magazine.  Around $1200 when I saw it but you can calibrate it to your engine.

Brian

[cody]

I just went and talked to a friend that owns an autobody shop, he said for me to try a product called Cut'N'Polish, he said to use a low speed polisher with it and it'll take the oxidized layer of paint off and bring it down to a fresh layer and shine it up, at about 20 bucks for a small bottle I'm hoping it is good lol, anyone ever try it before?  I figured maybe I'll try that for now, it's late in the season up here for starting new projects but then I've never been too smart lol.

[robertglines1]

Cody , after you refresh present paint you could take it to a autobody paint supply and they can match color for a touch up paint for around rivets etc..here they make up spray cans with your color match....good luck..Bob.

[Busted Knuckle]

Cody, if you quit smoking the tires the fuel mileage will go up!
  BK 

[cody]

BK, I have squealed the front tires, it was really strange to hear them but at the time I was entering a highway and got surprised by a car coming up faster than I realized so I hit the gas, I realized afterwards that with a budd rim I'm lucky I didn't spin the tire off the rim, the rims were original and set for bia ply tires and I had radials on them.  The 4 barrel comes in handy when I'm passing a car, I can kick it in and it moves, I was concerned about it until a discussion with Marty Moore from San Diego, he's the west coast service guy and a wealth of knowledge on revcons, he said, use the power on the highway, it's designed and built for it. It's also got headers and duel exhaust, it's a blast to drive.  If it had more storage I probably wouldn't have bought the iggle, we went all over the country in the revcon but needed the basement.  The front has 10.50x31 tires and the back tires are 12.00x33.