Chevelle Paint And Body, Part II - Trim, Polish, And Finish Work

Next, we spray-painted the Glasstek fiberglass front bumper with Krylon silver paint to give it more of a race car-style look and then bolted on the bumper using the stock Chevelle center bumper brackets. We drilled small, 5/16-inch bumper boltholes and hand-filed the holes square to use the factory-style bumper bolts.

We found these cool 383 emblems in the OPG catalog and had to have them to match the 383ci small-block currently occupying the engine compartment.

We had to remove the quarter-panel endcaps to bolt on the new OPG lamp bezels. Unfortunately, the new bezels don't come with any attaching hardware and we were missing one set of four for the left side. The old piece had been glued in place with RTV--not cool.

We scoured the local auto parts store in the Help section and found these little plastic license plate nuts that we trimmed until they fit perfectly. They worked better than the brittle original pieces. The screws come in from the trunk side of the endcap.

We cleaned, blasted, and Krylon-satin-blacked the stock bumper brackets and bolted on the new OPG repro bumper with a little help from our friends. Even the original license plate light still works.

The taillight pieces dictated where the twin Chevelle horizontal moldings should be located. We established a straight tape line between the taillight bezels and then carefully drilled eight holes in the rear panel to mount the moldings. This was the most challenging part of the entire Chevelle reassembly because we don't like drilling holes in sheetmetal.

After purchasing some 1,000-, 1,500-, and 2,000-grit wet/dry sandpaper, we soaked the sheets in warm water for about half an hour to make them more pliable. McGann also used a squirt bottle mixed with car wash soap to help lubricate the work surface. Work on one panel at a time, lightly sanding with 1,000-grit paper and using in-line sanding strokes backed with a soft sanding block.

Wipe the surface dry and inspect your work, looking for an even surface. Tiny shiny spots indicate low areas in the paint that will need more sanding. It's important to remove as little paint as possible to achieve that even surface. The photo reveals glossy streaks that indicate the need for more sanding. The better the original bodywork, the less color-sanding that will be necessary.

McGann then progressed through the 1,500- and 2,000-grit paper to even out the sanding marks. This is as much a process of feel as it is visually inspecting the surface. Dry the paint often to inspect your work.

McGann then fitted his Makita variable-speed polisher with a Meguiar's Velcro backing pad and a rubbing compound pad. Using a small dab of Meguiar's Ultra-Cut Compound, he spread the compound over the work area and then slowly spun the polisher up to speed to begin working the scratches out of the paint. Note we used tape to protect the trunk edge. Once he was satisfied with this first work with the polisher, McGann used a 10 percent solution of rubbing alcohol in water to clean the surface before moving to the next polish.

McGann changed to a Meguiar's polish pad and Speed Glaze to begin the process of eliminating the fine scratches and to begin pulling out the gloss. This polishing process requires only a very small amount of product to achieve good results. The final step looks exactly the same except for using Meguiar's Swirl-Free polish.

No new paint scheme is worthy unless you can add wheels to the effort, so we added a set of Rocket Racing Fuel five-spoke wheels to give the Chevelle a drag race flavor. We mounted a set of Mickey Thompson 26x10.5-15 tires on the back along with some skinny front tires to complete the set. Now we're set to hit the streets.