72 C10 4X4 LWB, Now What??

[bigsky]

New to the forum. Have been on a Mercedes forum for several years, so know how helpful/informative a good forum can be. Restored two older Mercedes practicing my body work/painting skills. A friend thought I was doing good work so asked if I would paint his new C10. Said yes, without seeing truck, he dropped it off with two trailers.

Overall it seems to be pretty straight/solid, but does have some rust holes in the front fender wells, cab floor, and on the box. No serious patches that I can see right now. It appears to have a newer 350 crate motor,turbo 350 or 400 auto tranni, not sure which yet. Still in a lot of pieces.

Sure I am going to have lots of questions trying to piece this puzzle back together. I have a hard enough time when I am the one that took it apart.

Not sure on this forum, if I need to post this in the build thread. Will need lots of advice before I actually start to "build" this one.

One of my first questions is what should I put on the frame, want to keep it black. Should I use an acrylic enamel paint? Owner was thinking of some kind of under coat/bed liner. I have used Durolast bed liner years ago, on a a flatbed, but with only so-so results. Owner is willing to spend some money to make this a nice truck, but powder coating is just to expensive.

Owner also wants to switch box bed to wood. So I am looking for several reputable vendors, for him to start looking at.

All information/opinions/advice, will be greatly appreciated.

[dazza]

Welcome!

You're not required to have a build thread but I'm sure it would be helpful as you go along(loads of knowledge to be found here). I'm just finishing my restore and although I've taken 9k+ photos, I never could find the time to start a build thread but thinking maybe posting it all up later.

As for your frame, unless powder coating is an option, you may want to have a look at Por-15. I'm happy with it although you must be very thorough with the prep as they require, I found a few places where mine peeled a bit, but I'm sure it just wasn't cleaned properly in those tight areas. Everywhere else seems like it would be a struggle to remove.

Hope this helps!

[57taskforce]

Looks pretty cool. For the frame I'd suggest epoxy primer with a chassis top coat. Both can be had by all the major paint companies like ppg,xalta,etc.

[bigsky]

Originally Posted by 57taskforce

Looks pretty cool. For the frame I'd suggest epoxy primer with a chassis top coat. Both can be had by all the major paint companies like ppg,xalta,etc.

Local Car Quest (30 miles away) carries PPG. Read up on using POR-15 sounds pretty time consuming to get it done right. Does the chassis top coat dry hard, or does it stay rubbery? Will post more pics of frame in next few days, our rust up here is really not to bad. Can not see any reason to sand blast at this point.

[57taskforce]

The top coat will dry hard but has good chip resistance. The epoxy primer is tough as nails when it's cured as well. If rust isn't a huge concern I personally wouldn't worry about undercoat or anything like that on the frame.