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Attempting to do body work on a tight budget, Anyone near Bakersfield, Ca. that knows bodywork? Looking for hands on advice, I have most of the tools needed, just no talent or skills.
Kent (661)391-8385

Let me elaborate alittle, I have all the holes welded up, and I used a weld a stud dent puller to take out the majority of the dents, and I cut out all of the rust areas and welded in patches back to good steel, I have applied a super thin coat of filler over the areas that had been dented just to get the fine stuff, I started with some 240 grit in an orbital to rough up the existing painted area so I can seal and apply primer, the problem that I cannot seem to tell when a panel is straight and when it has ripples and waves, I understand that you need to block out the filler with a long block to get it level, but when you have that done, do you apply heavy coats of primer surfacer, and then guide coat with spray can black to block out, or ? how do you know before you put primer on if you are close enough, or is there a way to tell? How do you get a HVLP gun to shoot a heavy coat of primer, or should I use an old fashion style gun with the siphon cup to shoot the primer? how heavy should you mix the primer? should you sand between coats? How long should you wait before shooting another coat? I am using primer, hardener, and paint from Sequoia paints they are made by Western, and the whole setup is about $150, this fits my budget, and they have a lot of basic colors to choose from, I am using electric blue, so i need to get it pretty straight, it is synthetic enamel, and is low voc., and supposedly, you can shoot it in your garage with a charcoal respirator, and good ventilation.

Any advice is welcome.

thanks
Kent

I don't think its a good idea to paint over the existing paint, you should take everything down to bare metal. The results will be a better looking paint job that will last longer. When you apply your primer, put an extra coat on there, the stuff is thick anyway and this will help cover. As for mixing it, they have instructions on the can that will tell you high build and thats the one you mix. Dont sand between coats, you should wait about 5-10 minutes before shooting another coat, but again this will all be on the can. These old vehicles came from the factory wavey, but if you are trying to get it show car straight, then chances are you will be putting many coats of glaze putty and primer and lots of block sanding. Oh yeah, guide coat every time will help alot.

Ok, there is pretty much no chance of me and my son stripping this truck to bare metal, for several reasons, first being, I do not have the money to soda blast, and I do not have the patience to sand/wire wheel the whole thing, and besides, I have painted a couple of older cars including a 74 nova and a 67 Chevy truck, and as long as you clean the grease and wax off of the old paint before you sand, and then come back with a good sealer after you have roughed up the existing paint with some good orbital sanding, the paint shouldn't lift, unless you are doing some hinky body work underneath, although, I agree that anywhere you do body work you should go to bare metal, and only apply thin coats of filler if you use it at all and only apply filler to bare metal for the best chemical bond. The second reason, is that these trucks and cars from this era came from the factory with quite a bit of body filler and seam sealer, and I think that since most of it has been applied by pretty capable people, and if it hasn't lifted in 39 years, I am not going to go fiddling around with it, as I doubt that the quality of filler I can afford on my budget would be as good as what is already there, unless it is lifting or damaged, I am leaving it alone. Third, we are not mistaken enough to think this will be the end all be all of paint jobs, we are looking much more for an inexpensive but decent 20 footer, that my high school senior son, can drive and enjoy with out fear of scratching, or dinging. I want him to enjoy the truck not worship it like an idol.

dodged200 wrote:I don't think its a good idea to paint over the existing paint, you should take everything down to bare metal. The results will be a better looking paint job that will last longer. When you apply your primer, put an extra coat on there, the stuff is thick anyway and this will help cover. As for mixing it, they have instructions on the can that will tell you high build and thats the one you mix. Dont sand between coats, you should wait about 5-10 minutes before shooting another coat, but again this will all be on the can. These old vehicles came from the factory wavey, but if you are trying to get it show car straight, then chances are you will be putting many coats of glaze putty and primer and lots of block sanding. Oh yeah, guide coat every time will help alot.

Looks like you've got it all figured out, why'd you ask what to do.

Sounds like you're on the right track to me. I've never used the guide coat, but it seems like the right thing to do. I just use different primer colors like black, grey, or red in different stages. When I start my blocking I know what is high or low depending on what color it is

dodged200 wrote:Looks like you've got it all figured out, why'd you ask what to do.

Don't think for a second I do not appreciate any and all input, I was asking for anyone local that could give me pointers on bodywork, as I am not very skilled at being able to work sheet metal and determining straightness before shooting it with paint, on previous projects, I thought I had the body so perfectly straight, after multiple guide coats and primer surfacer, I would have bet a thousand bucks that there were no waves or dings missed, then after shooting with a coat of gloss, looked like a tsunami, I couldn't even count all the waves. I simply was looking for a trained eye in my vacinity that could come give me some pointers on sanding and getting it straight. Did not mean to offend anyone.

Slick,
I will try the layered primer and paint approach on a spot and see how it works for me.
thanks
all

No offense taken, just letting you know what we did at the body shop I use to work at. I was told by our painter not to paint over the old paint, so I was just passing that on to you. Also, I didn't know what the intentions were for the truck.

Slick has a good idea, just make sure its all one color before you shoot the basecoat. The different colored primers will make the blue look different.

dodged200 wrote:No offense taken, just letting you know what we did at the body shop I use to work at. I was told by our painter not to paint over the old paint, so I was just passing that on to you.

Some people will say this and others will say that you should leave the original paint and scuff it up. The original paint was put on in ideal conditions with high tech equipment and the metal was new and never exposed to the elements. Since the paint hasn't failed in 40 years there is no reason to go down to bare metal unless it is a high dollar restoration of some car that no one wants to spend the money on or drive anyway.

Shot some primer on it, but the body is no where near straight. but the gray primer looks good anyway.

There are untold gobs of hours that go into body work, not to mention a good degree
of skill. I remember my friend who restored my '67 Coronet R/T telling me the number
of hours that he invested in getting one door finished. When I hear someone
saying that a paint job will cost $5000-$7000.... I can understand why.
John

Hobcobble wrote:There are untold gobs of hours that go into body work, not to mention a good degree
of skill. I remember my friend who restored my '67 Coronet R/T telling me the number
of hours that he invested in getting one door finished. When I hear someone
saying that a paint job will cost $5000-$7000.... I can understand why.
John

When I was working on My 68 Superbee, I spent probably 2 weeks working everything out of 1 door, then got it what I thought was perfect, and my son who was about 8 at the time comes out to the garage and knocks it off of the sawhorses I had it on and creases the bottom corner, I excused myself and proceeded to yell words that I don't think I ever knew for a while at the neighbors house, they must have thought I was insane. But, after spending several more hours getting that straight, I learned that when you get it right, don't leave it alone until is done, painted and hanging on the car. I went out last night and applied some filler, and spot putty to the tiny spots and some sanding scratches, and it looks pretty good, I only have about 3 places that need real attention, and I can work those areas out, block sand, and re-prime the whole thing another coat and then block out with lighter sand paper or wet and dry. I think I will have it reasonably straight by Sunday evening. As I said above, I can accept a not perfect paint job on this thing as it will be driven by my son Ben who is a senior in high school, and after he is done with it, I will have it repainted with better quality, unless he decides to keep it, but either way the perfectionist side of me will get it pretty good before letting it pass.

I take my hat off to all of you folks who possess the skills to do this type of work.
The "slather-a*s" side of me usually wins out and my trucks hit the road as soon
as they're mechanically sound. John

this was thirteen coats of laquer and an entire summer of sanding That turned into this It just depends on how much time you are able to dedicate to it.My son told me after we finally got the paint shot in the fall that he spent his entire summer vacation sanding on the truck but after he saw the results it was worth every second!

powertothepdub wrote:this was thirteen coats of laquer and an entire summer of sanding

CCF12172006_00004.jpg

That turned into this

truck+buzzard008.JPG

It just depends on how much time you are able to dedicate to it.My son told me after we finally got the paint shot in the fall that he spent his entire summer vacation sanding on the truck but after he saw the results it was worth every second!

That truck looks awesome, and I am doing the same with my son Ben, he is tired of sanding also, but I keep telling him, be patient, your gut says, just paint it, but your brain keeps saying get it right first.

I'm no bodyman,but I can tell you this. If you want to be critical of your work,hold a halogen light close,and shine it sideways down the body .Critical light shows all.

if the paint on it is is good condition just scuff the surface really well with some red scotch bright or 220-320 grit paper, this will give the new paint something to grab on too. no need to go to bare metal, and if you do go to bare metal its a good idea to use some metal conditioner on those spots, as bare metal will "flash rust" really fast, from the humidity. and the paint can lift off on these spots later on. but if you want a good paint job a good primer coat on the whole truck will insure color uniformity over the whole truck. otherwise the spots you primed and the ones you didnt sometimes will look different in the sunlight. guide coating and sanding is pretty much a "have to do thing" though, try to use the largest flat sanding block the area will allow. and any good HVLP gun will have a fan adjust on it to adjust the flow from the gun. just dont try to put to much material down at one time. you will get runs. instead put several thinner coats on and build it up slowly. no need to sand between coats of primer, just let it flash off the reducer or solvent (25-30 minutes at an ambient temp of about 75). some of the cheaper paints and primers will actually "butthole" on you if you sand it. ( if you break the surface the reducer or solvent will leach under and actually crack the paint when you spray it. not good!) another thing that alot of peple forego is prepsol, or wax and grease remover. ive seen it a hundred times, when your sanding and you lean against the vehicle the oil from your hand gets on the surface and Will fisheye the paint that goes on top, dont skip this!! and when you get ready to finish paint invest in some good tack rags, they are worth the expense (i like diamond brand). also are you using single stage or base clear? if its single stage, paint it with several more coats than you think you need. this will leave some paint to color sand down, and get the wavyness out of it. if its base clear do the same in the clear. then have a good shop cut and buff it out. dont judge the job until you do this cuz ive seen the wavyest jobs come out lookin killer after a good cut & buff. and remember the paint job is only as good as the prep under it, so take your time and get it right before you paint it. i hope this helps ya out.