Painting a 57 pickup in pieces

[Darafayen]

Hello guys, I've been working on a frame off resto on my 57 pickup and we are getting ready to paint. My question for you guys is does anyone have a good way to hang or Paint the whole door off the truck in one shot? Or how have you guys painted your trucks? Thanks

Justin
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[Garys8]

Typically I've painted jambs and other hard to reach areas first, then assemble and finalize with a complete paint job over everything. That also gives a more uniform color on the entire truck.
But that's me, and there are surely better informed and skilled guys out there than me with my junks.

[Garys8]

Look at the picture I have as my moniker, doesn't it look uniform???
Uniformly rusty....

[mr48chev]

A hint from a long time painter friend of mine. If you have more than one gallon of color mix them together and stir them up well and then pour them back in their original cans so that there won't be a difference in shade between cans.

The last time I painted the 48 a real color (the red) I painted it with the hood, fenders and all four running boards off and then assembled it afterwards. The only thing I can say about that is that you need some good helpers to hold the parts while you are bolting them on and plan on being extra careful around the fresh paint. There is a thread somewhere on the net by a guy who carried individual pieces to the painter to have them sprayed and then took them home and put them on the vehicle. I'm not sure of the why to his methods on that deal. He may have been on the pay as you go plan or he had the parts painted as he got them ready.

[Darafayen]

I appreciate the advise you guys have given me, my body guy hasn't painted any of his projects compeletly disassembled before and the only pieces we are having issues w are the doors. I'll sEe what he says about painting the jams then putting it together. Any other ideas are greatly appreciated!

Justin
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[RedneckRodder]

A friend of mine paints professionally, and he has a neat little frame he mounts the doors to, using the original hinge holes to hang the door from. Its just a bar he hangs from the ceiling in the booth, with tabs made to hang from the bar and fit to the hinge mounts. Tabs are small enough to move the gun around. He usually does jams and hard to reach areas too.
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[67swb72klb]

solid colors you dont have a problem with most times, but the metalics are a little tricky to get rite

[55dude]

Make sure the parts are in the same position as they will be when bolted on truck or you will have shading issues. Paint hood horizontal and doors vehicle position.
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[OKGMC4]

I built a stand out of 2x4s and all thread to hold mine...

[buggy5872]

Make sure you gun settings are ths same each time you spray. I generally try to paint all the parts for the bed at the same time and then all the parts from the cab forward at the same time. Keeps the color uniform on the parts and the gap between the bed and cab give a tiny leway if the color is a tad different based on the gun settings. Ideally you should paint all the panels at the same time but who has a spray booth that big......

[dubie]

no matter what kind of paint you use, be sure to spray everything at the same time. The slightest change in temperature or humidity can effect the finished product especially with a metallic paint.

[Denee007]

I painted my 67 Mustang in my garage in pieces over several days. It was a single stage paint from Eastwood. IT was my first paint job. I wet sanded later and it came out very nice~ not perfect, but nice. Sorry I brought a Ford into the thread, but I felt the subject matter to be appropriate

[Russell Ashley]

I think most of us who do it at home have to paint them piece by piece due to space and other considerations. I've never had any problems with the parts matching but I usually don't use metallic colors. Buy about twice as much paint as you think you will need and mix it together to be sure it's all the same color.
Urethane paints and a good HVLP gun are probably the best things that have happened for us amateur painters.

[Darafayen]

My color is metallic, so we are a little worried how it's going to turn out, I'm painting it in my 5000sq ft heated pole barn. I like that 2x4 stand you made, anyway to get a picture of the instead so I can see how you hooked everything up. I'd appreciate it!

Justin
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[OKGMC4]

Went and took a pic, it's just sitting beside the house. I had to add the all thread to push the doors out from the frame at the bottom. Probably a better way but it was a quick fix. I also made a frame to hold up the hood, sawhorses for the bed, and made electrical conduit frames for the fenders. It was a juggling mess. My 2 car garage is small, even by 2 car garage standards.

If my color had been metalic I would have jambed it, assembled, then one pass outside for even coverage. Being my first paint job I kept it simple and went with a color that would be easier to spray, and easier to repair. I used 2 gallons of summit paint, and then clear. Should have cross mixed the paint but didn't and it still matched great. Just have to do whatever works for you.

[Kabwe]

You can paint you car apart using a metallic paint. Paint the panels as the hang on the vehicle, use the same number of coats on each panel don't vary coats and coverage. Make sure your gun is setup the same each time air pressure the same. Learn to setup you gun properly. You spray patter should be shaped like a cigar. It is be full in the middle and lighter on the edges. So before you hit that panel you set that gun up properly.


I have seen guys cranking up air pressure why to much you tech sheet will tell you the air pressure for both conventional and hvlp guns. Use you tech sheet.

Also stay patience and allow the proper flash times. Don't spray too wet, don't try to cover in one coat (common for newbies lord knows I did it), 50% overlap, keep you gun pointing straight and a even distance to the panel, if the panel curves follow the curve with the gun not with your wrist (also common mistake) try to keep your wrist straight.

Its also great if you can have the same environmental conditions but that is not possible all the time unless you have a booth.

Also mr48chev is 100% correct on if you have more than one can of paint mix them together because on can could be slightly off.

[ET56]

Welcome Darafayn, Your just down the road from me. It will be nice to see another pickup at some of the local cruise spots. I feel like the Lone Ranger at most of the spots, but I always get good feed back. What color are you painting? any pics?

[Darafayen]

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[Darafayen]

Hey ET56, its extremely nice knowing there is another one around, maybe we could get together or meet up sometime. When i got the truck i got it in pieces, so ive kind of had a hard time figuring out exactly how things go and what i can get away with, what hidden and what not. The trucks going to be a dark mahogany. hopefully if everything goes as smooth as it has been it should be on the road by june well im hoping so at least. Also OKGMC4 do the doors just rest on the inner door panel opening that gets covered? if so thats a great idea! I was going to fab up a rack to use the hinge mounts but your idea would take much less time and fabing. I really appreciate all the pictures and advice its helping me big time!

Justin

[OKGMC4]

Originally Posted by Darafayen

Also OKGMC4 do the doors just rest on the inner door panel opening that gets covered? if so thats a great idea! I was going to fab up a rack to use the hinge mounts but your idea would take much less time and fabing. I really appreciate all the pictures and advice its helping me big time!

Justin

That's exactly how it works. I just used what I had and made it functional. Glad to help.

[dicer]

Can't you just lay the doors down on some saw horses or those folding racks?

[Darafayen]

We could, but we were looking to paint the doors in a position as close to hung on the truck as possible and try to shoot them in one shot w out havin to fliP them over. I did all my priming w them laying down but I'd like for the final coat to be standing if possible.

Justin
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[ET56]

Hi Darafayan, I'll be putting my insurance back on the end of the month and then we can meet up and you can look this thing over all you want. I'm fairly new to the truck scene so I don't have all the answers. I bought mine as a driving, rolling project. I've got some changes to make this year so we can compare ideas. Good luck with the paint, the color sounds good for this body style. I'll PM you when I'm back on the road. Ed,

[_Ogre]

truk was painted in pieces by 3 different painters.
yellow is a bear to match with 4 coats minimum and the same light gray primer.
i do notice a little shade difference in some panels
especially on the trunk lid, where one guy used white primer.

[rockdogg]

glad to see some locals on the board, referring to ET56, Darafayen. we belong to a local club called the MI chevy tri-fives. not the purpose of my post, I would like to thank the started of the post as to amount of information found in one place about painting, we are in the process of doing a frame off/swapping restoration.