Any auto body / paint experts here ?

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Smgchandler

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I purchased an old truck really cheap and am wanting to put a little money into it. It’s actually going to be a wood / beat around in truck that i wouldn’t be afraid to take off down through the woods in but yet - it’s a heck of a nice truck so. The body has zero rust or dents but the blue and silver paint has faded and it has surface rust on hood and cab pretty bad. It sat out in the weather for a few years and i had to pull it here with tractor while the seller steered ! Anyhow my questions are - if i wanted to sand and prime let’s say the hood one week then a door the next and the half the bed and so on - what sand paper and what primer and what type of sander is best ? I have a compressor but would prefer electric. If i wanted to leave it in primer for a while is that smart ? I plan on some mechanical things before i start on the outside such as a clutch replacement but wanted to plan ahead for winter and get materials ahead of time. Any suggestion or questions are welcome. Thanks

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Another better pic. Is it crazy if i ask - can i buy the primer paint in aerosol cans ? That will work for what i want to do or will i need to buy paint cup and gun ?

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I want to throw this out there - I’m not looking for factory show finish. More interested in protecting metal and getting rid of the surface rust. Even though the truck is two tone - I’m thinking white when i eventually paint it and yes the door jams and bed and under the hood will still probably be blue lol. I could spend 3000 or more on a nice paint job and have a really good old solid truck but then i wouldn’t want to cut haul wood with it.
 
I worked in a body shop when those trucks started coming in when the factory paint failed. They had to be taken down to bare metal. An air powered dual action sander is the best tool for the job.

2 part epoxy primer. The type with a hardner should be able to be left unpainted.

Paint gun will do a much better job than rattle cans and may be the only way to spray the epoxy

For what you say you want. The good ol harbor freight paint gun should be good enough.
 
If the tailgate is rusted out to bad you can always go with …

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In all seriousness rust is hard to fight unless you take it completely down to bare metal. Now what you are describing for a wood hauler I would clean as directed as best as I could and treat it with a good rust converter/inhibitor like XION LABS 2-N-1 (we’ve used it on fuels tanks at the beach to stop rusting) … diluted per directions and sprayed over the prepped surface. It ain’t pretty but it will stop the cancer spreading. Then as time permits you can go through proper surface prepping for actual painting.
 
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What Lee Majors said about epoxy primer is spot on. Regular primer is porous and won't protect anything from anything.

I've painted several cars with the cheap $20 HF purple gravity feed paint guns. They work surprisingly well and last a good while if you clean them out right.
 
Anyone do this kinda work? Been thinking about getting my Tundra repainted. 08, mechanically great and only 158k, but rock chips on the front are starting to rust, front bumper has some rashes, clear coat is falling in a few spots and the roof is terrible but not rusting yet. Would love to get another decade, figure protecting the body now is a good investment. Only place around that said they’d paint a whole car was Maaco…
 
@Smgchandler your profile says triad, when we lived in high point, as much as I hate to say it, we were well known to Larry Walker & sons. Might be worth giving them a call. Their work was always top notch.
 
Well i did look into Maaco - they quoted me 2600 !! Im Not spending that even though it’s probably worth it. Years ago in my early 20’s i actually worked in a paint shop for ingersoll rand painting compressors but a lot has changed since then. I feel like i can do a section at a time and I’m in no rush to get it done. It’ll be a winter project. I will have to spray it outside so may have to pick my days with the weather or may have to wait until spring. does the two part primers come in different colors ? And where would a fella buy the primer and thinner for cleaning ?
 
Smgchandler said:
Well i did look into Maaco - they quoted me 2600 !! Im Not spending that even though it’s probably worth it. Years ago in my early 20’s i actually worked in a paint shop for ingersoll rand painting compressors but a lot has changed since then. I feel like i can do a section at a time and I’m in no rush to get it done. It’ll be a winter project. I will have to spray it outside so may have to pick my days with the weather or may have to wait until spring. does the two part primers come in different colors ? And where would a fella buy the primer and thinner for cleaning ?
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Search PPG paint store.

It can be tinted a few colors but not many.

Gray is the base color.
 
Smgchandler said:
Well i did look into Maaco - they quoted me 2600 !! Im Not spending that even though it’s probably worth it. Years ago in my early 20’s i actually worked in a paint shop for ingersoll rand painting compressors but a lot has changed since then. I feel like i can do a section at a time and I’m in no rush to get it done. It’ll be a winter project. I will have to spray it outside so may have to pick my days with the weather or may have to wait until spring. does the two part primers come in different colors ? And where would a fella buy the primer and thinner for cleaning ?
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One local place quoted about 2500 just for the hood, bumper and front fenders, but “they don’t do full repaints”. Kinda abandoned it for a while but still thinking about it.
 
a wood truck ya dont want to dump a bunch of money into ya say?

roll it on

OptiFlow Roll On Primer System

Put down a laser-straight foundation for your paints with no HVLP gun needed by getting OptiFlow car primer kits that can be applied with a standard roller.
www.eastwood.com www.eastwood.com
 
Diablos said:
a wood truck ya dont want to dump a bunch of money into ya say?

roll it on

OptiFlow Roll On Primer System

Put down a laser-straight foundation for your paints with no HVLP gun needed by getting OptiFlow car primer kits that can be applied with a standard roller.
www.eastwood.com www.eastwood.com
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That's kinda where I am on this. You want to preserve the metal but don't want a showroom finish. Rust converter and just get paint on the thing. I've seen some surprisingly decent looking roll on jobs. For a woods truck, i'd surely not worry about perfect.

Also, keep in mind if you spray panels one at a time, you may wind up with the color being slightly different between panels. If I was you, i'd work the metal and prime one panel at a time then plan to spray color all at once.

I'd expect to pay at least $5-7k for a decent-good full repaint with no buffing/polishing.
 
Lol. The patina thing I’ve heard too much about !! They’re saying it brings more than if it had new paint. It ain’t doin it for me And I’m gonna check out the rolling deal. I’ve heard of a few that used a paint brush and it is a wood truck and I’m cheap but just can’t go that route - yet ! As long as it’s all one color and metal protected then I’m good. Down the road when it comes time to put some paint over the primer, I’ll try to do it all at one time and not with a spray can. It’s in too good a shape to not do it at least half right. I’ve Got plenty to do inside the cab as well and may put off the outside until spring. Floor covering and seat need replacing or recovering and supposed to get a new clutch next week. Not sure how bad that’s gonna hurt but i have a feeling it’s going to be ugly. I appreciate all the info and will post on my progress. Throw in any more suggestions along the way.
 
Smgchandler said:
Lol. The patina thing I’ve heard too much about !! They’re saying it brings more than if it had new paint. It ain’t doin it for me And I’m gonna check out the rolling deal. I’ve heard of a few that used a paint brush and it is a wood truck and I’m cheap but just can’t go that route - yet ! As long as it’s all one color and metal protected then I’m good. Down the road when it comes time to put some paint over the primer, I’ll try to do it all at one time and not with a spray can. It’s in too good a shape to not do it at least half right. I’ve Got plenty to do inside the cab as well and may put off the outside until spring. Floor covering and seat need replacing or recovering and supposed to get a new clutch next week. Not sure how bad that’s gonna hurt but i have a feeling it’s going to be ugly. I appreciate all the info and will post on my progress. Throw in any more suggestions along the way.
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To paint the epoxy primer,say 2 years down the road, just lightly sand and spray the paint.

There a lots of options, but if you are actually going to paint, the epoxy is the best
 
bedliner is another cheap option that comes in a bunch off different colors now, nice a tough for a woods truck
 
I painted a 59 Volvo with a mop once for a Halloween car. Did any of y’all grow up in a town where the local teenagers went to war on Halloween? City boys against country boys. Out of towners could get hurt seriously. We bought a junk car every year & would cut the roof out so we could stand up & throw shit at each other. Hedgeapples, walnuts, pumpkins anything we could throw. We’d store up buckets of eggs all year in anticipation. We mounted a carbide cannon in the back of an old station wagon a couple years until the sheriff said we’d better quit before somebody got killed. A couple always got hurt every year & wound up in the ER. A fellar would go to the penitentiary today for shit we did in those days.
 
Sounds like the good ole days !! Never had much of a war but do remember toilet papering a few yards of friends. It has a mat in the bed already and i found a fifth wheel that hides out of the way ! I have never pulled a fifth wheel trailer before and can’t see it happening in the future but it’s there. I put a tool box in that i bought from Another member here ! That should protect the rear window from wild thrown wood. I’m going to start on the hood first sanding and go with the opticflow primer. Will post again after i use it
 
Anyone want to suggest a best way to get the glue off that’s left on paint after taking the side molding strips off and the stripes over where paint goes from blue to silver ? They both seem to be pretty tough. Can you still buy MEK methyl ethyl ketone ? That would melt the glue but always knew that stuff was not so healthy for ya !! Should i use heat ? I have a heat gun.
 
Smgchandler said:
Anyone want to suggest a best way to get the glue off that’s left on paint after taking the side molding strips off and the stripes over where paint goes from blue to silver ? They both seem to be pretty tough. Can you still buy MEK methyl ethyl ketone ? That would melt the glue but always knew that stuff was not so healthy for ya !! Should i use heat ? I have a heat gun.
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Rubber eraser wheel.
 
Check out a YouTube guy Steve Summers. He's a jack of all trades and a master of none. He re-did his 85 GMC-Chevy truck. Spent a ton of time on the weekends working on it. He'll give you some tips and products to use. He did have his brother help paint the truck but you can get acceptable results if you take your time. I've watched him rebuild machinery, his shop, and that old truck.
 
etching primer doesn't stop rust at all, primer/sealer only stops rush for awhile. If all you're wanting to do is stop rust through and you don't care about fixing every little dent there is then I'd say do it at home. DA sander, air scaler for any bad rust in the bed or cheap sand blaster. Just bite it off a piece at a time, inside bed, one side of bed, other side of bed, cab, fenders, hood. Get some masking tape, newspapers and rolls of plastic. Fixing dents isn't hard, watch some youtube you'll pick it up with some trial and error. Long as you're not cutting and patching panels it's all pretty simple.

Just go with industrial enamel paint, it's tough, simple mix ratio, no hardener and all you have to worry about is buying the thinner for the temperature you're going to be spraying in. Any of the national paint suppliers sell it, along with
Napa, Tractor Supply (order) or similar. Wont have a lot of colors to choose from, but could even put back that two tone job without much trouble as long as you're not looking for exact color shade. But you could spend a few more $ and get a custom mix to match if that's important to you.
 
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