Church Van Resurrection

mrclean81

mrclean81

New member
This was a project I took on at work a few weeks ago and am just now getting around to posting. The pics arent great because they were taken on a phone but its all I had at the time. A little history on the van - from what I could tell it had never been washed or waxed, or even vac'd out. The paint was as oxidized and dull as they get, the carpet was black and matted down to the point the interior had to be gutted and the carpet power washed 4 times and redyed. There were some stickers on the sides and back that were baked into the paint and woud only come off in little 1 inch flakes at a time. Total time on this job was in the 60 hour range start to finish.

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After a good wash with a heated power washer, the stickers were removed and all of the rock chips (there were a bunch) were touched up and sanded flat with 2000 grit. Everything was taped/masked, and the real work began. Using 3M Perfect It 2 compound and every wool pad I had (7 total) the oxidation slowly came out. After a couple days of compounding I switched up to 3M Machine Polish and a few black 3M polishing pads, then followed that up with 3M Ultra Fine polish and pads.

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A good coat of Car Brite Paint Sealant was applied, allowed to cure over night, then a coat of Auto Magic Strawberry Wet Wax was given as the LSP. Another good wash along with the wheels and tires being done with whitewall cleaner and wheel acid. The front bumper pad showed serious signs of neglect and fading, so it was redyed as well. No sooner than I finished up, and I was informed the van was sold. :cool:

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Thanks for looking :inspector:
 
It's been said before. These jobs separate the men from the boys.
That is a ton of work and an awesome turn-around.

That being said Great job Sir.
 
Thanks for all the compliments. I question every day how rational it is to put this much work into beat up wholesale vehicles, but that's what I was hired to do. Compliments and the occasional "wow" from the boss and coworkers are the real reward.
 
One heck of a turnaround there, it was in a state of confusion to a state of glory! One heck of a job and my hat is off to you for the work you perform on this van.:bigups
 
Incredible job Nathan. Church vans are always in the worst condition. If I hadn't seen the proof I'd have never believed that was the same van. I need to upgrade to a van of that size for my mobile rig. Maybe I should be looking for a church van. Your threads are very inspiring, keep up the great work.
 
Thanks alot Dave. Most of the church vans I've seen look a little rough but are almost always low mileage, unabused (mechanically) vans. This one had 60,000 on it and the engine and undercarriage was as clean as they get with the exception of normal dirt and salt from the roads here. It would probably be a good investment.
 
I can't even fathom the amount of work that went into that. Just removing that lettering had to be a lesson in frustration. Exemplary job :bow
 
RTexasF said:
I can't even fathom the amount of work that went into that. Just removing that lettering had to be a lesson in frustration. Exemplary job :bow
Click to expand...

Thank you sir :) The lettering on this one sucked bad. Im used to removing stickers and glue, but this one reminded me of doing a 10 year old box truck wrap as far as how it wanted to come off :wall Very time consuming and hot. After a while you burn your fingers with a heat gun to the point you just stop caring lol.
 
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