It's time to paint the truck, a 75 f250. In another life I was a body work guy, so I'll be doing the body work, which is minimal. I have a few rusty, pitty spots that I'll be grinding and blasting with walnut shell fragments to remove the rust. Then I'll apply a rust removal/preventative before spraying a high build urethane primer over all the body work. With the cowl I plan to spray an epoxy primer since it is galvanized. The paint I have selected is Summit acrylic/urethane, with a coat of clear over the top. The truck will be two tone, blue/white, just as it is now, but new and shiny.

I paid a shop to spray the truck back in 2001, and they missed painting to the window edges, and they left a dry spot in the clear in the center of the hood. So, I am spraying it myself, a backyard job, since the paint hardens through a chemical reaction it should not be tacky that long, hopefully. I have found a good full mask with piped in air to use while spraying. I plan to strip the hood, cowling, and the tailgate to the metal, and start from scratch. Here are a few of the spots on the hood:





The cowling:



Most of the bodywork is actually in the bed, on the wheel wells. I'm not sure what I'll do with the inside of the bed. Thinking about replacing the wheel wells. Ideas? Suggestions?

If there are any helpful hints you'd like to throw in, feel free.

 

I bought a new Penda-Liner drop in / under lip for 180 recently at a dealer, he got it overnight from the warehouse. I did do some work to the steel, then applied brush in Iron Armor from HF on floor and front, added some corner drains too. . They do still make them, both long bed and short bed ones.

Good luck, watching.

 

If you want the best possible fast and pretty affordable take it to a dustless blaster.

I just took a '66 GTO to a dustless blaster and in 3 hours it looked like it was a metallic silver car. no chance of panel warpage and nothing but bare steel left. . cost me $500 . I just covered the glass with cardboard and used duct tape to hold it in place. took off all the trim, handles everything of course.

this guy used recycled glass and a rust inhibitor. NEVER use soda. I'll never spend months with a DA and a little scooby blaster again this was awesome.

 

This is what I am planning to use on my truck if I ever get around to it.

 

If I were stripping more than the hood and tailgate to bare metal, I would most likely go that route. But I think 80gt on a DA will cut through the existing paint quickly. However, should it turn out to be much more time consuming, or I decide to strip more of the truck than mentioned, I will certainly find a dustless blaster. Cheers.

My hold up now is waiting for the primer to arrive. Can't more forward until I have primer.

 

Hey guys. I forgot to ask: can someone guide me through how to re-caulk the bed? What type of caulk to buy, how to apply it.
Also, what type of caulk or filler is used inside the raingutters? Is the same product used that is used to caulk the bed?
Thanks guys.

 

I use 3m seam sealer. it looks pretty much like the original stuff. uses a caulking gun.

 

I would suggest using 36 grit to strip the paint then hit it with the 80. 80 grit will take fooooor ever and you will use a lot of disks. Prime the bare metal with epoxy primer also.

 

I am also with 36 then 80 on the DA.

3M drip check sealer for the gutter area comes in a small tube like weather strip glue.
Now I don't see why it could not be used on the bed but being a smallish tube could take a while to ​​​do.
Maybe it comes in a caulk gun tube?
That case seam sealer in a caulk gun for the bed.
Dave ----

 

X2 on the lower grit. I took my whole truck to bare metal a few years ago, and started with 80 because that was all I could find. Sanding everyday for an hour after work for about a week, then found 36 grit and finished it in another 2 weeks. I got my sanding fill for my lifetime, and now hate sanding anything for the rest of my life. If you can blast you should. Sanding used to be therapeutic to me. Did the same backyard paint job but with a single stage urethane. Was way worth it even though the materials still set me back 600 bucks

 

Another thing about sanding is the lead paint, I've done a lot of it and still no health issues but if I was younger, I'd consider it.

 

The government banned the liquid paint stripper that worked well & kept the leaded paint out of the air & your lungs.

Now you have to sand or blast your lead filled paint off, putting the paint into the air & your lungs. If you have it blasted by the mobile guys, the lead ends up all over your property. Even if it is the dustless guys that use water. Best to do it at their place, let them poison their property, not yours. Cleaning up the paint stripper goo & disposing of it was easier, no paint with lead in the air. Not that paint stripper was a perfect solution.

We work with commercial blasters at work, the guys that blast & paint bridges & the like. They go to some great lengths to keep paint residue & blasting medium out of their lungs & the environment. We work with some smaller blasting guys too. The ones that think (or thought) they were bulletproof. One died fairly young, in a none to pleasant way. I used to see another young guy fairly regularly, you could see the deterioration in his well being every year. Not sure if he is still around or not, we stopped selling to the company he worked for.

I'd try a sharpened putty knife, or maybe a razor blade, on the hood, see if the paint would chip & peel off, starting where the rust spot is. Wet the hood while you do this to keep paint dust out of the air. If most chips off, wet sand with 150 grit to get the rest off.

 

The amount of lead there will be on the gravel doesn't concern me the least at my place or theirs. but spending a month breathing it concerns me more than it used to. just another reason to spend $500 and in a few hours end up with a stripped vehicle ready to clean up and shoot with DP primer. I could have spent hundreds of hours and $$$ on abrasives and not had as good of job.

 

There are still some people offering a dipping service (complete disassembly required) that removes just about everything including bondo, caulk and, of course, paint. Not cheap though. It is so effective that flash rust is an issue that needs to be addressed very quickly.

 

Okay. My primers came from Summit yesterday, and I am chomping at the bit to get going. I went with Urethane high build for everywhere except for the cowling. There I am using an epoxy primer. (I'm old school. I know the new thought is to epoxy prime before the body work, but I know if I lay my Bondo right on the ground metal, it will last 20+ years, so that is good enough for me.) I wonder if the new way--primer under all--is like 30 year shingles that in reality last 15 years.

What are the options now for grinding? What is the common means of grinding to the bear metal?
I will also be splicing in a section at the passenger side door frame, bottom front.
I guess the tailgate will be first.