Looking for advice on bodywork & painting my rig myself

[1leglance]

Not looking for pro's here that have their own shop...although advice would be welcome.
Looking to hear from anyone who has painted their rig at home.
Also folks who have done their own bodywork.

It is time to do paint & bodywork on my 70 burb and on my granddads 72 chevy truck...so in order to save some money and have a great bonding experience with my sons we are going to tackle this ourselves.
I have a big compressor, we will run some hard lines and put in some sort of dryer/filter setup.
Don't own a gun yet and don't want to spend too much on one unless I have to as this will be a 2 rig job and done.

Same original blue with white roof on both so should save a bit on materials.
Was thinking of the Rustoleum done with a gun but leaning more towards a single stage paint now...Polyurathane PPG or an Enamel by PPG...should run around $250 each vehicle for blue/white & primer

Looking for any tips or tricks and thanks in advance

 

[Curmudgeon]

Some of the Harbor Freight HVLP guns have had very good reviews, even from pros.

For paint, have you considered implement paint? Available at pretty much any farm supply store and very reasonably priced. Van Sickle is the brand available in my area, and I like it. I think it's even available in custom colors, but around here they would have to order it for you.

http://www.vansicklepaint.com/

 

[chosen]

We stripped and painted our lux during the christmas break...

My wife and I stripped and painted our Hilux over the Christmas break... we got a good quality paint stripper and took it back to bare metal. Get some sand paper first and scratch off the surface of the paint - this helps the stripper react with the paint.

We then sanded the roof (and the rust spots) out using a rubber backed sanding disk. If you want to this is when you can spray on some primer filler. Then spray on some colour spatter (it is pink or grey and allows you to see where the divets are). Sand and repeat until smooth and then add the top coats with light sands inbetween coats.

 

[truck mechanic]

you could also look at some industrial paint, I got a gal of ohmaha orangas for 80 bucks!

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Have you looked into any autobody classes offered by your local community college or school district? There are some very afordable options here locally that offer access to the tools, booth and instruction. Quite a few in our local 4x4 community have done this route with high praise, hoping to go this route myself when my schedule settles.

 

[goodtimes]

I'm not a "pro" (far from it), but I've laid paint on a few things . . .

I've gone the "industrial paint" route - and in the end, I'm always happier with the automotive paints. It's not horribly expensive unless you start looking at small quantities or red. Red pigment is expensive.

In fact, I'm even happier with the two step (base color followed by a clear coat) than I am with the one step paints. But to each their own.

Like all other things - quality of both materials and tools will make a big difference. That's not to say you need to spend big $$$ on the top end stuff - but do yourself a favor and skip the discount stores, particularly with the material. Someone above mentioned a harbor freight HVLP gun. Do your research - every now and then HF does sell a decent tool that works for the home user (someone like you or me, who does a small to medium job every now and then, and isn't trying to earn a living at it), but approach it with caution, most of their stuff is pretty crappy. Just do your research, it'll be obvious when an exception to their "crappy tool" policy pops up.

I try not to paint during the monsoon season. It's just too wet, and you go through a million desiccant dryers. Ok, maybe not a million, but a lot. And don't skip the dryer - you really do need it.

Wear a respirator. Paint fumes are nasty - even with the HVLP guns.

Be sure that there are no sources of ignition (IE: pilot light on the water heater) in the garage. Turn it off - blowing yourself up would suck. Also - check to be sure that it is legal to paint at your house (or where ever you are painting). Many states & cities have laws against it.

If you end up dancing around the edges of some rule (state/local law, HOA rule, etc) & have 'problematic' neighbors - do it when they're at work so they don't smell it. The fumes carry a long way & it's just easier to not have to deal with them. Even if you're well within the laws & rules - it's easier to do it when you won't get distracted.

Paint inside with some sort of ventilation system that will let you control airflow to avoid "stuff" from getting on the wet paint. This could be as simple as a cracked garage door with a high velocity fan blowing out on one end of the garage (always blow 'out', never 'in'), and a cheap A/C panel filter taped over the ventilation grills on the opposite side of the garage. If you have to paint somewhere that is inherently dirty - wet the ground down before you spray - it really helps keep the dust down.

Don't open the door to the house until the paint is dry, and the garage door has been open for a few hours. Trust me on this one.

Basic paint jobs like you are looking at really aren't complicated. Just follow the basic safety rules & practice a bit on cardboard boxes (etc), & you'll be fine.

 

[goodtimes]

Have you looked into any autobody classes offered by your local community college or school district? There are some very afordable options here locally that offer access to the tools, booth and instruction. Quite a few in our local 4x4 community have done this route with high praise, hoping to go this route myself when my schedule settles.

Good point. You could also consider "donating" the job to the CC. When I was in high school, the auto body program painted cars for free - with the understanding that it would be one of the students doing the work.

Of course, you lose the father/son bonding deal by doing that route.

 

[seanz0rz]

PREP WORK!

The main reason a cheap paint job at a macco, etc. sucks is because they do minimal prep work. Also, their paint can be cheap. But really, it is down to the work put in before paint hits the surface and in between coats!

Take a lot of time sanding and getting the surface perfect, and tons of time taking off trim and masking off what you don't want painted. The hours you spend in prep will really show in your final paint!

 

[Eaglefreek]

I painted my daily driver myself. I never painted a car before, just a couple small parts some years ago. I bought a Harbor Freight HVLP gun and used tractor paint and catalyst from Tractor Supply. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the gun to work how I thought it should spray. However, the finished product looked great, for about 2 weeks. It started oxidizing fast. I did it a few months ago and it looks decent from 50', but no where near the shine it had when I first painted it. I wish I would have spent the extra money on auto paint.
Before


This was a day after painting it.


This is about a month later. You can see it's not as shiny as the one above.

 

[Scrib]

I'm doing a little bit on my 89 right now. I'm guessing the factory paint on your 70's is a bit better than mine - for instance, there is no primer under the paint on my roof, so it comes off really easy Summit Racing had the best deal on single stage when I was looking, but they're kind of limited on colors. I didn't see any reason to use Rustoleum/boat paint/implement paint if going through all the trouble to get setup to shoot paint - might as well use good paint with UV inhibitors and a hardner (nasty stuff).

 

[1leglance]

Anyone besides Brian-Goodtimes in the basecoat/clearcoat camp?
I have been reading alot on the autobody forums (there is a forum for everything of course) and those guys go on and on about how much better a bc/cc is since you can colorsand any runs/orangepeel/mistakes and reshoot before you clear coat.

My concern is the brutal Arizona sun and what it might do to a bc/cc finish unless I spend a bunch of money on the paint.

I would like to spend less than $200 on the gun, and less than $300 per rig on paint...of course I will need tape/making paper/sand paper and all that and it is amazing how fast it adds up.

My burb will get enough desert use that I am not concerned about how it will look in 5-10 yrs. But the truck was my granddad's and now my son's so it would be nice if it looked great through college for him (10yrs).
Then again if we only get 3-5yrs out of the paint job it gives us another bonding experience down the road

Thanks for all the advice and please keep the thoughts coming.

 

[bfdiesel]

BC/CC works well and looks good, but if all you want to do is keep it from rusting then I would go the implement paint route or rustoleum oil base paint.
I have rustoleumed a couple of cars as long as they aren't plastic it bonds well and Looks pretty good. Rustoleum seems to chip a little easier and is limited on color choices.
I have BC/CC motorcycles and it does come out nice. Depends on what you really want out of the paint job.

And what exactly do you mean by boby work? Bondo, lead fill, cut and weld, dent pulling?

 

[goodtimes]

Anyone besides Brian-Goodtimes in the basecoat/clearcoat camp?
I have been reading alot on the autobody forums (there is a forum for everything of course) and those guys go on and on about how much better a bc/cc is since you can colorsand any runs/orangepeel/mistakes and reshoot before you clear coat.

My concern is the brutal Arizona sun and what it might do to a bc/cc finish unless I spend a bunch of money on the paint.

I would like to spend less than $200 on the gun, and less than $300 per rig on paint...of course I will need tape/making paper/sand paper and all that and it is amazing how fast it adds up.

My burb will get enough desert use that I am not concerned about how it will look in 5-10 yrs. But the truck was my granddad's and now my son's so it would be nice if it looked great through college for him (10yrs).
Then again if we only get 3-5yrs out of the paint job it gives us another bonding experience down the road

Thanks for all the advice and please keep the thoughts coming.

Easy to get a decent HVLP gun for under $200. Heck - you can borrow mine for a month or two if you want. A cold beer & a cigar at camp some night would cover the rental fee.

$300/rig on paint + supplies is going to be tough, but not impossible. It's the little stuff that will eat the budget up.

One more thought - if the existing paint is decent (IE: not flaking/peeling, rusted, etc), you don't need to go down to bare metal. In fact - better if you don't. It makes a great primer of sorts.

Oh - speaking of primer. If you are painting lighter colors (IE: white on the roof) - avoid using dark colored primer.

Also - be sure that you get *all* the wax off before you start sanding. You don't want to grind that into the paint - you'll pay for it later.

One last thing: if you use the two step systems (base coat / clear coat), you can get both flat and gloss clear - and of course you can mix them in varying proportions to get a semi-gloss finish if you want. It gives you a lot of flexibility with the final product, & can really change the feel of the final product.

 

[seanz0rz]

I would go with a base and clear, and will do so when I paint my Squareback and when I repaint my 4Runner. They just come out so much nicer looking. I think it is worth the extra cost and time.

 

[4runrftw]

Also, I can't say enough about wiping all the surfaces with a paint prep cleaner before you shoot it. Wax, oil from your fingers, etc. will keep paint from bonding. I've done single and 2-stage for cars, and would do 2-stage again in a heartbeat because I think it's more forgiving. It's also more expensive, so not sure it'll land in your $300 budget. To echo like 5 people above, PREP PREP PREP. Then prep it again.