New Plan for paintjob: Piece by Piece, does that sound dumb??

[TIMSPEED]

Well, I've decided, I'm gonna save myself the labor costs, and take my truck completely apart, to have it painted, then I'm gonna put it all back together. Should be easy really. What I'm gonna do is...(When the weather won't rain for at least a month...)
1.) Pull bed off and put it on a few pallets
2.) Pull Cab off and set if on pallets
3.) Pull the doors and fenders off and throw them away (both doors/fenders are completely rusted out; but I've got NOS parts for them)
4.) Take the hood off and set it next to the rest of the parts
5.) Rent a flatbed trailer, and take all the parts down to the local paint shop (with prior appointment)
6.) Get all the new painted parts and put it all back together

I am choosing to do it this way, so I will be able to get the firewall and bottom of the cab more completely...or when the shops paint trucks, do they take the cab and bed off? I know they take the bed off, but I want the cab off too, so the firewall can be nice and clean.

[Grim Reaper]

You don't want to do that. You want the body mostly together when it's main coat goes on. It will have noticable changes from pannel to pannel.

The problem is even with paint out ofthe same can mixed at the same time is hot there is a lot of variable that would cause the color to be off just a hair between pannels as they refil the gun. Stuff like temp change, time sitting, thinner used etc are all going to effect the hue. If the truck is painted in one shot then it will not be noticable that the hue is slightly off between fills of the gun.

Pull it appart and do the jams and back of cab and fire wall. Loosly assemble and shot body. Then if need be wet sand the overspray on the jams to get a clean look and remove the grainy overspray.

[Izzy]

Originally posted by Grim Reaper
You don't want to do that. You want the body mostly together when it's main coat goes on. It will have noticable changes from pannel to pannel.

The problem is even with paint out ofthe same can mixed at the same time is hot there is a lot of variable that would cause the color to be off just a hair between pannels as they refil the gun. Stuff like temp change, time sitting, thinner used etc are all going to effect the hue. If the truck is painted in one shot then it will not be noticable that the hue is slightly off between fills of the gun.

Pull it appart and do the jams and back of cab and fire wall. Loosly assemble and shot body. Then if need be wet sand the overspray on the jams to get a clean look and remove the grainy overspray.

I agree. The paint could look different even if it was mixed the same based on temperature, humidity, air flow where it's being shot.

[N2TRUX]

It can be done Tim, but most painters would rather "jamb it in" then paint it put back together. If you plan to go with a solid "primary" color it will work. If you are going with any type of metallic or pearl colors it's much harder.

Your best bet is to have them "jamb it in" as the term goes. That means they paint the jambs, firewall, cowl, front of the bed, and back of the cab down low....etc. Anyplace that can't be shot from the outside, and has a place to create a clean break or "paint line".

Then you put most of it back together. You can hang your doors, and put your front clip back on. They will back mask all the areas that have been previously painted, and paint the exterior all at the same time.

That will give you even colors, and prevent you from destroying your new paint while trying to hang your doors, or set your hood on...

[old Rusty C10]

what i would do if youre concerned with the firewall is to pop out the wheel wells and the motor tranny pack . id assemble the rest of the body, although when i paint my truck we are removing the bed bolts so it can be painted seperately, but only so we cover the primer on the rear wall of the bed as well as the back of the cab If you remove the motor trans the painter has a clear shot at the firewall however you will need to be careful reassembling it. The underside of my bed and cab will be painted with Por15 or undercoated

[Slonaker]

I suggest not doing it that way for a much simpler reason. Half the people that start on a project that big never finish it. Either that, or a month-long project turns into years.

Slonaker

[Jonboy]

Originally posted by Slonaker
I suggest not doing it that way for a much simpler reason. Half the people that start on a project that big never finish it. Either that, or a month-long project turns into years.

Slonaker

I agree with Slonaker on that one. I pulled my truck down to just the cab on the frame about a year ago. I still don't have the bed painted, and the cab is just about done. It is taking FOREVER!!!!! Anyhow, if you are not doing a solid color, I would suggest painting everything together, as Ken suggested. If you get the truck painted apart, you also have to worry about beating it up while putting it together, not just the color match.

[PHOENIX]

So once you have the hard to get to areas painted do you clear coat them too? Then tape the edges off and paint the entire exterior?

[N2TRUX]

Originally posted by PHOENIX
So once you have the hard to get to areas painted do you clear coat them too? Then tape the edges off and paint the entire exterior?

That is correct. You paint all the hard spots just like you would the exterior, clear coat and all. Then you assemble the big sections, but leave the trim, glass, molding off.

An example would be under the hood. Turn the hood over, and paint the bottom of the hood all the way out to the lip. Now everything on the underside is painted. Then turn the hood over and mount it. Mask everything under the hood, and "back mask" the lip of the hood so the outside of the lip is exposed, but the back side isn't. The new paint will meet, but you won't see a paint line.

[bigblock73]

Originally posted by Slonaker
I suggest not doing it that way for a much simpler reason. Half the people that start on a project that big never finish it. Either that, or a month-long project turns into years.

Slonaker

I agree too...and I am a perfect example!

As soon as you get the body of (which is ALOT more work than it sounds), you will see how crappy your chassis looks...especially when you have visions in your head about how good the body will look when finished.

Basically what your are contimplating doing is a body off resto. Before you even attempt to do this, you will need a two car garage minimum, another daily driver, and budget about three times as long as you think it will take before finished. Not only that, but money will be a MAJOR issue, and if you have a GF you have to remember they require time (and money) too! Oh, don't forget school and/or your job...they take time away as well.

I would suggest you keep the body on except for the front clip and doors, pull the engine and trans (to have access to the firewall), and paint it that way. The only down side to this is if you choose a different color than it already is. If you change colors then the interior won't match (unless you paint that too), and the underside of the bed and cab wont match.

Bottom line...do what you think will make you happy. I did Yeller the first time this way...liked it four about 3-4 years then decided I wanted to finish it perfectly...so after I bought my house it all came apart.

If you want to see more of my first buildup, click here. I tried to breifly explain what I did and took some pictures while doing so.

Good luck!

[Slonaker]

I started working on my engine over Spring break. I planned to finish it over the weekend. Every time I took a part off, I found something else that was a lot easier to replace because of the extra room I had with other parts removed. Of course everything had to be cleaned and repainted, too, while i was at it.

Then the weather got blistering hot, and I do all my work in the driveway with no shade. Then it got rainy...same problem. My "weekend project" was completed almost 9 months later.

It looks and runs great now, but I regretted the enormous project it had turned into when I was halfway through.

Slonaker

[PHOENIX]

What do you do if you have a spot where the second coat/clear overlays the first coat/clear and you can see that its thicker there?
Do you wet sand and buff to try and blend them together?

[1985K10]

When my dad did my truck he painted the cab and front clip, silver metallic, and blaze red. About a month or two later we put the bed on and painted that. I've spent a lot of time lookin over my truck, and there is no difference between the paint on the bed and the cab. Maybe we were just really lucky!

[1FaastC10]

<~~~~ another prime example... i pulled my 82 C10 off the frame anticipating a frame swap over a year ago. lost interest, and my cab was hauled away on Sunday. im getting ready to pull the cab and front clip off of my 86 and put it on a K10 frame very soon. for the very purpose of not turning my weekend project into a lifelong project, im not removing anything from the cab but the seat and the carpet.

[BowTieMan]

Plus you'll also have to handle all those painted parts and put them back on with out scratching them.

[N2TRUX]

Originally posted by PHOENIX
What do you do if you have a spot where the second coat/clear overlays the first coat/clear and you can see that its thicker there?
Do you wet sand and buff to try and blend them together?

There are a couple or three ways to get past that issue. You can sand the first paint line down a bit then mask out on the color rather than at the edge. When you lay dow the new color and clear the edge won't be as sharp.

It just depends on where the line is at as to how you handle the edges meeting.

1985K10 You did get some what lucky, but you never know. I have seen cars/trucks painted in pieces by very experienced painters that carefully mixed their paint, and measured everything. They used paint that had been mixed at the same time, and counted each coat. In other words they took every precaution possible, and still had panels that didn't match.

I have also seen paint jobs (graphics) that were almost impossible to do the way the guy did them. It was only because the guy didn't know he couldn't do them that way that it worked...

The point is there is always an exception to the rules. Tim may be just fine painting each panel in pieces, but it's not the "recommended" way to do it....