Re: Painting truck myself

Jul 09, 2003 5 Replies
R

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Don) started a controversy when he said in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:


I have an 89 f-150 that is blue and white. The paint is starting to
> fade. It is not peeling. Looks like parts of it have maybe been
> painted before. I have a spray gun and thought about painting it
> myself in the garage. is this possible and what type of paint would
> you recomment? I want it to look at least half-way decent, go to one
> color instead of the two tone, but since it is an old truck and my
> first paint job I do not want to invest in too much money. Any help
> would be greatly appreciated!
>

I would talk to a paint supply shop. They should have a good knowledge of the types of paint for your project. I will tell you that it is not a one day job. You will need paint, thinner, hardner, filters, stir sticks, etc. If you sand any panels down to bare metal, you will need etching primer to cover it, as regular primer will flake off of bare metal.


For a decent job you will need to:



  1. Fill and smooth all panels
  2. Remove as much trim as possible
  3. Wet sand the entire truck
  4. Mask anything you don't want paint on
  5. Put up a curtain of heavy plastic to keep dust down
  6. Find a way to vent the area
  7. Clean all surfaces with tack cloth
  8. Paint the truck
  9. Sand smooth any runs after paint dries
  10. Buff out the sanded areas
  11. Remove any overspray
  12. Enjoy your hard work :)

I might have missed something but, this was a quick list of what I could think of.



Good luck,


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J

A high quality paint brush and a can of Rustoleum should do the job. Many years ago, I bought an old 1936 Rover, crank out front window, suicide doors and all, from a old man who had painted it with a paint brush. Then he wet sanded it and compounded and waxed it. The paint job was 3 years old when I bought the car. You had to really catch the light just right and on the right spot to detect that the paint job was not a spray job.

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J

LOL!

I've got a friend who put an older model Suburban out to pasture on the deer lease. He and 4 guys got the Krylon out - did the camo number and after a couple of days (and a few cases of Bud . . . ) wet sanded the entire damn thing, buffed it out, and holy crap! A 12 pt. buck could see himself in the reflection! What was really funny is that they had to dull the shine on it (but of course - that was a few days of driving it to work just "one more time" to show off his fancy paint job.

Jim

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R

|>

You want that spray gun to be of the HVLP variety. If it's not, go buy a cheap one. You will get more paint or the car and less on the other things in the garage. Also you won't fog up the whole nighborhood.

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F

Get yourself a good book on auto painting and read it. Painting is 95% prep and 5 % being good with a spray gun. Also you will need to look into local regs about outdoor painting as the EPA is etting bitchy about the fumes relaesed by these paints. Not to mention they are toxic and flamable so read up and be careful. You'll need a safe and clean place to do it and get yourself a GOOD cartridge mask with the proper cartridges before you spray the first coat of anything.

Fred Mehlos snipped-for-privacy@mchsi.com

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L

When I was building my house back in '77, I bought a '57 GMC to haul materials ($75 for the truck!). My father-in-law did just what you said, Rustoleum and a brush. Came out just fine. I wasn't there when he did it, so I don't know how he did it without causing any runners, but it looked fine. (BTW, used the truck for 6 months, then sold it for $200).

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