I want to get my grill shell body color painted. It is too expensive to buy one from the dealer. How much should it cost on average to get it painted at a shop. I might also be able to do it myself, I have a sand blaster available to me, so if I do it myself, what are the steps I should take to accomplish a good self done paint job?

 

I used to be in the auto paint business and the paints have changed dramatically over the last 10 years. (remember all that flaking paint in the late 80' and early 90's) Depending on what color your DAK is will make a huge difference in the price. My truck is the Atlantic blue, and I would expect the paint to cost from $60-150 a pint! That doesn't include thinner, clear coat... It may be difficult to get an exact match, even if your using the same paint if it has any metal flake in it because of the way the factory sprays the paint versus how you will be able to spray it.


I have some questions about your truck. I see you have the Gibson side swept exhaust, is there a noticeable power gain or is it just more noise. I hit a reply to your earlier post about the Air-aid kit but it probably got lost in the shuffle and you didn't reply. The situation I'm in is trying to improve towing power (torque) of my 3.7, any info would be a great help.

 

My truck is just black maybe that will help with giving me some info. I didn't notice a decent gain until I added my airaid. Both work together pretty well. I also made my own grounding kit, which goes to the pcm, firewall, ac, and alternator to the neg battery cable. Ricers have been doing this for years to keep the same amount of juice going to the plugs. I also have the Jet stage 1 and a 180 Tstat, which after some bolt ons, work with the upgrades better. I get about 16-17 in city and 21-23 on the highway. Intake and exhaust are the first upgrades I would do though, and then you could chose based on where you wnat your power (high end-low end) and go in that direction with upgrades. I personally try and get a good mix of power and fuel economy (hard to do).

 

Thanks for the input on powering up my 3.7. Have you done any towing with your truck? Is the Gibson sideswept exhaust loud or annoying while on the interstate?
The biggest trouble I'm having is towing at interstate speeds. My trailer is a 6x12' enclosed that sticks above my Leer topper. So the air flow hits right in the middle of the the front of the trailer. Works good on two lane, but I had to pull from 5,000' to 7,000' into a 20 MPH headwind and couldn't keep the truck out of passing gear screaming at 5000 RPM. Bad for fuel economy, and will wear the truck out real fast I would expect. A bit more power might keep it out of passing gear as much.

Your probably in luck since your truck is black. Paint is around $60 a quart. Just remeber all those front end pieces are plastic and would need to be stripped with plastic media or wallnut shells. Probably best to consult a professional stripper (not the ones that we stick money in their G-strings) before doing too much damage. Often Powder coaters will do both jobs and can usually found locally.

Mike

 

except black sucks to paint =)