Paint tips for C10 trim

[rmawyer]

I have a 1970 C10 I'm restoring and I'm ready to tackle painting the black parts on the side trim. Any tips / answers would be helpful:
a. Farm out the work or DYI?
b. Keep the trim on or remove it?
c. Tips on taping?
d. Spray paint or brush?
e. Know of any special tools to use?
f. Any other insight?

[Coley]

In terms of the 'side trim', do you mean the long full length upper spear trim?....about 1-1/2" wide?....or the lower wide trim, about 3-1/2" wide?
I have redone both in the past to good results but you will need to buy a roll of general 'painters' tape....nothing too fancy.
The good news is that while you are masking the long areas off you can usually reuse the piece of masking tape and just move it over to do the next strip.

...first tho', upper or lower trim?

Coley

[jocko]

a: DIY
b: KEEP(!)
d: spray - not gloss, not flat, either semi-gloss or satin, your call.
e: Wax and Grease remover - Paint Prep (Eastwood calls it PRE, but there are many mfgrs) - always wipe down with wax and grease remover before spraining.
f: see C

c: this is the absolute most important step - the taping, and it can be done in a methodical way that will make your life easier. Can do it this way whether the trim is on the truck or removed. But make certain to study a known correctly painted trim piece before you mask. The entire center is not black and not all high ridges are shiny, so you have to look closely at a known good example or carefully study what you have assuming it's just got faded factory paint. See pic below, but also examine what you have closely.

Highly recommend working in 3 stages - all to avoid the need to do thin tape lines and intricate taping gymnastics.
1) pick the lower or upper, doesn't matter, first black section and mask below and above. Final wax & grease remover wipe. Spray and let dry.
2) repeat step 1 on the other one section you didn't choose. So, if you did the lowest lower black section, now do the highest upper black section - the same way.
3) now do the middle by masking off from the upper paint edge of the inner black section and upward - and also masking off from the lower edge of the inner black section and downward. Clean, spray, let dry.
You b done.

An alternative is to just spray everything between the upper and lower limits of the overall black area, then use a rag lightly soaked in paint thinner wrapped tightly around your finger and remove paint from the high ridges that need to be exposed. And remember, not all of them are exposed. I don't really prefer this method - it's more suited to finned valve covers and the like - id doesn't necessarily get your shiny-to-black transition spots in exactly the right place and it's easy to accidentally swipe the paint off a high ridge that should remain black when you're wiping off the adjacent one. Anyway, there you go, hope that helps.

[rmawyer]

Good stuff! Thanks.

I'm working on the thin strip for now.

[notsolo]

Someone posted previously, SEM trim black, spray cans...also I would use 3m fine line tape to get a crisp edge. Blue tape over to cover bigger area's.

[Metaldoc]

I just taped it off, scuffed with scotch brite, and rattle can semi gloss black.