What does it really take to paint a truck?

[REDROCKER652002]

Great thread, I am thinking of giving a try to my son's 69. I have a junk hood that will be my practice piece. So, if I am just going to try and get the piece prepped and ready, what do I need? How to I go about it? I have a garage that will be my "shop". The hood will be sitting in the garage as I don't think I will be able to strip it and work the body all in one day, so how do I keep the rust from setting in while I deal with the other issues? This is some great info, as I was told in another thread that a smaller compressor would be ok. I am following this one for sure. RR

[Ptjsk]

Originally Posted by LS short box

So I don't know if this would work for you but here's how I painted my 68.
Thru one of his body guys I met a local body shop owner that is a car guy but as a business owner insurance work keeps the doors open. He would love to do a couple of hot rods every year. I met with him said how about me doing all the dent and sanding in his shop? He looked at me and said what? I was soon retiring and had the time. He was kind enough to come over and took a look at my truck. He said let's go for it. He did make me sign a document releasing him from any injuries while in his shop.
So in my shop I stripped the cab and front sheet to bare steel. I do have 80 gallon compressor so the body shop mixed up the epoxy primer and I sprayed the cab, doors and front sheet metal in my shop to stop any rust.
Then I brought parts to his shop and they supervised me sanding and sanding and sanding until they looked great. Didn't let me use any power tools sanding, I think they liked to see me sweat and I did sweat. I have never done any body work before. The shop did the spray painting and cut buff. The owner made it clear I didn't have the skills for that.
It was a great time. Oh it cost me the cost of materials and more than a couple cases of beer.
Here's a few pics. From the start to the finish as it's sits today.

Great write up on your experiences. Sure makes you gain a strong appreciation for quality paint and body people!

Super cool the shop allowed you to work in their building. Also, good to have the "supervisors" on site to keep you directed on your work. That has to have been a good situation.

Pat

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by REDROCKER652002

Great thread, I am thinking of giving a try to my son's 69. I have a junk hood that will be my practice piece. So, if I am just going to try and get the piece prepped and ready, what do I need? How to I go about it? I have a garage that will be my "shop". The hood will be sitting in the garage as I don't think I will be able to strip it and work the body all in one day, so how do I keep the rust from setting in while I deal with the other issues? This is some great info, as I was told in another thread that a smaller compressor would be ok. I am following this one for sure. RR

For the practice hood, you'll need to strip it to bare metal. You can either have a sandblaster do it or you can buy a DA sander and sandpaper and strip it yourself. I would just strip the outside if it's for practice and it might be cheaper to have it blasted than to buy the tools to do it yourself and blasting is the perfect surface prep for primer. From there, you can start the process of epoxy primer, filler work, primer/surfacer and sanding, followed by base/clear or single stage. You should be able to get small quantities of those products at your local auto body supply shop. If it's something you're serious about, I would go to the Southern Polyurethanes forum and website and start learning.

[AU Doc]

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

........
Here's a suggestion . Run it by your local Maaco auto paint and talk with them , You could pull the trim and glass and buy new gaskets and glass for what you'll spend in materials and time doing it yourself if your not looking for show quality paint job you would have it done way faster and considering all the costs involved you could be way ahead $ and time wise ........

I am seriously considering doing this. As much as I would love a truck with paint deep enough to swim in, I would probably be afraid to drive it.

I've been told by a couple auto body folks that Maaco painters are actually really good at what they do because they paint so many cars. At least generally speaking. The reason the paint jobs don't typically look great is because the masking is done in a hurry and the quality of the paint they use is terrible. So, if you drop off the truck with no trim and glass, and if you can talk them into letting you provide good paint, there's actually a pretty good chance of getting a decent looking paint job. Not show quality, but certainly not terrible, either.

[Dr Jekyll]

I had a bad experience with maaco. Took a 68 Camaro in to get a rear quarter panel and tail panel put in 10 years ago, or so. When I torn the car down a few years ago I found welds that looked like a 5 year old did them. In fact I wouldn’t even call them welds, it was more like someone couldn’t get the welder to arc, as I could still see about an inch of welding wire in one spot, and the others weren’t much better. None of it was solidly welded, popped apart very easily. They didn’t bother to clean it off and try again, instead they put panel adhesive all over the crappy “welds” and hid the hatchet job. Maybe they are not good a bodywork but would spray ok, I don’t know. I didn’t take it back to get painted after I saw the panel adhesive cause it was obviously wrong, even to someone who knew basically nothing about paint and body. I should have said something about it to the manager, but It was my only car at the time and I was taking the bus to work so I was just happy to get it back. In my younger years I was more optimistic and happy go lucky. Nowadays I’m more likely to look you right in the eye and be a complete a**hole if I have to. That’s one of the reasons I decided to teach myself how Weld, do bodywork, and paint. No way I could F it up worse than that. That experience, the cost of labor, and de-mystifing the process were my main motivations. Uh oh don’t use maaco.

[72c20customcamper]

Maaco is hit and miss. The one near me does some nice work. But they have been in business for a long time as a private shop also. Seen some of their work under the franchise name good not show quality but the regular shop does excellent work.

If your only going to repaint 1 car then its not cost effective to buy everything needed.

[LS short box]

I need to add a couple of things. The shop owner made clear at the beginning that his shop was not a storage building for my parts. So some days I had to load the part I was working on and take it home for the night. Some parts they sprayed primer and I took them home to sand them. They didn't want to move cars around parts on work stands. I built a dolly for the cab so it was easy to move.
When everything was ready for paint I brought parts in as needed. I choose a 2017 Ford (oh the horror) solid red color so the parts can be painted apart unlike a metallic color.
I've done a number of hot rods over the years and I really enjoy the build. I don't think I would spray paint in my shop. I willing to bet a local shop would be willing to paint parts in a booth for a fee. Paint and materials are very expensive.

[IRQVET]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

I will have to respectfully disagree on a couple things:

I would only buy a HF paint gun if you're painting a farm implement or if you want to hate yourself later. Paint guns are not that expensive and you can go through several cheap ones for more cost than one good one. My Devilbiss FLG4 (primer gun) works just fine for how much bodywork I do and it was right around $250 and my Devilbiss Tekna copper was about the same it's been a great base/clear gun.

You do need a good sized air compressor for any significant amount of spraying. HVLP stands for High Volume Low Pressure so they take a lot of air. If you're just painting motorcycle parts, fine. But painting cars takes a lot of air. A 20-gal is going to drop in pressure very quick when you start spraying and won't be able to keep up. The reason for a big tank is to have a large amount of compressed air stored up so you can maintain the pressure and CFM the gun requires. Also, a small compressor won't be able to run any useful air tools like a DA sander.

Respectfully I have to disagree. My experience is much different. Just in the past 3 years or so I've painted two full sized pickups and two Willys Jeeps using a California Air Tools 10 Gallon/ 2HP compressor and a few HF HVLP Purple Guns. Zero issues whatsoever. I will admit, many people are taken back that I get by with such a small air compressor.

If the OP wants to run air tools such as grinders or DA's, he'll obviously need a larger compressor. However, nothing says he needs to do it with air tools as many of those tools can be had as electric. Which is much cheaper if he is just starting out; which was my initial impression. I think that point is getting overlooked. The point I was trying to make is he doesn't need to invest in thousands of dollars in tools if he is just starting out and, at this time, is only planning to painting a single project vehicle.

I think alot of people overcompensate by spending money on expensive tools they either don't need, or have no idea how to properly use. I have a buddy like that. He spends tons of money on expensive tools and his projects turn out like garbage because he lacks basic skills.

[Dr Jekyll]

“Just in the past 3 years or so I've painted two full sized pickups and two Willys Jeeps using a California Air Tools 10 Gallon/ 2HP compressor and a few HF HVLP Purple Guns. Zero issues whatsoever.”

So, no dryer or filtration, just a straight line from your compressor to your gun and everything turned out great? Oil and water contamination not a problem with this set up? I have a 25 gallon compressor and I’m willing to give it try.

[IRQVET]

Originally Posted by Dr Jekyll

“Just in the past 3 years or so I've painted two full sized pickups and two Willys Jeeps using a California Air Tools 10 Gallon/ 2HP compressor and a few HF HVLP Purple Guns. Zero issues whatsoever.”

So, no dryer or filtration, just a straight line from your compressor to your gun and everything turned out great? Oil and water contamination not a problem with this set up? I have a 25 gallon compressor and I’m willing to give it try.

No, negative! My fault- I should have been more clear. An oil/ water seperator was definately in play for everything I've painted. As was an air pressure regulator/gauge added to the gun.

[Dr Jekyll]

Ok, I will try it with the 25 gallon and three stage dryer, I want it to work. I need to put seam sealer in the drip rail on my 70 c10 and recoat the cab top. I’ll work on getting everything ready and wait for warmer weather an report back on this thread. It’s a small area so it might work.

[Steeveedee]

I've painted vehicles like IRQVet has done. 10 gallon 2HP compressor, and in my case a DeVilbiss gun. Oilless, with a line dryer, or oiled compressor with an oil separator. '64 Impala, '56 Chevy wagon, '82 Regal, '68 Skylark, all in the driveway. And the roof of my truck. Except with the Skylark and the truck, I used the cheapo HF gravity feed sprayer. Probably other vehicles too (oh, yeah, a '72 Vega wagon that I put the 305 SBC engine in- that was the DV gun). We could do "YMMV" all day, but I got good results with my setup(s).

[May70]

The best paint stripping method I have found is the strip discs

https://www.ebay.com/itm/5-Pack-4-5-...-/121748111489

Very little heat and it moves fast. Sand blasting is a bad idea for a beginner on a flat panel. Honestly a strip discs on a powerful corded grinder is hard to beat (DA and sandpaper is a thing of the past). They don't like heavy surface rust, so you can break out a flap disc on those places. As far as removing paint/filler those are great. Someone on the forum put me on them.

Paint is mostly prep work but I think any shortfall in the process can ruin it all. I think there will be a lot of differing opinions BUT remember the quality assessment is different in everyone's mind. I would invest in a decent gun, that is cheap insurance. If you do base clear (like I hope to do myself) I know a lot of people get the base mixed up and then mix between the cans to be 100% sure you have the same mix of pigments between the batches. That way they can paint it piece by piece. Single stage has its pros and cons too.

Its a matter of investment and what end result you are looking for. It can be debated all day.

[IRQVET]

If its helpful. Here is a couple of cheaper sanders I've used with good results. My electric Polisher/ Sander is an older version of this one (Chicago Electric vs. Bauer) and its worked fantiastic now for 8 or so years. For a cheap-o its actually really good.

https://www.harborfreight.com/8mm-ra...der-64528.html

Given my challenges with a small compressor, I've also used this little guy for getting into tight spaces and it works well too.

https://www.harborfreight.com/air-an...der-93629.html

Like I mentioned before, in commerical settings I exclusively used Depont products, usually Imron for planes and helicopters. But when I'm messing around at home or painting my friends vehicles, I use Eastwood products, House of Kolour products; or GCI products when I'm doing vehicles for my cousin's WW2 car club. Just depends what I'm painting and its intended use.

[LS short box]

I've had good results with air craft stripper for the large panels and then a 40? gallon pressure sand blaster for the edges and hard to sand places like drip rails and such. Don't use the air craft stripper near any seams. You may not get it all out and it could cause problems with the paint.
In regards to clean air I only have a water trap so the body shop recommended a small filter that attaches right before the regulator. It's about 3" in diameter and kind of looks like some what flatten round ball.

[72c20customcamper]

Problem with painting metallics piecemeal is the slightest change in air pressure humidity and temperature can make paint even out of the same can come out different. In any event metallics for a bigginer will be difficult at best .

The purple guns are good spraying solid colors where you can lay it on a little heavy . They will not atomize the paint fine or consistantly. I use them for epoxy and high build primers . I forgot the size bit but if you drill out the cap you can spray real thick .

This is my go to spray gun Tekna Prolite with the 1.2, .3 and .4 fluid tips and the t10 and 20 air caps. My old Sata was warn out . Even sprays single stage heavy metallics well. And solids beautifully

[cj847]

Based on the great input and encouragement, I would like to rephrase my question:

Knowing I have a 5" Dewalt electric orbital, a 2 3/4 x 17" longboard hand sander, a couple of small hand sanding blocks (no special shapes), a quart of bondo, 10 bondo spreaders (no mixing boards) and a 25 gal compressor, ----
what else do I need to prime and seal my already stripped vehicle? And, can I do it for $1 to $1.5k. I need EVERYTHING else including the primer, a dryer/seperator, respirator, paint gun, cleaning chemicals, sandpaper, etc, etc, etc

[tj1970cst]

Nice job. What did you do to your shop floor? It looks smooth and shiny in the last truck cab picture.

Originally Posted by LS short box

So I don't know if this would work for you but here's how I painted my 68.
Thru one of his body guys I met a local body shop owner that is a car guy but as a business owner insurance work keeps the doors open. He would love to do a couple of hot rods every year. I met with him said how about me doing all the dent and sanding in his shop? He looked at me and said what? I was soon retiring and had the time. He was kind enough to come over and took a look at my truck. He said let's go for it. He did make me sign a document releasing him from any injuries while in his shop.
So in my shop I stripped the cab and front sheet to bare steel. I do have 80 gallon compressor so the body shop mixed up the epoxy primer and I sprayed the cab, doors and front sheet metal in my shop to stop any rust.
Then I brought parts to his shop and they supervised me sanding and sanding and sanding until they looked great. Didn't let me use any power tools sanding, I think they liked to see me sweat and I did sweat. I have never done any body work before. The shop did the spray painting and cut buff. The owner made it clear I didn't have the skills for that.
It was a great time. Oh it cost me the cost of materials and more than a couple cases of beer.
Here's a few pics. From the start to the finish as it's sits today.

[tj1970cst]

The man that owns house of kolor has a good how to paint a car video on you tube.