1996 Chevy Tahoe Rebuild

pattersonj11

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Check out how guys on YouTube take the tires/rims off, spray with acid, then pressure wash the clear off the rims. Then you can polish the aluminum with Mothers and have rims that are stock and look brand new. I want to do mine, but I would lose my center cap z71 decals. They were on it when I bought it 10 years ago and I hate to lose them for some reason.
 

bigten

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I woulda went crazy trying to spray that while dodging the lift!!!!
On a side note; Have you seen the door/seam seal foam that negates the use of tape in those areas? It's round foam with an adhesive surface. Adhere it to the inside of door/hood/trunk/etc. edges, then close. Bingo, area is sealed and pretty much completely eliminates any overspray into jambs and seams.. Open doors, remove seal...
 

Hank

Old Mossy Horns
I have not seen that Bigten, but the only time I have had anything to do with Paint and Body work is with my Race Car, and the Hoe....excuse me, I mean Tahoe. :D

Does the shop you work at/own mess with mechanics as well as P&B? That would be a lot to handle.....

Paul, my P&B guy, took the day off to rest, and I do not blame him. Matter of fact, I encouraged him to take some time off and rest up a bit. Been at it for 7 or 8 days strait.....till 11:30 to 12:30 every evening.....I was tired, I knew he would be.
 

bigten

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I have not seen that Bigten, but the only time I have had anything to do with Paint and Body work is with my Race Car, and the Hoe....excuse me, I mean Tahoe. :D

Does the shop you work at/own mess with mechanics as well as P&B? That would be a lot to handle.....

Paul, my P&B guy, took the day off to rest, and I do not blame him. Matter of fact, I encouraged him to take some time off and rest up a bit. Been at it for 7 or 8 days strait.....till 11:30 to 12:30 every evening.....I was tired, I knew he would be.

I only do mechanical (and very little of that any more) for customers. I absolutely hate body work, but will do my own when necessary, and to not pay body shop prices. I do the grunt work in those cases and have a buddy do the spraying. I'll spray primers and basecoats, but leave the top coats to more qualified hands.. :)
 
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Hank

Old Mossy Horns
Tonight we started the process of color sanding, which some folks call wet sanding, but no water is being used, so it would be called color sanding. Anyway, here is a picutre of Paul sanding the fresh paint with 1000 Grit sand paper. This is what gets all of the trash out of it, and it also removes the orange peel. Once he has an area sanded to his liking with the 1000 Grit sand paper, he will polish it with a buffer using some Rubbing Compound first, which take all of the sanding scratches out of it. Then he will use a Machine Polish, which takes out all of the swirl marks caused by the Rubbing Compound. That is what makes it look like new money. Anyway, here is the picture of him sanding it with the 1000 Grit sand paper.

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Hank

Old Mossy Horns
Now it is on to the polishing, hope to be completely done with the hood and fenders when we leave this evening.

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Hank

Old Mossy Horns
I lied, that last post was the Rubbing Compound, this post shows a couple more picks of the Running Compound and the Machine Polishing being done. I am very happy with the final product, it's amazing to compare the before and after photos of less than 2 weeks of work, 80% of it being done after regular business hours.

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Hank

Old Mossy Horns
Thanks nccatfisher. Just a couple of before and after pics of the hood area.

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You can actually see the air duct work 15 feet or more above the floor in certain pictures.

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smith-n-stokes

Old Mossy Horns
Good stuff!

That's gonna make a nice ride for your son. Hope he appreciates all that you're doing for him.


Sent from wherever I was at the time...
 

Hank

Old Mossy Horns
Worked for a bit this evening also. Paul, Paint and Body Guy, said he would have it all done this evening. I figured it would take him two more days to finish it.....I was correct. Left this evening with it only needing both rear quarter panels to finish. I took one picture this evening of him polishing the tailgate portion of the Tahoe. Almost done.....I called a fella that I race with today, who installs windshields. He is going to come by Monday to put a new windshield in (it's cracked in a few different places) and after that we will be done. I pulled off the windshield wiper arms today and hit them with a little scotch brite, cleaned and prepped them before I shot them with a little semi-gloss black paint. Paul should finish his part tomorrow, and Jeff will be by Monday to install the new Windshield, after that I will put the freshly painted wiper arms on, with some new wipers on it, give it a good wash and deliver it to a (hopefully) very happy 16 year old. This has been a pretty big project, rebuilt engine and a really good paint job that has been color sanded to look better than it did when it rolled out of whatever Chevrolet Dealership that it rolled out of 20 years ago. Here is my next to last picture of said Tahoe. My next pictures will hopefully be a group of pictures of a 1996 Tahoe that looks and runs better than it did when it was new in 1996. Nathan, my son, is going to head to Sedgefield Country Club tomorrow to watch some of the PGA Golf Tournament. Hopefully Monday he will rank a weekend of watching the Professionals of the PGA and receiving a freshly painted 1996 Tahoe with a newly rebuilt engine as one of the best weekends of his shortly lived life so far.

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Firefly

Old Mossy Horns
Good show. I hope Nathan gets many miles and lots of good times out of his rebuilt ride. I can't even imagine how I would have felt if someone had done that for me when I was 16 years old..
 

Hank

Old Mossy Horns
Rode to the shop this afternoon after Paul finished up with the color sanding. I washed the truck again and finally installed the mirrors. Got a friend coming by Monday to install a new windshield and then I will need to put some paint thinner on some of the molding that has a touch of over spray on it and it will be ready. Working from 8am to 11pm for 2 weeks strait has taken it's toll on me, I am wore out and will need a few days to finally recover.

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straightline

Ten Pointer
Nice work and I'm sure your son will be tickled. I've found a 96 truck I'm thinking about getting but miles are a bit high. Any idea what a new crate motor is on these? 5.7.


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Hank

Old Mossy Horns
As far as crate motors go, the 5.7 is about the cheapest one I have seen. Don't hold me to this, but I think you can get a Jasper for $1,700, and they are about as good as they come.
 

Hank

Old Mossy Horns
Finished......Finally

New Windshield and Color Sanding is done. I am tickled that it is done.

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So what do y'all think, would a 16 year old kid be proud to drive this Tahoe around?????
 

brownisdown

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
If he ain't give him a swift kick in the behind and tell him he can walk!

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Hank

Old Mossy Horns
Easy fellas, we.....well.....I am hoping the decals/stickers, mud, and "Girls" is kept to a minimum for now. He is a very good kid, and right now all he cares about is Golf, Hunting, and Fishing.....I just hope we can keep it like that for a couple more years. I know from past experience that a couple of weeks is like 2 days when you are a teenager, but, as a Father.....I can wish....RIGHT!!!!!
 

catfishrus

Twelve Pointer
Looks good and I'm happy for you and your son. I gave my son a 97 ford powerstroke that I bought new in 97. He started running with the wrong crowd and here is the results of what I gave him. He has dug himself in one heck of a hole over this. Currently facing jail time because he called this truck in stolen(false police report) and he was already on probation. His mother told him he needed to call it in because she thought the truck was really stolen. So basically he is facing jail time for lieing to his mother. Good news is right now...he is living scared and doing good. Works every day and paid all his probation fees and restitution fees in full. Its been a hard past 3 months for him. Every dollar he has made..he had to give it away to live under my roof. He made his own bed...he had to lay in it at 19 years old. Lucky for me I seen this coming and got the truck out of my name and the insurance out of my name prior. He didn't appreciate the truck. He washed it one time in 3 years and that use to make me so mad. He sold it to the wrecker man for the wrecker bill and a $100. Glad he wasn't hurt but its a shame to have to set back and watch your own child hit rock bottom. I just sold him a 2003 Tacoma 4X4 extended cab truck that I bought to replace my powerstroke. This time he is going to pay for his own because he has lost everything I ever gave him. Don't mean to high jack your thread...just sharing my experience. Every child is different but there is so much crap out there today.

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