Another... VT Project

[cds]

The Project: So here we have another VT project on it's way, actually it's been going for awhile nearly 1 year now, been very slow at it but its something that's happening so I figured I should share with others. And I know your all sick of seeing repeat VT projects.. but its here for anyone who wants to read.

Why I started this project: Basically I had 12 month I had to hold my learners for and decided to do something with my car, later that week I found this thread DIY Painting your car with rollers and I've always hated white as a color of my car, and decided to start this project plus it would stop me from driving!

It's been nearly a year now and it's still not finished, all up I've probably spent 35hrs put together over the last 10 month, a lot of the other time I've been enjoying the good things in life.. now I'm due soon to finish my "12 month of holding a learners permit" I decided well I had better start finishing this car if I want something to drive.

The Car
VT Commodore Executive 1999 Series II Nov Build
Heron White, all stock top to bottom no modifications what so ever picked it up with 179,000km for $6,500 in December 2007 unregistered no RWC.

Jan 2008 -> July 2008
Changed radiator, replaced a door & window, installed power windows into the car and replaced all the exterior light's some were broken so over time ebay was my best friend to replace parts.

July 2008 -> Dec 2008
Started selling off parts of the car on ebay, executive body kit, tyres/rims and brought a VT SS Rear Bumper, VT SS Front Bumper & Set of VZ Mirrors. Eventually got that all together fitted (was already all white so didn't need no spraying) then took it down on the big day in November and had it pass roadworthy. Finally a registered car!

Jan 2009
Got my learners issued to me & now I have 12 month to hold them... What to do.. (That when I found this DIY Painting your car with rollers thread)

Ended up ebaying my executive side skirt's parked my car in the garage and away I went brought all the stuff Wilso suggested in his thread and prepped the car, found a decent Front VX SS Front Bumper and Aftermarket Headlights so I brought them been laying around for awhile now but now that its coming close to the time were I'll need to go for my license I've gone full time into working on finishing this.

October 2009
I don't have any pictures as yet of the car when I first got it back in 07 because I cant find any, I did take some... might be on my old phone memory which would be in the bin by now lol I only have pictures of the car when I started the Paint With Rollers Project. I've attached progress picture's don't be alarmed while the paint looks very messy/shockingly not right - it looks great when its finished. I tested this method on a old panel I had laying around (before even doing any work on the car... was skeptical..), 4 coasts of this paint - wait 45 days for it to cure machine buff then cut and polish and it looks too good to be true. thanks to wilso, his put up a great thread for painting with rollers I brought sand paper, thinners & prep stuff that has cost me a little over $300 so far so it's going good.

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Some Progress Photos...

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Some picks of the bumper, been painted using rollers...

[Adriianz]

lols nice. did the paint job take long. how did it come out do you think?

[DVS]

Whoa lol nice job Judging by the pics it looks like it turned out alright. Who would of thought lol

[cds]

lols nice. did the paint job take long. how did it come out do you think?

Each panel you do, needs to be coated at least 4 if not 5 or 6 times. Depending on, how each coat comes out is when you decide if it needs another coat. I figured minimum of 4 or 5 if you want to make sure the paint is solid enough to withstand any stone chips from general daily driving. Time consuming part is waiting for the paint to dry between each coat, its been pretty cold lately so I've had to wait 24 hrs for each coat, plus sanding down each coat to remove any imperfections before applying a new coat can be also time consuming.

This is one of those things where, you need to have the time to do it or your better off saving up $3,500 for a spray job, I didn't have a compressor or anything like that and while this is longer and requires more effort you don't need paint experience to do it.

Side Panel took me all up 5 days (but I did 2 doors in the same period as well) - havent been buffed or polished yet either so I cant wait until I wait for the paint to cure on these panels.

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WOOOT got my rear plain boot garnish in the post today , going start prepping it for paint tonight (got some plastic primer) hopefully the paint will stick to the plastic okay

Having massive issues with my roof in my garage causing trouble, keep getting lots of dust and stuff stuck in the paint while its drying on the roof (and only the roof, sides are fine ). Considering in hiring a booth just for 1 day to paint the roof's final coat

See how this goes anyway, I've put together some plans in the last few days since I'll need to redo the numberplate lighting for the rear with this garnish I might redo the wiring and setup 4 globes (or 4 leds, have decided yet) and make a panel to go into the VT somewhere with a few switches, so when I want to ride 100% legally I can turn off color lights on the rear number plate and put on white one's). Might also make additional switches for other lights if this works out, because as you can imagine 1st year P plates might want to be careful?

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Update

Did some work tonight on the car, started 1st coat on the bonnet applied some additional coats to the roof and started to prep the plain garnish I got today.

I also have this touchscreen tablet notebook, laying around (ive got a few laptops around =/) this one especially that isn't been used, I'm somehow thinking of an idea to mount it into the car - no ideas on how I'll do it yet but I think I might have found were I want it to go.

[DVS]

Coming along nicely. That touchscreen could fit where the glove box is.

[cds]

Update

So most panels are down everything looking pretty good still got a big list of things to do, but the idea of the result is there in the pictures.

Ever since I've had this car its never had a radio aerial, so I brought a manual one off ebay (was thinking of getting an automatic power one, but.. my budget is low for this unfortunately most of the money is focused on other things). Maybe down the track...

(I had to put the entire car back together, took it down to the United Car Wash took some panels back off at the car wash.. high pressured a lot of the hidden parts of the car to get rid of a lot of dirt buildup.)

Also decided to put my UHF Aerial on my middle back end of my car, (dont worry when the boot open's it makes perfect clearance! with rear window and roof )

(and yes, in the photo's here the front bar hasent yet been painted - i've been having some dramas with painting it using this roller stuff so I've sanded back and started again on it, ill show pictures of the bar once I've worked out a way to do it lols.. )

Also in some of these pictures you will notice "white" between gaps of panels this is because I haven't done the inside yet I'm guessing that's going to be the hardest part of all >_>

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Some progress on the car, will get more pix up only took these with a phone camera but will post up high res/quality photos over the weekend after new years.

Recently found myself a Calias interior which I'll probably change the inside with, all seats & trims.

[LocksR8]

looks the goods so far mate keep it up

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Today after I got home, i just washed the car down quickly and took some photo's (i should polish it again and post up some pics but, I will once I've painted the back black too.)

I'm thinking about also selling this car once I've finished with it and thinking around the $4,000-$5,000 ballpark with RWC. I've got a baby coming along in May and I think I'll be either going for an VE Omega or Last Release Adventra LX6.

[VT-565]

Thats as good as any factory finish these days.

Good work.

[LthlThrt]

mate that looks sweet as, yea i was thinking of really dark purple, or black but not sure if it would work well with the purple. but black does look good, just got the car off the road and need something to keep me occupied for cheap lol.

[LthlThrt]

oh and are they VY mirrors? looks different but good, howd the laptop fitting go?

[cds]

oh and are they VY mirrors? looks different but good, howd the laptop fitting go?

Never ended up fitting the laptop, to many issues involved with it. Mirrors are VZ straight fit in including wiring.

[TVR-190]

seeing this makes me realise just how hard we failed on painting the vn.

good job

[HRT 666]

Great job bloke looks so much better black.

[xCalliba]

WOOOT got my rear plain boot garnish in the post today , going start prepping it for paint tonight (got some plastic primer) hopefully the paint will stick to the plastic okay

love how the VT has come up mate! im gunna do my VT as soon as i practice on my spare VN shell.. Curious though, i love the idea of the plain boot garnish. how much did it cost and where'd you source it from? cheers!

[cds]

love how the VT has come up mate! im gunna do my VT as soon as i practice on my spare VN shell.. Curious though, i love the idea of the plain boot garnish. how much did it cost and where'd you source it from? cheers!

Got it from a seller on ebay in boronia for i think $149 inc GST. If you want me to find the seller (they are a business thats sells heaps of them), PM me ill dig deeper to find it for you.

[rishey89]

mate thats looking great.. ive been wanting to re spray my vt (same colour) just to get back that shine so i wouldnt have to do door jams or engine bay.. i reckon i should loose my license so i can do something like this :P