Paint
 

If there is anyone from Indiana please give a reply. I need to get my 78 F250 totally repainted and fix all the rust. It is in pretty bad shape. If anyone knows who can do this for cheap please let me know.

HATCHETT: First off, welcome to FTE, any questions you have pertaining to your ford truck can be answered here. For a better location for painting your truck,what part of indiana do you reside in? Most shops want to look at the truck first to determine what needs to be done. And in a few cases you can replace parts yourself and save money for other mods. Give us a better idea of location and maybe a local member can help you out.

Cruzer :-X25

I live in Columbus Indiana. I know a couple of guys here that would do it but they are really expensive. Keep in mind my truck is goin flatbed so i only need the front half done. they wanted to charge 1500 for just that.

Good thing is your only a few miles south of Indy, maybe one of the indy members can steer you to a local shop. Now I hear Snowfighter knows a few body shops with great service,("Classy Chassis" comes to mind) I just have a suspicious idea that car repairs are not involved!! :-X14

I live in the northern part of state, not much help, hopefully one of the southern members will post.

Cruzer :-X25

Would you consider Earl Schiebs or Maco we have both in Indy.

i will have to look into them. thanks

Have you considered doing it yourself? It's not too hard, unless you want some tricky show finish. A local high school offers continuing ed type classes at night and several are vocational. For $75 I got the use of a large garage, paint booth all the tools and the instructor's ear (who has about 30 year's experience) one night a week, 4 hours a night for 13 weeks. You supply all your materials, of course, but you can't get any cheaper.

I bought aftermarket fenders and doors from a body supply shop locally and saved on shipping. I have worked only on my cab so far but I got the doors and fenders painted and hung, patched the drivers side floor, patched rusted out holes on the roof and painted it and the hood all in one semester. Ya gotta hustle, you can't be there to talk and carry on. And it helps to do what you can in your driveway or the parking lot before class begins (like masking areas off before priming). The instructor will probably call for clean up about 30 minutes before class ends and the first night is typically orientation and filling out forms. So in reality, you've got the equivalent of a 40 hour week.

Most of my work is fair, but considering all the rust areas and what was left of the finish made my truck look like a Gateway computer box, it looks great now. Well, if you ignore the occasional run that is ;-) Plus, I can say I did it myself.