Thread: 500 Caddy/G Body Swap

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Well when I got to the paint store I found that I just couldn't bring myself to just paint it all white. Doing the two tone added a week to the project and cost a bit more but I'm not sorry I did it.

Plausible denial that it was someone else’s El Camino that did the big smoky burnout probably just went out the window though

I'll probably do the bed liner tomorrow or Sunday and start the assembly next week.

WOW that really looks great and original. great job.

Thanks Barb.
We now also have bed liner, so as far as I'm concerned it can start getting cold now

Hey Mike,
What did you use for Bed Liner? Did you spray it yourself? Color match? Special equipment to spray it?

I'm considering bed liner for my 66 F100 but I want it to match the paint. Line-X and Rhinoliner want $700-800 for it with color. That's too pricey for me.

The Monte Camino or El Carlo or whatever you're calling it looks great! Nice work!

Randy

that really pulls the whole thing together. great job.

Thanks Barb. I’m pretty happy the way it’s turning out.

“…….The Monte Camino or El Carlo or whatever you're calling it…….”

Randy I think I’m calling it Identity Crisis with the Monte front end, Caddy engine, Pontiac transmission and Ford rear end I don’t think the poor thing knows what the hell it is anymore.

As far as the bed liner I’ve been using a product called Xtreeme bed liner that I get off E Bay. It’s about $150 (plus shipping) for 2 gallons and includes the spray gun and reducer, hardner, and texture material. 1 Gallon of it is enough to do a bed the size of the El Camino. Basically I have less than $100 in this bed liner.

I usually get the pure white, it’s a urethane material so urethane paint mixes with it with no problem, as a matter of fact I mixed a little black with it for the bed on the El Camino to come up with the light grey color I wanted. I also did the same thing with the wife’s blue El Camino, I added some left over blue from the paint job……it came out the same color as the truck a few shades lighter and made a real nice contrast. To get an exact match I would have needed to use a darker blue.

This is about the 4th one I’ve done with this product and everything seems to be holding up really well. You do need a decent compressor to spray it, I usually run 60-80 PSI to spray it. You still need to mask everything off, but as heavy as the mixture is there is very little overspray.

Looks great Mike, excellent color choice!

Thanks Dave, I think I did OK for a last minuet decision.

I think I made some pretty good progress this last week. The engine and transmission are in, drive shaft hooked up, exhaust on, fuel tank in and new tires and wheels mounted balanced and installed.

The fuel tank took a a little work before it was ready to go in. Most of the aftermarket tanks have an internal venting problem that doesn't allow them to fill past 1/2 a tank before they start spitting fuel out the filler neck including this one (ask me how I know LOL). I had to install an external vent line to make it fill properly.

With any luck the hood will be on tomorrow night and Friday I have a glass guy coming out to install a new windshield and the back glass. If all goes well I might even try to fire the engine and break the cam in this coming weekend.

sounds great mike. really looking forward to hearing it run.

Awesome, just awesome

Closing in on the finish, Mike!!!! Looks like the paint cured out very nicely, going to do some good old fashioned cut and buff on it? Always good to see somebody get one of their own done, I'm going to do that someday too!!!!!

Well it's geting there, but still a ton of stuff to do, and yes Dave a cut and buff is on the agenda, not one of my favorites but a necessary evil.

I know what ya mean, Mike. Seems like easy work when you're doing the first fender, kind of goes downhill after that!!!!! I usually mix cut and buff day in with working on another project. Buff awhile, do something else, sand a while, do something else. or maybe it's just 'cuz I'm old and crippled!!!!!

"....... or maybe it's just 'cuz I'm old and crippled!!!!!........"

I hear you Dave. I love working on them but each year it hurts a bit more. It gets cool here in the mornings this time of year, and boy my arthritis reminds me of all the dumb stuff I did over the years. It gets real hard to do anything in the shop till it warms up a bit out there.