DoneDeal's DIY "Desert Tan" Paint Job

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Done Deal DR

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Hey guys,

I don't post much on here much but I finally got around to working on the exterior of my '92 Fullsize Blazer. When I purchased it in April of 2010 the exterior was in rough shape. Preexising mods included a 6" Superlift lift kit and 20" Centerline Tomahawk wheels with 33x10.50 Cooper tires. A prior owner had it painted it black, but the paint and filler were caked on and it was causing cracking. I purchased it from an autobody guy, and he had taken it upon himself to swap the hood, grill, fenders and doors... he said it would be easier than stripping the paint which is a half-truth at best. Against my better judgement, I brought her home and this is how she looked:

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He had primered the rear quarters and the left side had noticeable cracking when I purchased it. The right side didn't show the same signs, but the black paint that was left on the roof and the tailgate were showing the signs of cracking. It was a gamble, even though I'd given it the knock test it very well could have been 6" of filler in there even though it passed a Carfax report. I brought it home and completely stripped the interior. The carpet was nasty and it smelled of the old truck it was. Dog hair was all over along with oil spills and other misc stains. Now by no means am I, or was I ever trying to make this a show truck. The intention all along has been to haul toys and have a rig suitable for camping expeditions. That said, I stripped it down to a bare shell, removed all the gunk, laid down some noise killing mat, and replaced the carpet. I threw a stereo in but it was stolen the same week... "nice" neighborhood and all. Here are just a few of the pics of the interior renovation, the bench seats are from a NBS and are very comfy and the rear seats have been removed for cargo capability. I died a different dash black and swapped it in at this same time. The one that came with it was blue if I'm recalling correctly, and I hate both blue and red interiors, so out it went. I also removed the interior spare tire carrier and retrofitted from 6x9's in the rear speaker bracket at this time.

Rear Spare bracket:
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Rear 6x9 Retrofit:
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Stripped and cleaned:
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Fatmat Sound Deadener install:
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Black Died dash:
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Black Carpet Install:

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Fast forward to today and the I had been living with that exterior for well over a year at this point and was ready for a change. I've looked into various options... buying a compressor and learning how to paint the real way, installing vinyl over the entire exterior, paying to have it painted, etc. I finally said to hell with it, and rattlecan military style "Desert Tan" was coming my way. But first I had to remove all of the issues causing paint cracking. There were also some nasty welds on the roof that were put on there when the roof rack was removed by a prior owner than I cleaned up, but I don't have any pics of that.

Out came the angle grinder, and away with all of the paint and filler on the rear quarter and tailgate:
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Roughed up the rest of the paint and primered it:
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At this point I threw down the base coat, roughly 18-19 cans of Krylon "Khaki" in their Camouflage series. Next posting coming shortly.
 
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Done Deal DR

Done Deal DR

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These pics are as it sits now, prior to any wet sanding:
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At this point it hasn't even been hosed down so there is a ton of dust on it, and once I wet sand it will help smooth everything out. I blacked out the GMC logo and also the chrome surround on the updated grill, and hit the rest with the same desert tan paint. It surprised me when researching this that I couldn't find another OBS that had been painted this way, at least that I could find. My inspiration was a modern interpretation of the General M1009, and it really seems to fit this body style well.

I think the only things I missed on my upgrades were a round Magnaflow muffler and highflow cat with 3" piping exhaust install (replacing an old and tired Flowmaster system that was way too loud to even enter campgrounds, and a newer steering wheel to replace one that had no grips and was far too hot to touch in the AZ weather.

Future mods:
  • 17x9 Black wheels, probably MT Classic Lock's, or possibly a set of XD's or ATX's
  • 35x12.50r17 Tires, probably either Nitto Trail Graps or KM2's
  • 4.56 re-gear
  • Upgraded lighting
  • Painting interior metal OD Green
  • Desert Urban Camo headliner
  • Custom bumpers + Sliders
  • Onboard air
  • Shock upgrade
  • Tint windows

If the drivetrain ever goes out on me I'd like to replace it with an LS and updated trans along with some better axles and diffs. I'll probably leave any diff upgrades (outside of gears) until that time. Other than that, no other plans. This is just a pet project for me that I work on as I have time, but I love the 2 door full size SUV and classic styling that these trucks have. I bought this truck to prepare to buy a jetski which should be early next year. In my opinion, GM is missing out on a segment of buyers than like full size, 2 door SUV's. If they released a modern one, with HD components and either the 6.0 or 6.2 with 6L90 I'd be all over it.

That's all, I'll update as I complete the projects on the future mods list.
 

blackcoffee

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Sweet! ALWAYS, I mean ALWAYS! Wanted to do that to my 2 door before Always wanted a reference. My 2 tone is great and I've grown on me and now I'm in love with it but damn this looks great! needs black accents though.
 
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Done Deal DR

Done Deal DR

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Sweet! ALWAYS, I mean ALWAYS! Wanted to do that to my 2 door before Always wanted a reference. My 2 tone is great and I've grown on me and now I'm in love with it but damn this looks great! needs black accents though.

I agree 100%. That's why I painted the grill the way I did. Also will have black tailcaps and hopefully, in the new year, a nice set of black wheels and bigger tires. That should really complete the look I'm going for.

Oh, and tinted windows should help as well.
 

LuSe4

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Nice work. Can't wait to see the finished product. I know you plan on replacing those wheels, but I think they would look great painted black.
 
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Done Deal DR

Done Deal DR

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Nice work. Can't wait to see the finished product. I know you plan on replacing those wheels, but I think they would look great painted black.

They are nice, high quality wheels and I've thought about the same. I always have two sticking points...my personal preference on this truck is to have a smaller diameter wheel with more tire, and this wheel is not wide enough with too high of offset.

I could get spacers, but I'd still end up with a pizza cutter wheel. I will probably be able to sell these to the newer body style Silverados and Tahoe's pretty easy when the time comes to upgrade. Painting them black now would look better for the time being than not (so I definitely agree with you there), but IMO would make them harder to sell to this crowd.
 

foreverfalcon40

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Truck looks good!

I would PLASTI DIP the rims, bumpers and grill black! I like your rims! Dont go 3in its to big for Stock apps, loose power.

go with 2 and half at most
 
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