DoneDeal's DIY "Desert Tan" Paint Job

[Done Deal DR]

Took a couple shots today with the grill mounted and rear window cleaned up mostly.

I think the next project will be to treat the frame and wheel wells with POR-15 and paint, which will be nice to do before installing the new wheel and tire package.

 

[Tahoewhat]

looks pretty good, but i cant stop looking at the cool background you live right next to. lol

 

[IRQVET]

Looking good bud!

 

[Dazrin]

I really like the look of that!

The only thing I wonder about is what the grill logo would look like if it matched the body. Right now it gets lost and kinda looks like a black blob in the middle of the grill, at least in the pictures.

 

[Done Deal DR]

I really like the look of that!

The only thing I wonder about is what the grill logo would look like if it matched the body. Right now it gets lost and kinda looks like a black blob in the middle of the grill, at least in the pictures.

I thought about painting the logo tan but in the end just wanted it to look low key which is why I painted it black along with the fact that with the new wheels I'll be getting I need more black accents to match. Pictures make it seem darker and less viewable than it is in person. Not to say that I won't revisit the idea in the future because I've seen it done in other colors and it looks great, but for now I really like it all black.

Thanks for all of the comments guys.

Here's a few I took closer to sun down last night. The pictures in the daylight always come out a bit lighter than it is in person. I suppose I could just adjust the exposure but oh well.

 

[TTZ06]

Looks good man

 

[Dazrin]

I thought about painting the logo tan but in the end just wanted it to look low key which is why I painted it black along with the fact that with the new wheels I'll be getting I need more black accents to match. Pictures make it seem darker and less viewable than it is in person. Not to say that I won't revisit the idea in the future because I've seen it done in other colors and it looks great, but for now I really like it all black.

Makes sense to me. Pictures don't do things justice most of the time, so I was wondering about that. It does look great as is.

 

[Tahoewhat]

looks good still, sun up or down. lol.

Surely isnt going in the garage. lol

 

[Ceejkay]

if your gonna do black rims i think black tail light and headlight/turn signal covers would tie everything in.. just my 2 cents


also IT LOOKS GREAT, but i dont know how big of a stickler you are, but your front bumper needs adjustment..

 

[Done Deal DR]

looks good still, sun up or down. lol.

Surely isnt going in the garage. lol

It does fit in the garage, barely height wise. It looks like it should still fit with 35's as well. I only put it in there when I'm going to work on it though.

if your gonna do black rims i think black tail light and headlight/turn signal covers would tie everything in.. just my 2 cents


also IT LOOKS GREAT, but i dont know how big of a stickler you are, but your front bumper needs adjustment..

Not personally a fan of tinted headlight/taillight's or covers at all, I also can't afford to reduce the headlight output any as it's already terrible. No problem, we all have different tastes.

You know, I have noticed the front bumper seems to angle upwards a bit, and I also think visually it's exacerbated by the fact that I don't run the plastic piece between the grill and bumper and don't have any plans to. I'm not sure how I could go about adjusting it though, luckily I'm not a big stickler though, it's not a show truck by any means.

 

[Done Deal DR]

I don't run any interior panels from the b pullers back (nor do i run rear seats) and the interior was still the trucks original white. Today I painted the interior metal olive drab green. Really happy with the outcome and goes great with the exterior IMO.

I've still got a lot of tidying up to do with some wiring and reinstall some dash pieces but it's coming along. Next on the interior will be the headliner.

---------- Post added at 03:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:27 PM ----------

This morning I took a 40 mile drive up north around Lake Pleasant. Drive and weather was perfect. It was probably my longest trip in the truck I've made and I've owned it almost two years. LOL

 

[Done Deal DR]

I traded in our '11 Nissan Juke for a '12 Nissan Xterra Pro-4x 4x4 a few weeks back. It's very capable in stock form, with Bilstein suspension, 32" BFG tires, Dana 44 variant rear axle with e-locker and plenty of power with a similar VQ motor that my Z has but stroked to 4 liters.. Since these pics were taken I've removed the pinstripe and dealer decals on the rear hatch, installed some Weathertech mats, put a Garmin 2460LMT GPS in, and I've ordered some Shrockworks sliders.

With this purchase I probably won't be putting too much more time or money into the Blazer, probably just finishing off the headliner as planned and button up the interior and then I'll sell it. It's been a fun and easy vehicle to work on and part of me will definitely be sad to see it go whenever I do sell it. It's been very reliable for me but I just figured it would be easier on me to have a vehicle that can do everything I need to than to try to maintain the 4 vehicles I currently am.

 

[BattelWagun]

I always thought the X-terras were cool looking trucks, I just questioned what the heck they were doing with some of the power plant options early on... Very weak motors. But now with the 4.0 Nissan is using, they've become quite capable.

 

[gc_mountainman]

I like the paint job. Very Nice! Did you finally sell it?? I am working on my own Tahoe, in September I plan to start painting the rest of the vehicle tan, with flat black contrast.

 

[1999hoe]

Eh not a fan of the xterra but to each there own I liked the tahoe seemed like a cool end of the world vehicle haha

 

[Done Deal DR]

Truth be told the Xterra is much more capable even stock than my 6" lifted Blazer. It's much faster, gets much better fuel economy, has better designed suspension and better components such as the rear locker. I really can't think of anything the Blazer does better but that's really not a knock on the Blazer because it's 20 years old and was dirt cheap and the Xterra is brand new, nearly 30k and designed with offroad use in mind.

I've somewhat changed my tune on selling the Blazer. Really it's worth more to me than what I could sell it for and its reasonably reliable. I'll continue to get small projects done on it over time. I've currently loaned it out for an extended time to a good friend so it can actually be driven.

 

[gc_mountainman]

Done Deal,

What are planning to do with the interior?? I am slowly getting my interior setup. Picture above. I still like the paint job you did on your rig. Glad to hear it is getting driven and not sitting in the garage.

Mountainman.

 

[bigred99]

This has got me Inspired to do mine now. Thought about doing it past. and now seeing one done lime this, it looks great!

 

[Done Deal DR]

I don't think I posted this here, but I finally sold my 350z and got a new toy, 2012 Sea Doo RXT-X 260. Brought it home about a month ago and have been out to the lake every weekend, sometimes twice. I finally have it broken in with about 12 hours, the power from this thing damn near rips my arms off.

The Blazer is still being driven daily by my friend with no issues. I ended up painting the inside metal surfaces olive drab many many months ago and was happy with the outcome. I still need to button up a few things but I'll probably wait until it cools down some because it's pretty much unbearable to work on cars in AZ this time of year. Still needs the headliner redone and re work the stereo. I'll probably also get the windows tinted. The AC doesn't work hardly at all so anything that will help would be great... especially for my friend who is actually driving it.

I like that rear storage rack mountainman, very well done.

bigred - If your factory paint job is trashed you've got nothing to lose. I'm certainly no body guy and it turned out quite well with just a little research, planning, and quite a bit of hard work. If your factory paint job is in good condition I'm not sure I could recommend it, but you obviously saw the before pics of mine and I certainly had nothing to lose.

 

[Done Deal DR]

I've decided to sell this to my friend who I had loaned it out to. Luckily I'll still be able to see it and work on it from time to time.