I'm afraid of project stagnation...

[hgs_notes]

Here's the status: I took the body of the frame beginning of May for the first time ever. Chassis is sandblasted and painted. Engine is 95% back together. I just put the replacement cab back on the frame. I know I have some more mechanical things to take care of, that is not an issue. The cab needs a bit more body work. A cab corner needs to be welded in, patch the gas filler hole, smooth some dents, etc.

My problem is that I'm kind of stuck on what to do next. The body work mentioned above is the obvious stuff, but then what? I am doing a color change on the truck. Once the corner and filler patch are welded in, do I just sand and prep the interior, get the firewall, interior, door jams, window openings, etc. painted, then start re-assembly of the interior, glass, etc, then do the doors and rest of the body?

Or do I just do all the body work, get it primed, then work on the doors and get them primed, then the fenders, etc... and do all the rest of the re-assembly after all of it is taken apart again, painted and put back together?

It's kind of the step I've been dreading all along because that's a new frontier for me. I've never been at this point in a build before because I've never had a car or truck painted before. Heck, taking the cab off was a first for me and I'm glad I did it. It wasn't hard at all and made working on the chassis a breeze.

Any input will be appreciated. I just don't want to be taking 3 steps forward and two steps back for the next several months. I need a plan and have no experience from this point forward.

[hgs_notes]

Pics

[GruntMoanCough]

You're restoring a truck; three steps forward, two steps back is the correct procedure!
Basically, do all your bodywork on the cab and prime. You don't have to do the doors, fenders, etc. right away if your getting tired of that. Don't know what color you have in mind but, if it's a metallic get all your paint together and you can get away with spraying the inners at different times. So, you can paint the cab inners if you like, then do some assembling.
What I'm getting at is if you were to break up the steps, you might not get bored or tired of things as easily and you'll feel as though you're getting somewhere.
It is best to do bodywork and priming on each piece first before painting the inners, if I didn't make it clear.

[hgs_notes]

So your saying I can do it in steps, painting the inside of the cab, door jams, firewall so I can assemble. Then I can do the doors and fenders and hood, have them painted on the inside and installed on the truck. Then the front of the bed and back of the cab, then install the bed.

At that point, the truck is basically together, with the inside of the cab fenders, doors and hood painted. I can work on assembling all those cab internals during this, then have the outside of the truck painted and finish the assembly.

If I go this route, do I need to buy all of the paint needed for the complete job up front? I've picked a turquoise poly (metallic) for a color. The inside of the bed will be spray lined. How much paint would be needed? Is 2 gallons enough? Does the inside of all the painted parts also need a clear coat or just the outside? How about the cab inside?

[prostreetC-10]

my my my....my truck looks the way that it does because the last rig I took apart was sold apart. Not sure if there is really any wrong answers. There are probably best case scenarios. Seems like it would be easiest to paint all at the same time. I think the reason my truck will never see paint is because I don't want the down time to do it. I'm having too much fun driving it now that I finally got the darn hood on. Had a guy tonight ask me if it was a 4 or 6. I said "what?" He said "4 or 6/71 blower" I said it's a none/71 and he looked at me funny. Then I told him it was a tunnel ram. It took me 2 years just to put another tailgate on it and prime it. Hopefully you will have better luck than I have.

[hgs_notes]

I was the same way, not wanting to tear it down because I wanted to drive it.

I just got to the point where I got tired of saying "all thats really left to do is finish the body work and paint it." It's been that way for too many years. I want it to look nice. I want it to run good and be a fun (ie. fast) driver. Mine didn't look as good as yours does now.

[prostreetC-10]

I think it also needs to be mentioned that I use that as an excuse because the 67 fastback in my signature is what's going to get the big $$$ in just a little bit. The truck will be just the parts go-getter!

[hgs_notes]

Any other opinions? I have one for doing all the paint at once and one that says you can do it in steps.

[GruntMoanCough]

I would think that 2 gallons of base is enough and get it all mixed at the same time to prevent color differences. there may be a slight difference in color by spraying in pieces, but hardly noticable, IMO. You have to clear coat the inners as well.
Ideally, you would paint everything at once but, like I said above, if you do it in pieces there's less chance of losing interest and you will also feel that there is progress.
The way I do it is by doing all bodywork and prime, then paint inners, fit panels and paint exterior. As far as painting the front of the bed and back of the cab, that's your call. I have done it both ways, just be cautious of masking nicely between the bed and cab before spraying the exterior so as not to make the final result look poor.