Technical I know this has been covered 100 times, but I'm still not sure what to use

Yeah, I dug out my guns, and I am back to painting my own stuff. I'd rather have a driveway job, that I can drive, than a car in paint jail.

One of my customers has a truck I finished in paint jail, and that same shop (yes I know I am an idiot) has my money in paint jail. I made the mistake of clearing his backlog last summer, when I was laid off.

He did not pay me.

 

this is how I got my Pontiac and it saved it from Chicagos winters and rain for several years and stopped what rust was starting . no special color , just a good cheap latex exterior paint , and the nice thing is when you have time to get at it , you can litterally peel it off with a pressure washer then grit blast the body . one thing about sandblasting , unless you have done it before , have someone sshow you how to do it as I seen many a body panel warped from the heat generated that blasting entails , you might want to look into a wet blaster ( sand and water ) they come to you and do it , ( several outfits around DFW )and some also spray a phosphate coating on afterwords to protect the sheet metal from flash rusting .

 

Oh yeah? What type of vair? Welcome to the sickness.


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Call your local dustless blasting guy. Have him come over and blast it . It will look like new metal and be treated with a rust inhibitor. Then paint it with rustoleum and you will be good for a few years until you get all the mechanicals done. One day blasting , one day painting and done. Semi gloss black, cheap paint gun , a little acetone to thin the paint lays out pretty good. Instant shop truck look.
It would at least be presentable enough to drive around.

 

For goodness sake's! It probably took several YEARS to get into this condition. Another 6-8 months will be hardly noticeable.

 

I'm with squirrel on this one,...I'd DA it smooth as I could all over and drive it, a lot of guys would kill for patina like that., but that's just me.
it's yer truck, have fun with it how you seem fit.

 

I've read a couple guys have used CLR and scotchbrite pads and then use Gibbs oil rubbed over the entire body once it's smooth. Does that stuff work?


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That's like fluid film I think. Fluid film does actually work if you keep up on it.


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What people are telling you makes sense. On any build mechanical first, that way paint and interior don't get beat up. Then body & paint. Last interior.

 

I have a Porter Cable Restorer, you can get it at lowes, and the rolls are not expensive. It is very similar to the eastwood tool mentioned abouve but way cheaper. Get one of those after going at the rust with chemicals and use the striping roll not the sand paper roll. That will take a bunch of the surface rust and all the remaining paint off. then if you want you can use a fine roll ( I think its 220 or 240 grit) to go over the surface again and clean it the rest of the way. Mine works great and am planning to use it to strip my 51 chevy down to bare metal next winter to start the body work.

 

Protect your lungs,less you wind up like me.

 

the only way you will ever get paint on that is to blast or dip.

 

Use a grinder with a 80 grit disc. Messy but it works except in those hard to get places . For those you can use a wire wheel. Once done, wipe it down with Lacquer thinner or Acetone and then brush on the Jasco metal prep. Then primer.

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I agree with ONE BAD 51 MERC. I've been making my living doing body and paint work for over 30 years. From the pictures it looks like most of what you have is surface rust. If you want your future paint job to last, you need to get all the rust off. The metal should be as clean as you can possible make it. If your on a tight budget, do just what ONE BAD 51 MERC said and then take HOTRODPRIMER's advice and sandblast anything left. Then use a good automotive "metal etching primer" or an epoxy primer, such as PPG's DP 90. This will seal the metal good and leave a base that bodywork can be done over. Automotive paint products are NOT cheap, so I urge you to spend a little more on good quality products and do your best to do the job correct from the start. Otherwise you will spend thousands of dollars on a paint job that will fail and leave you very disappointed.


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Definitely, do the chassis and mechanical first. Get it running and driving, so you can enjoy it. Then if you want to do as much of the bodywork as you can yourself, do just one panel at a time. That way you can still drive the truck around and you won't lose interest in it. Personally, I wouldn't worry about the rust right now. 1-2 more years in dry Texas weather isn't going to matter. Get the truck on the road first. Patina is all the rage right now it seems. Although, as I'm a body and paint guy, nothing beats a sweet straight ride with great paint job on it in my opinion. That said, I've got a 1953 F-100 my son and I have been building and it won't see much in the way of bodywork for quite awhile yet.


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Thanks guys for the responses. I will get the mechanical side of the truck squared away then take y'all advice on how to attack the rust and bodywork. I wouldn't mind the surface rust at all if it didn't have a couple rust through spots of the roof.


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As for your comment on spray painting...that is the easiest part. Good paint and a straight finish are all about what is under the paint. Crap body work and crap surface prep equals crap finish. If you can do the body work to "finish ready" condition you can paint it too.

As BubbletopScott says materials are expensive but don't scrimp and stay with one system from bare metal to finish!

 

Sandblasting...... be very careful with that, you can ruin it. Put a clear cote on it, fix mechanical stuff, drive the snot out it.People pay to have that kind of patina.........OK, GO........

 

My advice would be to sell it. There are people who pay a lot of money to someone to make a truck look like that.

 

It's been in my family since 1957.


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