Got the old girl back from paint and body. $7500 dollars later and about every panel you could cut and weld plus fabrication and she looks shiny and new. Still needs interior, the lift on, frame painted, and for me to find some a/c parts and she will be like its new. If I can find a way maybe I'll post it in my garage.

 

$7500!!!! yikes!! That better be a show quality paint job. Wouldn't it have been cheaper to go the junk yard and find a good replacement door, hood, bed whatever you needed to cut on? Would have saved tons on labor cost. Shoot around here you can find a truck that has a decent body for $1000-$2000.

 

I did have another truck that was used for bed and hood. The labor came from the cab work. Then it was painted inside and out, sealed, and bed was rhino lined. I'm glad I did it right this time though and now I don't have to worry about it ever again. I wish I had the step by step pictures or a before and after to show the transformation and previous salt damage.

 

$7500 isn't out of line, depending on the amount of body work needed. Here in the Mid-South, a good paint job will set you back at least $5K, if they have very little body work to do. I am having problems finding a good shop to paint my truck, as they can't figure out how to price painting a truck that is already dissassembled and really needs minimal body work. The shops I contacted, though, say $5k up front, so I can believe $7500 with sheet metal repair.

 

This weekend I finally got the Eaton Posi installed in the rear end, installed a Pinion Crush Sleeve Eliminator, bolted on the brake backing plates, installed the axles, and tied on the new differential cover. More to follow on my build thread for El Guapo this evening.

 

Yeah paint was 4k or so, liner was $500, interior paint was like $300, and they did labor on the clock and actually didn't count one and a half time cards.

 

Wow. I had no idea how expensive paint was. THis poor boy won't ever get a paint job if that is what it costs. I will have to do it myself.

 

That's what I'm going to do, I'm just going to pick up a HVLP spray gun from walmart or something and go primer black.

But before I do that I have to deal with the rust on the top of the cab and get the whole thing sanded. So it'll be one panel at a time.

 

1 year ago next week I did a Wal-Mart Krylon Camo job on mine. I used only the tan color so the truck is one solid color. Its holding up well. Looks like a Army tan service truck. Its ugly, but its better than it was by a long shot. Cost under $100. And I used a couple cans of rust inhibitor to turn the rust into paintable primer. Granted, my truck had no rot whatsoever. Just a few dents I didn't bother fixing.

My dad's buddy has a paint booth in his shop. He has all the equipment. Im going to prep this truck and paint it in a couple years. In my opinion, these trucks just aren't worth $7500 paint job unless its got sentimental value. Mine is just an old beat up truck. Nothing special. I would spend $1000 in paint to get it decent looking though.

 

Yebbut, those of us with a truck which does have sentimental value, at least to us, are in a bind. Given that, I'm going to learn how to do body work - or at least attempt to learn. As you saw, Ray, Dad's truck has significant rust in the cab and a crushed bed, so I don't think it is worth cutting pieces out and welding good ones in. I'll do the learning on the much better cab and bed from Brownie. (I see yet-another 30 page thread in the offing. )

 

Last time I checked buying paint for my truck, it would cost $750 for the paint and supplies. That is including a pint of each color pinstripe for my 1981 "Explorer" stripes.

That's with doing the job myself.

Now there are places out there that will paint a vehicle cheap. Maaco for example. But you get what you pay for too.

 

$750 aint bad if you have a place to spray it and a knowledgeable friend to guide you.

 

$7500 paint job, $750 for just paint and supplies, you guys are nuts, who the hell are you wasting all this money with and can I get some?

A good single stage single color paint job shouldn't take any more then $200 in paint and supplies. Up to another hundred if clear coat. And maybe up to $50 each for any additional colors that need to be sprayed. Beyond that any extra cost is repair, labor or high end show quaility supplies. Sure I could and have seen $7500 bills for turning a rusted pile into a show car, but that is the high extreme of anything that isn't a rip off.

But if you can do all the prep and finish work yourself there is no reason anyone can't get a VERY high quility paint job for easily under $1000.

 

Well, thats what I originally thought also, but I got told otherwise above. I priced a paint shop in KY once for a chevelle and their "top notch" paint job including replacing the quarters was somewhere south of $7500. I think in the $5000 range. I ended up finding a local guy and I built him a deck and he painted my car. I had under $2000 in the whole thing.

 

I think for $7500 I'd just let my truck drive it self off a cliff LOL