How far should I go with paint prep?

[Jim70Chevy]

Hi all. First, let me say how amazing this board is and how it (and Youtube) have been the things that even allowed me to have the courage to try this entire build. Thank you!

I am at a crossroads in my build (in my signature). I have finally stripped off the spray can primer from the whole truck. I have been addressing bodywork as I go and even starting spraying a 2 part epoxy sealer. I am now at a point where I am planning to go around panel by panel and make each as good as I can get. I then plan on taking it to a local paint shop to have a good (but not show quality) white or silver paint job done inside and out.

The question is how far should I go with prep before taking it to be painted? I am NOT a body guy but I am learning as I go. Should I finish as far as I can and then spray an epoxy sealer on it all or leave that to the professionals?

Also any tips I should know when approaching local paint shops to get it painted?

Thanks again everyone for your help.

[HO455]

Having spent some time in body shops I would recommend taking your photos to the various shops and then talk with them before going any further.
One reason is you don't want to spend money on materials they might remove
Another reason is many shops won't warranty paint jobs they did not do all of the prep work on.
In a perfect world you will find a shop that will work with you.
Good luck.

[truckster]

I second HO455. If you're planning on having someone else spray it, you need to talk to them about the prep work and what they're willing to accept.

[72c20customcamper]

Find a shop that will work with you . It's been my experience that shops wont touch a car that they didnt do the prep work on. I know my uncle wouldnt, not from a money standpoint but from a reputation one. Nothing worse than someone saying so and so sprayed it. When the paint looks good but the body and prep were subpar.

We would take a vehicle the owner stripped the paint took out the windows and trim . But it would have to be bare steel

[tinman_local2]

Hopefully you have better luck in your area finding someone to shoot it. My K20 body work is almost complete. I've got every part near perfect(in my opinion). I have called many shops and no one wants to let their insurance jobs go in lieu of a simple paint job, too much money to be made on insurance repairs. If I do find someone, they're six months or more out. I had planned on shooting it myself, but with the Missouri temperatures, I wanted to have a shop do it that has good heat. I'm probably waiting until spring.

If your body work is up to good standards, I would do as much as I could. Every hour you spend on it is money saved. Body shops work by the hour. Just my 2 cents.

[72c20customcamper]

You could try a local vocational school. Most instructors are or have been in the trade.

Was a goodguys show where the I think it was Ohio state university auto shop had a mustang that they had done , I would have been proud to own it

[LS short box]

With the permission of the shop owner maybe one of his guys could "moon light" some work for you. Find one that has kids in college and needs some extra cash.

[HO455]

I'm going to get my soapbox out now.
There is NO such thing as a "simple paint job"!
The shop I was involved with did a lot of restoration work. If someone came in and asked for a simple paint job the owner would ask a couple of questions but at thar point 75% of the those folks were told we couldn't do the work. It's not that we couldn't do the work, it was that we didn't take on customers who didn't understand what was involved with what they wanted. Insurance work doesn't have customers who won't pay because they see overspray in the door jab next to the hinge.
The days of buying $40 of acrylic enamel and spraying are gone. Materials alone nowdays start at $150 and go up exponentially from there. A thousand dollars in materials is common. Today's shops almost exclusively use 2 or more part paint sytems.
Every shop has a paint system that they use (some bigger shops may have 2 or more) and they generally won't use something else as these systems cost the shop money just being there. Why would a shop loose money because you want to use a different kind of product? Conscientious painters won't spray products that they are unfamiliar with or have had poor results with in the past. Especially on restoration work as restoration customer expections are very high.
The type of pant job to restore Jim70Chevy's truck is going to require real estate in the shop. All of those pieces will have to be painted separately and then assembled for final coating. This means several trips through the paint booth. Humans will have to handle every piece into the booth and then out of the booth. Where they will have to sit and cure several days before being assembled. Use of the floor space in the facility is not free nor is the labor to move your parts. The smaller the shop the more valuable floor space is.
In the auto body repair business today almost every shop is contracted to an insurance company just to stay alive. Those insurance companies demand that every facet of the shop be only focused on doing their collision repairs. The insurance adjusters are constantly in the shop and if you have restoration work going on they report it to their bosses, who in turn tell to owner of the shop they won't be getting any more collision work from them until the offending vehicle(s) are removed. The insurance company contracts stipulate this. A shop owner is not going to lose his/her bread and butter to paint your truck.
And there is the whole employee issue. There are very few body men out there who like restoration work. The rest all work for the flat rate the insurance companies pay. There is no flat rate for block sanding the hood on your truck so it looks like glass. That is hourly work and they can make twice as much doing insurance work. As such they won't take a pay cut to do restoration work.
So all this leads back to restoration shops who can only survive by cutting every corner and charging as much as they can get away with and the top shelf shops that don't cut corners and the price reflects that. Or we can take our chances with the guy in his garage paint job.
All this leaves zero options for a "simple paint job" Just lots of frustration.
Okay I'm done.

Good luck Jim70Chevy

[my67c20]

First off the work your are doing is what needs to be done so you can truly understand what is hiding underneath. After its bare, lay down a few coats of epoxy and then some guide coat and start your work from there. In the meantime reach out to some of the car clubs in the area http://www.californiacarclubs.com/list.htm and see what they do. A lot of times these clubs are hooked up with a facility that will do time and materials. Another option is spray it yourself using a portable spray booth, or put up plastic in the garage. Single stage paint is easy to spray if you have the air supply.

[67C10Step]

First off, I am no professional paint and body person but I would do like suggested here. Get some recommendations of who might take it and do good work and go talk with them with photos like you posted here. Any paint job laid down is going to rely completely on the prep work and once you cover it all up with epoxy the body shop may take most off to make certain what is under it is up to par. Or, they may tell you to go ahead and hit it with some primer to hold off any surface rust and let them take it from there.

Good luck and, of course, we want photos of the final product!

[tinman_local2]

Originally Posted by HO455

I'm going to get my soapbox out now.
There is NO such thing as a "simple paint job"!
The shop I was involved with did a lot of restoration work. If someone came in and asked for a simple paint job the owner would ask a couple of questions but at thar point 75% of the those folks were told we couldn't do the work. It's not that we couldn't do the work, it was that we didn't take on customers who didn't understand what was involved with what they wanted. Insurance work doesn't have customers who won't pay because they see overspray in the door jab next to the hinge.
The days of buying $40 of acrylic enamel and spraying are gone. Materials alone nowdays start at $150 and go up exponentially from there. A thousand dollars in materials is common. Today's shops almost exclusively use 2 or more part paint sytems.
Every shop has a paint system that they use (some bigger shops may have 2 or more) and they generally won't use something else as these systems cost the shop money just being there. Why would a shop loose money because you want to use a different kind of product? Conscientious painters won't spray products that they are unfamiliar with or have had poor results with in the past. Especially on restoration work as restoration customer expections are very high.
The type of pant job to restore Jim70Chevy's truck is going to require real estate in the shop. All of those pieces will have to be painted separately and then assembled for final coating. This means several trips through the paint booth. Humans will have to handle every piece into the booth and then out of the booth. Where they will have to sit and cure several days before being assembled. Use of the floor space in the facility is not free nor is the labor to move your parts. The smaller the shop the more valuable floor space is.
In the auto body repair business today almost every shop is contracted to an insurance company just to stay alive. Those insurance companies demand that every facet of the shop be only focused on doing their collision repairs. The insurance adjusters are constantly in the shop and if you have restoration work going on they report it to their bosses, who in turn tell to owner of the shop they won't be getting any more collision work from them until the offending vehicle(s) are removed. The insurance company contracts stipulate this. A shop owner is not going to lose his/her bread and butter to paint your truck.
And there is the whole employee issue. There are very few body men out there who like restoration work. The rest all work for the flat rate the insurance companies pay. There is no flat rate for block sanding the hood on your truck so it looks like glass. That is hourly work and they can make twice as much doing insurance work. As such they won't take a pay cut to do restoration work.
So all this leads back to restoration shops who can only survive by cutting every corner and charging as much as they can get away with and the top shelf shops that don't cut corners and the price reflects that. Or we can take our chances with the guy in his garage paint job.
All this leaves zero options for a "simple paint job" Just lots of frustration.
Okay I'm done.

Good luck Jim70Chevy

I never said I wasn't willing to pay. Money isn't the option. Finding a shop that is willing to do it is the problem. This is a "simple paint job" for anyone that is a professional painter. It is pretty simple for the amateur. I'm not wanting a tri-coat or anything super complicated. All the tape lines will be there for the two-tone. Epoxy primed, 2K urethane primed and block sanded.

As far as adjusters go, I don't see them snooping around shops much these days. I just went through two claims and I had to do most of the work for them. They never left the office. I had to take photos and get the vehicle to a repair shop for estimates.

[j_cst_10]

Dealing with contractors of all industries, I will make this general comment...

People want to work half as hard for twice the amount of money and then make excuses why stuff costs so much.

You need to search for a hustler, someone who works hard and doesn't make excuses. They are out there and they usually are the most successful at what they do and do the best job.

Keep searching, you will find a good shop or guy to work with.

[Jim70Chevy]

Wow, thank you all for the advice. I have reached out to some local shops via email and am awaiting the responses. I will also go do some in-person visits. Maybe I will get lucky and find a good local shop willing to work with me.

I am glad I asked at this point what to do. I am guessing I will have to make a decision to either take the truck down and let the shop finish it from here for 10k ish (bodywork included) or do what I have been doing all along ... watch videos, read, try things out and tackle the paint myself.

Prior to this I had never built an engine, done bodywork or rust repair. I might just see it through to the end. At least then I will have done it all in house. It won't be nearly as good as a pro would do but it will be mine.

I really appreciate you all taking the time to comment and would love to hear any additional advice if you have it.

Now I am off to look up paint spraying systems and paint options.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Your truck looks like a clean, straight, rust free original. Since you're sending it off, I think this is the point where you stop.

As mentioned above, if you find a shop that will paint over your work, you might have prepared a surface incorrectly before filler, etc. and the paint could bubble and lift in months, or even a couple years down the road.

If you were doing the whole shebang, I'd say that's a heck of a clean truck to work on, but I think this is where I would get off the ride and pass it on.

If you were doing the whole thing, I'd say have it and if something goes wrong, you learned. But with the kind of money you're putting up, let the shop do the prep work and warranty it, so if something does arise, you can bring it back.

[1971Stepside]

There is NO such thing as a "simple paint job"!

This is correct! Especially, if you are thinking silver. Ask me how I know. You just sanded off the "simple paint job"

You can find a shop, most won't do restorations. If you ask the shop though they usually have a guy or two they will send this kind of work to.

[notsolo]

Has anybody asked why you don't want to do it yourself. The prep is the hardest part, you can spend a little time and material learning how to lay down paint. Some shops might let you use their booth. YouTube also has many video's on painting. You may be limited by regulations in your area. But it. Might be worth a shot.

[Peanut74]

My question is, will the truck be a show truck or daily driver?
For a show truck take it to a professional. If its a daily driver and paint doesn't need to look like glass do it yourself.

I have been painting my truck parts as I go. As I sprayed the primer I worked on my spray technique and what to watch out for. Now I'm in the process of laying down the color. I decided to use a single stage paint. I started with the inner fender wells, backside of the fenders, etc to get a feel how the paint would lay down. Next is to paint the outside of the fenders with the knowledge gained. Did I use extra material and money doing it this way? Yes, but I consider it money well spent. I'm building my truck to be a nice DD.

One last thing. I agree with using only one brand for epoxy and 2k primer all the way through.

[Furno68C20]

What did you use to get the paint an primer stripped off?

[Jim70Chevy]

Thank you all for your thoughts. I heard back from a few local shops and the numbers are close to 5k with no warranty (if I do all the prep work) or between 10-15k for them to do it all.

While I don't want to go cheap I am not able to spring for that and I don't want to lay down 5k with no warranty (I totally understand why they can't offer a warranty).

So I have talked it over with HQ (wife) and I will be buying a larger air compressor, better paint gun and doing it myself. It will be my daily driver (not a show truck) and I will just learn some more.

Time to add more plastic sheeting to the garage and make it something like a booth. I will post pics in the "what did you do to your truck today" thread as I go.

Furno68C20 - A combination of DA grinder, smaller sanding disks, scotch bright type pads and a lot of patience. Been taking it one panel a day. Still a long way to go.

[72ironmike]

Originally Posted by Jim70Chevy

Thank you all for your thoughts. I heard back from a few local shops and the numbers are close to 5k with no warranty (if I do all the prep work) or between 10-15k for them to do it all.

While I don't want to go cheap I am not able to spring for that and I don't want to lay down 5k with no warranty (I totally understand why they can't offer a warranty).

So I have talked it over with HQ (wife) and I will be buying a larger air compressor, better paint gun and doing it myself. It will be my daily driver (not a show truck) and I will just learn some more.

Time to add more plastic sheeting to the garage and make it something like a booth. I will post pics in the "what did you do to your truck today" thread as I go.

Furno68C20 - A combination of DA grinder, smaller sanding disks, scotch bright type pads and a lot of patience. Been taking it one panel a day. Still a long way to go.

You will probably be more satisfied with the results !

[71cadc10]

if you shoot er white, you will be very happy...I'd do a base/clear system in white or one of the newer "white/gray" type solid colors.
I've just done my truck in Silver in the last year, and I echo what was posted earlier...the complexity level goes way up with the silver. I am currently re-painting a bed side that I wasn't happy with....got some mottle in it.

If you are set on silver, I would suggest getting some practice panels and plan on buying extra material. Lay it on a few panels and go to completion with clear...just to get it out in the sun and see how it looks. With some practice laying it and seeing what it takes...you can have a very good job. If you want to shoot it once and be done quick....white or other light solid colors would be very forgiving.
my.02

[AU Doc]

You could also consider an inflatable paint booth (on amazon for less than $1k), or better yet, find a shop that will let you use theirs for a small fee.

[StingRay]

For your first paint job I'd go with a non metallic color. It's easy to tiger stripe heavy metallics and there is no heavier metallic than silver. I've sprayed a little and stay away from metallics for lack of experience. It's expensive material to waste and huge disappointment to fail. I just find a guy that knows how to paint well and get them to come in and shoot it. I will spray my own jambs and small parts in metallic without problems but stay away from those large panels when I care what it actually is going to look like.

[Jim70Chevy]

It's decided. Going with white. Just put up plastic sheeting all around the garage and already prepping panels. Thanks again for all the responses. Hope to have it in paint by January.

[notsolo]

I never had a problem with silver, I did 2 full coats on my Blazer, then 3 coats lime metalic. I did have a problem with white, could be the paint was the shop brand a cheaper ( thinner ) quality wise. It did not cover as well and, had more runs. Could be the painter or gun settings. It's amazing 1 color will lay down perfect, then a 2nd color can be a challenge.....From what I see in your build thread, you will be able to do this no problem.