SO, the whole problem with the last 8.1L was it was a bad junk yard 8.1L engine? Like you said, that major pain in the ass probably made you an expert on 8.1L engines.
CK5
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1989 Crew Cab Tow Rig Build
- Thread starter Kay86K5
- Start date
I grew up doing body work and prepping cars for paint with my dad. Tons of memories. That being said, I hate it now lol.
I hate spackling sheetrock... very little automotive body work and that is far worse
I think the paint I use will do the job good. Being that it's going to be spray on, I feel like I could "touch" it up as time went on if I wanted. I want it to look a bit more decent than your average spray paint job (better than my blazer paint job, haha...but my blazer paint was the cheapest flat black paint you can buy from Wal-Mart...this paint will be a bit more higher quality)
I boiled it down to crank sensor issues. The motor was in a truck that was in a roll-over accident. Supposedly the guy I bought if from said it started right up after the accident to drive into his shop to pull the motor (supposedly), then he pulled it, but then it sat for at least 5 years until I bought it. I think the whole thing just needed a full rebuild, all the way down to pulling the crank and checking clearances. And if going that far, it's worth it to throw some go fast goodies at it, but as most know, aftermarket support for 8.1's is limited and very expensive. Was going to be just as much to rebuild that motor as it would be to just buy another known runner. And then the whole scenario of the buggy my brother and I are building came up, and we decided to throw that 8.1 (which will be built to hopefully push 600hp) in that project. So it really is working out fine for everyone. I'll get my truck up and running, and we have a power-plant to build for the buggy too!
It was a little bit annoying having to deal with the motor for so long, but in the end I learned a lot about 8.1's and LS's in general (since the wiring and fueling of an 8.1 is identical to a normal LS swap). So it's all good...knowledge is worth more than money IMO
It's not like its overly difficult to prep for paint...just long and tedious. I don't claim to be a good body/paint guy, and I'm sure those who really care about paint would look at my stuff and call it a crime, but I could care less. I just want the truck to look good from 10 ft away. And I don't want it to be a beauty queen of a truck cause I want to use it for lots of stuff that I won't be worried about getting it too dirty. The "show quality" paint stuff has never been my cup of tea...to each their own though
Would love to see a fresh version of the current 2-tone
Yeah, others on facebook said the same thing, but I really like the look of one solid color, so I'm gonna go that route
Wait, I've been reserving shop time to do a wrap for you?!...... 
Wait, I've been reserving shop time to do a wrap for you?!......
Don't kid yourself...you hate doing wraps and didn't want to do a CCLB
I've gone back and forth about 20 times on what I wanted to do with the paint. But since I decided to purchase another 8.1, decided to go the cheaper route on the paint. It will still look pretty good in the end, at least to me
Figured I had to throw some sort of harassment out there.
Thanks man.
No, I'm not going to worry about the door jams and interior. Considering I'm not straying too far from the factory blue color, I don't think it will look too out of place when I open the doors. If I was changing colors drastically, I would do it for sure.
I'm hoping the paint gets me at least 5 years or so. Maybe after that, if the paint starts to fade bad or starts peeling, then I'll redo it with a more legit paint job. But this suits the budget for now (especially since I bought a whole new motor for the dumb thing, haha) and will still look better than it did with the peeling clear coat all over the place.
Yeah, I was planning on it
So you're doing a rattle can paint job or getting that color in bulk and using a typical spray gun?
Just doing spray cans...using this stuff:
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...int---enamel-17764/spray-paint/da1620/4268057
We spray painted my brothers 78 K5 (pics below) with some higher quality paint in a can like what I'm going to use, and I think it turned out really good. I'm shooting for quality like what we got out of his. When you get closer you can see a few little imperfections here and there, but overall it looks pretty damn good IMO
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...int---enamel-17764/spray-paint/da1620/4268057
We spray painted my brothers 78 K5 (pics below) with some higher quality paint in a can like what I'm going to use, and I think it turned out really good. I'm shooting for quality like what we got out of his. When you get closer you can see a few little imperfections here and there, but overall it looks pretty damn good IMO
Most people never believe us when they see his K5 that it was a spray paint job, haha
I'm a believer that this truck deserves a higher quality paint job, but I know it will turn out awesome like everything else you build.
It's always something I can do down the road if I really want to have a really nice quality paint job on it. Like I've said before, I will never sell this truck, so I'm sure as time goes on I'll always be tinkering with it and changing things here and there. This paint job will get me through the next couple of years and after that I can always strip it and do a REAL nice job on it. But with buying another motor, just not in the funds now. But will still look better than it was before
