Friendly tip for rattlecan users... Warm your cans up in a bucket of hot hot water for a bit... You'll be amazed at how nicely the paint job will "flow out".... ;)
You know what, that's very true, might do it again if we get the trigger handle. I did have an idea for another spray bomb paint job, so maybe with that handle it won't be so bad haha
Not to mention all the extra time and work involved. There are ways of reducing orange peel and with some clear coats they don't need sanding. If you are going to do that much prep work, just use the proper equipment and paints. It will add to the value of the car.
Rattle can clear goes on thin. So you have to go very slow. If you move too fast, it looks dry. My theory is that it's better to fix a few runs or sags than to sand and buff the whole car. So if I use a rattle can, I lay it on thick and heavy.
If Cam is not Canadian I'll eat my words. Some say Letterkenny was inspired by Cam. He's definitely molded his new hockey skates by sitting in a hot bath. Kills two birds with one stone eh!
Using the bolts to pull out those dents was genius, seems the heads have more surface to pull more evenly than the spot welder style, but I don’t think I would try that with the aluminum can body panels the newer cars have now. Excellent job on the rattle can paint job, if you attempt to try that again, get yourself a spray gun handle for rattle cans,and save your finger and thumb Cam, and as always , great job putting the video together Tim !👍🇨🇦
Thank you! Ya the bolt technique was pretty cool! Ya we did think about those handles for the spray cans, but I guess we never talked about it again and didn't get one haha. Turned out good though. Thanks for the comment and for the support!
The sheet metal on these bodies was super thin. It was just one of the ways GM cheaped out on this car. Notice it didn't take him much effort to pull the dent out. That coupled with things like the unsleeved, high wear, cheap aluminum engines killed it. And it's such a shame. I think these (all GM versions) were some of the best looking cars that ever rolled off an American assembly line.
a 400 pontiac would be way too heavy, small block chevy would be ok but you can get some real power out of that stock engine and they are so light, you can get sleeves that take 60 over pistons, all cheap stuff, mill and port the head, I had a Vega years ago that ran in the 14s, that original engine is so light, that would be my pick a cast iron V8 makes them front end heavy, the Vegas handled very well
@@RustedRides If a pontiac 400 is a big block, I wouldn't recommend it unless it's just going to be a drag car going in a straight line. A small block 400 with a quadrajet (or similar) and an automatic and the right gearing, plus the GT sway bars and proper v8 springs can result in a very nice driving car as long as the car itself is reasonably straight. A 327 with an afb (or similar) and a standard can be a real screamer. I don't remember as much about how well the 400/auto did because I was about 5 and most of what I know about it was stories my dad told. But I drove the 327 one in high school. It'd burn the tires in all 4 gears (if I remember right, we were running 3:23 gearing in the rear end. it's been a while stock 4 banger gearing was insane. I think think the rear end was from a v8 monza, but needed the vega suspension mounts welded onto it, as the rear suspension got changed in the later years. our's was a 72 though, and I've heard that the late model vegas had the redesigned rear suspension, so those might have the same mounts as the monza). 0-60 was 4 seconds, or maybe a little less. basically, you drop the clutch in 1st, then shift, drop shift, drop, shift drop, then let off the gas, and by the time the tires stopped spinning, you were already going 60. I don't know the top speed because we never got a speedometer cable to survive past about 120. (not because we were accelerating too fast :P something must've been wrong with the housing or something. like maybe it was kinked. the internal cable would come unwound and rip apart) Anyway, a lot of the parts for the v8 monzas will just bolt right in. If you run a 327 with a standard, i don't recommend a quadrajet style carb. ours never liked them for some reason. Don't really know why. But I don't like the way the power comes in. It might be okay with an automatic. I always thought a 5 speed/overdrive would have been nice, because you run out of gears long before you run out of power... but then again, you might not want/need to be reaching the kinds of speeds you could hit with an overdrive in that car, soooo.... lol Anyway, good luck with your build :) OH! and if you have the older style rear suspension, and the car ever starts to sort of lift and drop, lift and drop (sort of like a very slow bounce) in the rear as you decelerate... Check your rear suspension arms! Cause I ripped an upper one loose, and didn't realize it. It just started doing that slow bounce when I'd slow down in gear and I didn't know what it was. Then I went out of town into this nice long curve while testing out a new clutch, jumped it up to a hundred, and as the wheels started to drift out a bit I let off a little... And it started that *bounce* in the rear, but *not* so slow this time. The outer rear tire locked up and the car started skidding and spinning slowly toward the inside of the corner. I had just enough time to tell my buddy in the passenger seat "hold on" before we went across the shoulder and into the grass. There was a bit of a hill and we went sliding up that, sideways, turning slowly, as a barbed wire fence was flying by a few feet in front of us. Then, by the time we were fully backwards, we were sliding back down the hill, back towards the highway. And by the time we'd come to a stop, what seemed like an eternity later, we were facing straight toward the road, which was about 20 feet in front of us. So jumped out to check the tires, then jumped back in, turned the key, and got us the heck out of there lol. Then we went to the car wash to spray off all the evidence, and found tons of weed sticking out between the tires and the rims lol So, yeah, if you are going to go having fun in fast cars, *don't* ignore strange handling issues that spring up ;)
@@chrischaf The smallest V8 would be a really good balance and make for a very fun car. I come from Ford so I'd put the GM equivalent of a Ford 260 or so in it. A V6 would not be slow, either.
@@HAL-dm1eh Not sure if you mean smallest *externally*, or smallest *internally*, because the old small block chevy used the same block for everything from 262 cu in, clear up to 350 cu in, and then there was also the 400 cu in sbc, which was still the same size externally, but I don't know if Ii'd say the 400 uses the same block, since the cylinders were siamesed... And I believe ford used the same (external size) small block for engines ranging from 221 cu in up to 302? To be honest, I don't know a lot about fords, but... I once drove a friend of mine's 65 mustang with a 260 and manual tranny. *loved* the engine. Very rev happy, which is what I like :D The *car* wasn't quite so lovable though... lol I don't mind a little rust, but this car was hurting, baaaad. Like, when you accelerated, the harder and longer you accelerated, the more the steering wheel would turn to the right. The *car* would still be going straight, but to keep straight you had to let the steering wheel turn to where it wanted. So it'd get turned clear around to, like, the 3 o'clock position, then you'd let up on the gas and put in the clutch to shift, and the steering wheel would snap back to centered (12 o'clock). I never looked under it to see what in the world was causing that... But the engine was darn nice :) And the car I've probably loved the most in my life was a Sunbeam Tiger II my dad had when I was a kid. I never drove it, cause I was, like, 5 lol but he'd take me for rides and I loved the sound of that 289 as it purred and roared... So I've always had a soft spot for 289s :) I never drove a hot 302 in a small car, so I don't really have any experience with them, although I actually have one on an engine stand that I got for a project that never got started... And with chevys, I never really got interested in the 350s. I've driven a couple of nice ones, but they never excited me as much as the 260/289 ford, or 327 chevy did. Didn't have the sound, didn't rev the same. Of course, those engines were all in cars that had manual transmissions, and weighed around 2500 lbs or less, so that probably helped with the excitement level ;P
It does feel good disassembling everything, and then when the job is done seeing it come together when putting it back together. Very satisfying seeing the results of putting in work
oh wow that is the perfect car to hot rod You should put a stoker small block chevy 400 stroke it to 420 cubic inches. Put on Promaxx X215 heads. And 2.1" valves. And an XR288HR cam on 108* LSA, with 10.5:1 compression mahle pistons and Scat stroker clearance rods. AFR titan dual plane intake. Run 3.23 gears and a TH400 with 2.10/1.40 gear set. The car looks extraordinary with big tires in the rear. Want to definitely look for an ASTRA or a PINTO or something like those. Got a solid rust free 81 camaro for 2500$ only. Has TH350 and 355 block.
Great bodywork tips. And an interesting rattle can experiment. Thanks for sharing. But just a little constructive criticism - the generic rock music's way too loud and really doesn't add anything (but that's just my opinion - other opinions are also available)😉
Thanks for the command for the feedback on the audio. We've been told that about the music in another video, so I have tried to get a better mix in the newer ones...but i was kinda rushed on this edit so I might not have got the audio levels right. Thanks for letting us know and I will try and make the next one better!
Pontiac must have had a bigger market than chevy up there in canada. The older I get the more Pontiac models I learn of that were canadaian Pontiac rebadged versions of Chevy cars down here in the US. It find it pretty interesting. When I first saw this car I thought it was a Vega. Turns out it is, just the Pontiac version sold in Canada. My dad owned a few Vegas back in the day.
That is interesting, ya pontiac might have had more presence up here. I'd like to look into that actually. I think the Vega was still more popular of a name up here, but ya there are a fair amount of pontiac versions of cars floating around
Not going to lie , I had my doubts with this paint . But in the end you guys have pulled it off. I think the colour is perfect for it. Now a nice loud engine and some sick rims and tires and this car will be a fun driver . Right on Rusted Rides. Oh I almost forgot , love the dent pulling technique 🙌🏻 🚘
Thank you! It's an extra step but this finish needed it and it takes it to a new level! And my wife and I love the east coast, we haven't been in a few years but such a nice part of Canada. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I used rattle cans before, and it works ok, depending on The Spray. but NOW? Nope, the paint I USE TO USE was $7.00 per can, " Auto Paint" Its Now $18.00 a can.. Hell no.. I figured it is almost CHEAPER just to but the REAL Auto Paint, and Spray It with a REAL Spray Gun.. Even The Spray Cans/ Rattle Cans at Walmart are $8.00 Use to be $3.97. So NOPE No More Rattle Can Paint... LOVE THE CAR! Had SO MANY VEGAS and MONZAs Back in my High School days! Wish I still had a few.. But Life Got in the way and had to Sell em..
The automatic transmission behind the 2.3L Vega engine in your Astre is actually a TH250 not a TH350 as evident by the large cooling holes in the bell housing. Non of the 4 cylinder H-Body cars came with a TH350. I am currently swapping my 4 cylinder 1977 Astre for a TH350 and a 4 bolt main 350. Enjoy your videos and just subscribed. Thanks.
Ahh thank you. Ya I wasn't confident in calling it a 350, but someone who stopped by the shop said it was one or a version of one. I should have done better research before putting that in the vid
Great Job 👏 A cheap v6 will do just fine instead of a V8. Otherwise you domino into a lot of other driveline components that need to be upgraded as well. Otherwise a Pontiac OHC6, if you can find one, to make it a real oddball 😉 If to slow you can always put a turbo on it. Best regards from Germany
That is true. We've been recommended a 4.3 V6, or we could go a 305 V8 and get the V8 rumble but won't be pumping crazy power that will tear apart the back end... But still lots of power for such a one little car...? Still not sure
@@RustedRides always hard to get the right combination. Just remember that the high low end torque is the killer for the driveline not the high Horsepower. I am sure you will find a nice engine, even a smaller v8 will work 262-263-267-283-305, no-one really wants these small guys but with some small upgrades they will sound great. Just look up on Nick’s garage 283 Zombie small block “bride of Frankenstein”, a mean sounding engine 😇
I'm glad I found this video I have a 1975 Ford Maverick that had been sitting for about 20 years under a car cover and a tarp it wasn't quite as hateful as the car you're doing it doesn't have any big dents but I don't have all the equipment to spray and I don't have a booth so I do want to learn how to use spray paint i watched thiss like 4 times thanks for all the advice and help. 👍👍
Ya, someone else just explained that it wasn't a th350. I wish I could go back in and fix that. So the torque converter can handle a V8? That's pretty cool
Someone else said that and I had to go look it up! That have got to be based of one or the other. Hard to find info linking them other than both part of GM
@@RustedRides what is the colour? ...I'm sure there's a lot of cars that would share the same GM parts between the two countries it's just the body shapes are a little different
Owned a Astre back in 1984. Paid $100.00 for it. The rear end was toast. I was working at a gas station with a repair garage. The boss let me use the lift after hours to replace the differential. Fortunately it was a standard which had a tendency to pop out of gear. I sold it two years later for $400.00. It was the worst car I've ever owned.
Throw in a 350 that is bored out that is a 355 crate engine with a 2 dbl 4 bbls and Hooker headers and cherry bomb mufflers. Also used all Chevy parts for your rear end.
So in base coat alone , you must have spent about $350 Canadian? Probably more. I have to paint an extended cab Ranger rear door and I figured about 3 cans max.
The cans were on clearance, so 19.93 a can I think before tax, so about 300 on basecoat. I think 3 cans for a door will be plenty. Just make sure you have a good even coat of primer to go over. If you have primer in some areas and sanded down paint in other areas it will take more to cover and make it all even. If you are putting color over the same color but have some areas that had repair so they are in primer... I would just spray base over the primer for a coat maybe two, then coat the whole door. Hope that made sense
Guys, a $20 gravity feed gun from harbor freight and a gallon of custom mix would’ve been much better and more primer befor blocking would serve you well. That being said, kudos for taking on the challenge. Car looks much better. Keep up the effort!
And exactly how much for the air compressor capable of delivering the required airflow? This in addition to the automotive grade paint, stirrers, measuring equipment, etc, etc?
We have been thinking about it. Not sure what our long term goals are with this thing yet. But if we come across a good s10 at the wreckers that might decide for us
Thank you very much! Thanks for taking the time to watch a few and subscribe. We are trying to get back to a more consistent upload schedule. The summer was a busy time and didn't get as much time to be in the shop
Hmm, ok noted. Thanks for the tip! Not sure when we will do another rattle can paint job, but with some of the tips on here, it might be worth doing again to see hoe all the tips change the process
That turned out so great! Years ago, my twin brother & I painted our friends Plymouth Sundance with rattle cans, it was red with a white top, it turned out good...not Rusted Rides good though!
Ya its surprising the level you can get with spray cans, but it's not super easy as the spray pressure and tips are not nearly as good as a proper spray gun. Thanks for the support!
Paint stores can make custom paint color spray cans if you ask. There are trigger handles for spray cans to save your fingers. You can buy spray can nozzles to be able to make the spray pattern match. My father did some super custom paint jobs using spray cans.
We will be going to Auto Fest this August. It was normally held in Oshawa Ontario, but it's moved r5 min away to Uxbridge Ontario. We will have a few cars there
Haha I worked! Lots happened off camera haha! But we bought this together as a joint project and share the costs and workload. Realistically Cam does more but I edit it all down. We have a new one on this car coming next week!
Haha thats true, but all of that is cheaper and attainable stuff like sand paper and body filler. But for people that don't have a spray gun, big enough air compressor, bigger ticket items
It was so bad, thank goodness for respirators. We still have to dig into cleaning up the inside. Hope the next video on this build will be a few patches and then paint the whole inside, plus a motor!
I used the same 2k clear from Napa on a small panel project. Was amazed at how well it did after a wet sand, compound and polish with a DA. 4 coats of 2k clear, and then a 2000, followed by 3000 grit was enough to knock away the orange peel. Used a sonax compound and then autoglym polish. Ceramic coat over top.
@@RustedRides I was amazed by the end result as it was my first time DIY’ng a rattle can paint job. After a lot of research, talking with connections and RU-vid, it seemed that this was the general consensus to do the $43 can of Spray Max 2k clear. It wasn’t cheap, but was worth every penny
Haha ya we definitely like to try stuff and see how it goes. We have a video like that hopefully out this Friday or Saturday if we can get it put together in time!
Thanks! Ya the copper orange is a really cool color. But duplicolor is discontinuing the orange and a few other colors. I think are only going yo make red and blue now.
Thank you! Ya it was a lot of work. The prep was something that would have had to happen no matter what painting technique was used, but the rattle cans did make spraying a harder and longer process. Thanks for watching and for the comment!
Ya someone else mentioned that, and we did think about it, but figured it wouldn't be that bad... We were wrong haha. Next time the handle would be a must haha
That's the second time I've been told that in the comments now!, I know Cam probably doesn't want to do spray cans again but now I'm thinking we should try it once more!
You said that the rattle can paint job method wasn't any cheaper????? I totally disagee... When I priced it all out the rattle can method was a quarter of the price of the spray gun method. And that was even if I was to buy the cheapest air compressor, air dryer system, air lines. paint mixing supplies and paint gun that I could find on the market..... and one other thing. If you would have heated up your rattle cans (or put them in warm water) before you sprayed. You would have had a WAY better spray pattern. With way less texture and orange peel.
Hey, yes totally with the warming of the cans, that's a great tip! And as far as cost, I think it depends on the brand of automotive basecoat and clearcoat, because yes some can be very expensive. But yes if you have no equipment at all, then spray cans can be cheaper when you factor in all the equipment odds and ends
Thank you, yes it really turned out! Like we said it wasn't easier or cheaper, but if someone has the time and no spraying equipment, a good paint job can be achieved. Especially with a wet sand and polish
Probably, and I'm sure we are getting laughs from some that watched. But we took our time to make it look nice. It's cool to see what is possible going this way
