Pro Tips
MARBELIZING PAINT Ok, I give up. How do you guys get the marble paint effect? I see it on that Farmer's Oil tanker in the magazine, a few SoCal rigs, and on a couple custom dump combos from out there in Texas. Larry Lee, San Clemente, CA First make sure the surface to be painted is well prep'd, the same way you would prep any vehicle for painting. For best results Kandy colors should be applied for marble paint effect on the entire surface. When paint is dry, start applying a black base coat over 2x2ft area. Using a plastic wrap, press down on the wet paint and then pull it off (pulling some of the black paint). Continue doing this over the entire area leaving the surface with a rough texture. Then when the paint has flashed, apply 3-4 coats of two-part urethane clear coat. Let it dry overnight before sanding with 1200 wet/dry sand paper and water. Finally, start applying your Kandy color 5 to 10 coats followed by three clear coats giving you the marble effect. Joe Sanchez (Painter), Texas Chrome Shop / Triple R Diesel (Watch the custom paint videos in our How-to/Video section of customrigs POLISHING DIAMOND PLATE What do you guys recommend for cleaning/polishing diamond plate? The piece on my deck is a real pain to keep looking good. Hank Hall, San Antonio, TX Hank, the next time you are cut-ting your truck's carpet save the scraps. They make the world's best polishing pad for diamond plate. Carpet, especially the shorter nap shag, doesn't leave threads behind or come apart as it is pushed across the rough diamond plate. It's mildly abrasive tex-ture quickly removes tarnish, and when used with a good chrome polish, allows you to cover a lot of area quickly. I recommend pushing the pad hard in the direction of one set of diamonds, then following the angle of the other pattern. This method keeps the carpet fibers tight against the plate's raised portions giving a su-perb cleaning. Finish off the job with a microfiber cloth. Chuck Simmons, Outlaw Customs THE SOUND OF PERFORMANCE What do performance mufflers offer that stock mufflers don't besides being louder? Does a diesel really benefit from such an upgrade? Rob Hoffman, Tuscaloosa, AL Performance mufflers reduce exhaust back-pressure, which in turn takes the pressure off of the piston during the exhaust stroke and allow more of the horsepower to be used by the crank-shaft. Next, the soot level in the engine's oil will be eliminated because its flowing out the muf-fler. Another interesting benefit we've seen here using our Pittsburgh Power Inc. performance mufflers is a 50 percent decrease in the iron particles in the engine's oil be-cause of the straight through design. Let's not forget about the 1 / 4 - to 1 / 2 mpg improvement in fuel mileage. Bruce Mallinson, Pittsburgh Power STRONGER, FASTER KITTY I have a 2005 Kenworth W900L that has a 475hp Cat C15 with a 10-speed Fuller transmission. I am going to put a Pittsburgh Power Box on it and swap out the 10-speed with an 18-speed. What is involved in this swap and what model trans would be able to handle the increased power? Ken Wilson, via the web With an increase in power like that you are going to want to step up to an RTLO 18918B. But if you add any other power upgrades you might want to consider a 20918B. To do the swap pick the transmission that best suites your needs. You will have to have your driveshafts shortened, as well as install a new shift knob, air assembly and add an extra airline. Your stick and clutch linkage can be reused if still in good shape. We would also recommend installing a new clutch. The labor on this swap should take a shop with the right tools around 12 hours. Andy Gobel, Western Truck Parts pushed across the rough diamond plate. It's mildly abrasive tex-pushed across the rough diamond plate. It's mildly abrasive tex-CUSTOM RIGS' Pro Tips H ave a question for the custom rig builders out there or a tip or trick to share with readers? Send it to us and we'll slip it into Pro Tips: crtechtips@rrpub.com . Or go to our web site, www. customrigsmag.com , to take advantage of special links we've added to these Q&As and others posted there. And we've added a new tech forum as well. The Editors CR 12 CUSTOM RIGS Winter 2009