What do i need?

[blue86c10]

First post. I have a 86 GMC I wanting to paint myself. Can someone tell me what kind of sanders, sanding paper, and other tools I will need to get started? This is my first time doing any paint and bodywork. The truck is in pretty good shape. Just got to replace cab corners.

[ETsC10]

Originally Posted by blue86c10

First post. I have a 86 GMC I wanting to paint myself. Can someone tell me what kind of sanders, sanding paper, and other tools I will need to get started? This is my first time doing any paint and bodywork. The truck is in pretty good shape. Just got to replace cab corners.

to the board blue86c10!

To answer your paint & body needs, I've
moved you over here to the Paint & Bodywork
forum where the metal gurus hang out.

Have fun on your project!

[msgross]

welcome aboard..


I'm not brave enough to paint something myself, what are your expectations with the end result? In my opinion you might be better spending the money at Maaco.

From what I know you will get ok results from a single stage, like summit racing paint, than trying to go fancy with two stage or water based.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-up300/overview/

[haybale]

Check out "diyautoschool" on youtube. Pete has great videos on how to do bodywork yourself and will show you what tools you need.

[blue86c10]

I took it to a bodyshop to have it done about four weeks ago. And all they have done so far is sanded and prime the hood. They keep on putting insurance stuff in front of it. So I decided to go get it and try to do it myself. I was going to pay them $3500 to do it.
I think I can buy everything I need and come out better than that. I'm hope it will turn out good. Just got to take my time with it.

[Jarwood]

I worked at a body shop when I was 19-20. That was over 20 years ago. I just cant get it out of my system! I bought a 72 GMC about a year ago and wanted it my style. I painted the interior and getting ready to paint exterior VIPER red.
Check out this website for paint. Cheap enough to experiment.

http://www.paintforcars.com/color_chart_cat.html

[blue86c10]

Thanks Jarwood. Can anyone recommend a good DA sander and paint guns? And is it better to have a gun for primer and one for top coat? Would like to stay under $150 for a gun.

[Jarwood]

Everything I use come from harbor freights. There stuff is good for our use, just not commercial use. THe paint gun I used to paint my interior costs like $15.00. The DA sanders was like $20 maybe.

[piecesparts]

Simple things like a body hammer and dolley will come in handy. A good DA sander with a pad to use ashesive sanding disks. A supply of snading disks with different grit capabilities. A set of straight sanding blocks fo finish sanding. I also spent some money on the foam sanding blocks for rounded areas. The paint guns can come from Harbor Freight and if you look on the internet, there is a discussion of how to make these cheap guns spray as good as many high dollar guns. I have one with the larger cup and one with a small cup for tight places. Purchase a couple 5 gallon cans of lacquer thinner at one of the guys that sells at many of the local swap meets. This stuff will come seriously in handy for cleanup of guns and such. In my area, I can get 5 gallons for about $25.00. That is a lot less than at the local hardware store. Make sure you purchse a filter mask for wehn you paint and if at all possible build a paint area that is closed off from the rest of the garage. Believe me if there is a bug within 20 miles of you when you fire up the spray gun, he will find the wet paint on your truck.

I also use a lot of things like a rubber squeege to clean the paint off as I do my wet snading for finish work, to make sure it is ready to buff out. If you are going to polish your finished paint job, make sure that you have invested in a good electric buffer and pads to use for the polishing compound. I would take alook at www.Auto Geek.net for more info on that part. Eastwood products can make you slobber in your whiskey when you thumb through their stuff.

[WhippinSaw]

I bought deville's starting line paint gun. It comes with a small and a large gravity fed gun. I mostly use the smaller gun as it is much easier to control but as I improved my skills I am using the larger gun on the bigger areas. I Bought the kit for under $150 and I like the results. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/dv...FahDMgod_lcAbQ

[hugger6933]

I have some really good info for you but I have to get back to the shop right now I have a truck I'm trying to get done ASAP so send me a PM or I will post you up a list of what you will need to get you started. Meanwhile you can go to E-bay and look at the sander from TCB global I think it is,a 6 inch DA sander palm type I love it I had one that was with a gun kit you can buy that one it had a sander [6inch da,and two guns ]one for paint and one for primer it was like one twenty five or so good guns I use them all the time . Later. Jim oh, welcome check out some of my other posts I give a lot of advice here.

[blue86c10]

Hugger a list would be good. I got a idea of what I need but don't know how much I will need.
I'm thinking about this start-up kit.
http://www.eastwood.com/devilbiss-2-...-system-1.html
And some Duro-blocks but don't know which ones I need. Was thinking about getting a long and short block package.
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[blue86c10]

Originally Posted by msgross

welcome aboard..


I'm not brave enough to paint something myself, what are your expectations with the end result? In my opinion you might be better spending the money at Maaco.

From what I know you will get ok results from a single stage, like summit racing paint, than trying to go fancy with two stage or water based.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-up300/overview/

Why single stage? A single and two stage will spay the same want they. I'm wanting to do bc,cc and I want better than ok results. Not trying to make it a show truck but I do want more than a ok paint job. I don't want to be ashamed to say I did it.

[hugger6933]

Fisrt off for the first timer I would recommend a bc/cc system for painting your truck. Two main reasons for this is one is you said in your last post you kinda wanted to do a bc/cc paint job, the second main reson and it is usally reason number one, the bc/cc type paint is more forgiving by nature all the way upuntill the last two passes around the truck in the clear coat stagesand by then you should be comfortable enough with the gun and can control it enough to make the last couple of passes without too much drama. now when I say it is forgiving I mean like the other day I was painting[ blending] on a Saturn vue and the paint for some reason had fish eyes on the fender. I had used WGR on this fender and it was cleanbut after the first pass several eyeballs,no panic I let it flash and blew another coat less problem by the last coat the paint was slick as glass. You don't have that luxury with a single stage. Also with a ss if you do get into trouble really bad and do have to stop your talking hours for the paint to dry enough to sand the trouble away whereas with the base coat type it is only a matter of a few minuites before your sanding your troubles away.

[hugger6933]

Ok to get back on topic sorry to run off the rails so to speak, I sometimes go off in my own direction trying to make a point. Now to tell you more about what your gonna need, tell me more about what you have itis it a short bed with good paint on it now or does it need to be stripped to bare metal? is it a short or long bed? Are you changing colors? Answer me a couple of those and I can better get you what your looking for. Oh I am a big fan of the sanding blocks I havnt use the dura brand but I undrstand they are good products. I use the ones that are from ARE and they came from SUMMIT racing and they have the removable steel rods in them to make them adjustable in their flexability. The palm held DA sander I mentioned earlier is awesome I paid about 50 or 60 bucks for mine. the paint guns are fine but maybe overkill if you did not want to spend that much you can buy the cheaper ones there are some availble from the same place that has the sander with a couple of guns simalar to the devillbiss pack just without the fancy case and the name for about half that money. Keep in mind that a million dollar paint gun can still paint a crappy car paintjob if it is not prepped right and the gun is dirty. Jim

[blue86c10]

Thanks Hugger. That's what I was thinking about the bc,cc. It's a little more forgiving. I'm going to get it from the body shop tomorrow. I'll take some pics when I get it home. But it's a swb two tone light blue and grey. The clear coat is coming off but the body looks to be in pretty good shape. I beleave somebody repainted the grey in the middle one time. It has alot of bondo in one side of the bed.
I'm going to have somebody come replace my cab corners for me. Being my first projest I'm not wanting to to get into it too much. Don't want to tare it down. Wanting to do a different color blue and grey/ silver.
I all ready have new seals, lights, grill, grill molding,rear bumper, mirrors, one piece window kit, and whole rear window.
Just got to take the windows out and get my tools and supplies. If you have any tips on getting the windshield out without cracking it let me know.
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[hugger6933]

Si nce you have new seals I would pull out the center bead of the rubber that holds the rubber tight on the pinchweld. After that you should be able to walk the window right out of its opening really easy. If it is stubborn as they can be some times take a razor knife and go around the rubber where the locking bead was and cut the rubber away then there wont be anything but gravity holding it then.

[blue86c10]

Originally Posted by hugger6933

Si nce you have new seals I would pull out the center bead of the rubber that holds the rubber tight on the pinchweld. After that you should be able to walk the window right out of its opening really easy. If it is stubborn as they can be some times take a razor knife and go around the rubber where the locking bead was and cut the rubber away then there wont be anything but gravity holding it then.

I guess the rear glass will come out the same way?
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[hugger6933]

The best I recall the rear glass does not have a center locking bead like the front does, cutting is an option and if your replacing the rubber it may be your best one. If not go inside the truck and say start at the bottom close to the middle and start lifting the rubber up and pushing on the glass, the goal here is to walk it out. The way this type of glass is installed is with the glass off of the truck and the rubber put on the glass then a rope or twine somewhere in the 1/4 inch or a little larger range placed in the groove around the rubber. That grooe is the same one that is the pinchweld on the truck. Ok, so now you have the windshield or glass with the rubber on it and the rope in the pinchweld groove now you want to lube it up with something I suggest dawn It is some slick stuff and won't hurt the finish and can be washed away. Oh, I forgot to say that the rope should have acouple of feet hanging out extrajust so you can grab a hold of it. Now cplace the glass [assembly] on the pinchweld and start pulling on the rope while applying a little pressure on the outside of the glass. It should start sliding onto the pinchweld really soon once you get to the corners you can make sure you are fitting good and in the right spot so the other side will fit well too. Once you get close to some where between a 1/4 to 1/2 way around you may want to start pulling on the other side of the rope and get it started going on the pinch as well. Once you go all the way around and you get to the end you will have installed a glass. Now that I have described the install process it may be a little more simple to understand the removal. That is why I was telling you to start in the center and start rolling the rubber and trying to push out over the pinchweld but with the age involved it probably would be best to cut the rubber

[blue86c10]

Well It's on now! I got my truck from the body shop today. We were getting all my stuff I had shipped to him and I was missing my one piece window kit. He wasn't there when my last shipment came in and didn't even know if it was delivered because he couldn't find the invoice. He said one of is employees checked everything in. So now I got to weight untill Monday to call Brothers to see if they have a tracking number. Or if it was even shipped out. I'm actually missing three other parts too from two different others. Hopefully the employee knows were they all. But it sounds fishy to me.

I took some pics so you guys can see what i'm getting into.

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[blue86c10]

2nd pic looks to have a lot of bondo. It's bowed out.
Having someone else replace my cab corners.
That piece in last pic has to be pull out.
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[CC69Rat]

What color are you going back with ?

[BR3W CITY]

Hey man, welcome to the jungle. I had many of the same questions when I went to do mine....I'm a balls-first logic later kind of builder, but thankfully the folks here pointed me int he right direction and then let me loose. Take a look at my build, I went through everything from having to build my own paint booth in the garage, selecting materials and tools, and the actual process and man is it rewarding. My truck doesn't have a show paint job, but EVERY single thing from stripping, bodywork, paint, details etc were done at home by 2 ppl. I'm pretty damn proud of what we managed.

I guess I consider myself a DIY success story on painting, and tho I won't be painting any Riddler-award winners, I'm more than happy saying "I know how to paint". There is soooo much to do, and so many different ways of doing it that you might get overwhelmed with good-information. Don't be deterred, take a step back and sort through it.


My suggestions to start;
If you don't have body hammer, get them, it makes ever other piece of patch work better..
If you don't have a welder, try to get access to one at least for a little, again its a must-have if you need to replace metal.
Buy a decent brand of sanding medium; I cheaped out and ended up making un-needed store trips because it would wear out.

If I had to do it again, I would consider paying the money to have the truck media blasted. Anyone with a regular job will come out ahead in the overall time-picture. Stripping is time consuming, dirty, tough on the body, and god-awefully time consuming, especially if your truck has ever-been repainted before. Besides that, you don't risk thinning the metal out too much as you might if you got aggressive with wire wheels and such. Its such a nice clean start.

Feel free to pm me, I can tell you about what we went through.

[blue86c10]

Originally Posted by CC69Rat

What color are you going back with ?

I'm not sure yet but thing about blue-silver and a light gray.
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[blue86c10]

Originally Posted by BR3W CITY

Hey man, welcome to the jungle. I had many of the same questions when I went to do mine....I'm a balls-first logic later kind of builder, but thankfully the folks here pointed me int he right direction and then let me loose. Take a look at my build, I went through everything from having to build my own paint booth in the garage, selecting materials and tools, and the actual process and man is it rewarding. My truck doesn't have a show paint job, but EVERY single thing from stripping, bodywork, paint, details etc were done at home by 2 ppl. I'm pretty damn proud of what we managed.

I guess I consider myself a DIY success story on painting, and tho I won't be painting any Riddler-award winners, I'm more than happy saying "I know how to paint". There is soooo much to do, and so many different ways of doing it that you might get overwhelmed with good-information. Don't be deterred, take a step back and sort through it.


My suggestions to start;
If you don't have body hammer, get them, it makes ever other piece of patch work better..
If you don't have a welder, try to get access to one at least for a little, again its a must-have if you need to replace metal.
Buy a decent brand of sanding medium; I cheaped out and ended up making un-needed store trips because it would wear out.

If I had to do it again, I would consider paying the money to have the truck media blasted. Anyone with a regular job will come out ahead in the overall time-picture. Stripping is time consuming, dirty, tough on the body, and god-awefully time consuming, especially if your truck has ever-been repainted before. Besides that, you don't risk thinning the metal out too much as you might if you got aggressive with wire wheels and such. Its such a nice clean start.

Feel free to pm me, I can tell you about what we went through.

Looking at all these first time project made me want to give it a try.
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