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After my experience with the primer going bad, I was concerned that maybe the paint too had turned since it has been sitting for 3 years. Some research told me that acrylic urethane paint in an unopened can can last up to 10 years. That put me at ease. I will put the cans on the shaker for a while, and then mix with a paddle mixer on the drill. It is going to be a driveway paint job so I'm not looking for show quality, but want to do everything possible to make it turn out as good as possible.
I finished installing the sound deadener on the ceiling and I sealed any separation in the panel sheets around the rear window with seam sealer. I also applied the seam sealer in the rain gutters and that was a nightmare. I taped off the gutters with masking tape and wanted to peal the tape right after applying the sealer, but forgot until hours later. The tape splintered and thin section was stuck beneath the sealer. I had to cut it out with a razor knife. Bad language was spoken.
Under each front fender is a oe rubberish skirt that seals the fender to the cab body and prevents water from being thrown into the door jamb. I had bought new ones from LMC. Of course there were zip instructions. I removed the wheel and fought it for an hour before I realized that I had to take the entire fender off to install the skirt. More bad language.
Found the Summit brand and Kilmat combo fit nearly w/o cutting. What a mess! Sealed the new rear bed side so water would not get inside. I had this on one side. The side w/o it got severe rust on the floor pan, rocker panel, and door post. Fender removal is needed to install.
Just checking in, looking good so far, is progressing well.
When doing my new frt fenders as Roy said would be cheaper by the time fix labor was figured, he primed, trim painted them, then I took them home and coated all the area behind the tire opening with bed liner, let cure, then installed them. The OEMs had rusted through between the outer and that single long inner brace.
Roy did the bedsides using the (3m i think) bonding way and his clamps (I'll bet he had 100 or more in his self made wooden clamp box with casters) along the top, front, & somehow at rear around tail lights too, then after cured we added a few hidden welds or bolts just to appease my skepticism. I had just assumed he'd weld them in. He bonded my new rear inner fenders in too after having to rework them a little.
Just checking in, looking good so far, is progressing well.
When doing my new frt fenders as Roy said would be cheaper by the time fix labor was figured, he primed, trim painted them, then I took them home and coated all the area behind the tire opening with bed liner, let cure, then installed them. The OEMs had rusted through between the outer and that single long inner brace.
Roy did the bedsides using the (3m i think) bonding way and his clamps (I'll bet he had 100 or more in his self made wooden clamp box with casters) along the top, front, & somehow at rear around tail lights too, then after cured we added a few hidden welds or bolts just to appease my skepticism. I had just assumed he'd weld them in. He bonded my new rear inner fenders in too after having to rework them a little.
That would be the way to do it. I'm glad you got such a good job done. I like the bedliner on the under side of the metal. That should hold up well.
While the bed is off, I'm going to paint the top and sides of the frame with P15 black. I may also remove both gas tanks and install my 38 gallon tank in place of the two. That will free up a lot of space under the truck. But I see pros and cons with that, so it'll take some more time to convince my self how to proceed.
I like the sound of my new muffler. I can hear the cam lope slightly with this muffler.
Hey F250, looks like you and I are at about the same place on our trucks. I too have had issues with primer, Im definitely not a body guy or have any experience with paints etc. But ive been spraying Upol 2k high build. Its really thick. When i first sprayed it was really orange peely. But I found that if i reduced it about 15% it works much better.
Hey F250, looks like you and I are at about the same place on our trucks. I too have had issues with primer, Im definitely not a body guy or have any experience with paints etc. But ive been spraying Upol 2k high build. Its really thick. When i first sprayed it was really orange peely. But I found that if i reduced it about 15% it works much better.
Hey there. Thx for the tip. The last time I sprayed, I thinnned/reduced it about 15%, but that didn't help. What I realized was that the Summit brand urethane primer was old and bad. It had gotten clumpy. I now have new primer on the way, so things should soon get back to normally spraying.
Because of the rain I shifted to what I could do in doors. I made up a patch for the bed floor. I patched it before and left it with a circular bolt hole. That bothered me so I made a patch with a square hole to fit the oe carriage bolt. I also cut insulation to sit atop the kilmat on the ceiling. And while I was dinkering with those two bits of work my new primer arrived so I'm back on course again. Hope to see paint this week, but the weather may prevent that.
I am very happy to report that the new primer sprays great. What a relief. I sanded the body work areas and the hood with 220 grit and sprayed the last coat of primer. Next, I'll sand with 320 for paint. I need to spray some in the jambs, so that will be before the paint day. I think that I'll spray the tailgate separately to help dial in the gun. I thought I'd spray color, spend 30-40 minutes cleaning my gun, and then spray clear over it. I'm going to go with black on the tailgate hinge and arm supports.
I can't wait to get the bed out of the garage, just to have space once more is going to be fantastic! I'm still debating whether to paint the frame rails with P-15. Before primer, the hood was a web of fine cracks. Primer took care of that. You'd never know that I cut open the roof here and replaced the rain gutter.
Its looking good. Im hoping to finish sanding my door jambs down and doing a fiinal primer coat tomorow on the cab. After that im going to be waiiting on warmer temps to paint.
looking good. I laid some primer down yesterday on my dash w/ some rattle can. I need too sand out a few runs and then on to color/clear.
Good for you. The dash is difficult to paint because of limited space to move about and because there's so much detail. Post some photos. I'd love to see how it's looking. You know, I found that some paint shops will fill spray cans with quality paint. Good luck.
Originally Posted by jamiedrchiro
Its looking good. Im hoping to finish sanding my door jambs down and doing a fiinal primer coat tomorow on the cab. After that im going to be waiiting on warmer temps to paint.
Sanding the door jambs does not sound like fun. I image you're using your thumb a lot in tight spots and folding the sand paper to get a sanding edge. Good luck. Post up some photos.
Random note about the process of painting: So I bought a Harbor Freight syphon gun with a 1.8 tip to spray primer. I found that when I'd tilt the gun to spray my hood, the gun would run out of primer. I opened it and found that the syphon tube was angled to the rear of the cup so that the slightest lean/tilt and it would run out of fluid. I spun the tube around so that it angled to the front of the cup, drilled a new breather hole and put a piece of tape over the old hole, and away I went. (I miss my old Binks model 7. Me and that gun were tight.)
Lack of LMC instructions: When I bought the truck it didn't have any aprons between the fender and and inner fender. I could open the door and look right at the tire. At that time I knew nothing about automotive work, nothing about LMC or other retailers that specialized in these trucks. I knew I need some sort of cover in there, so I took a piece of thin sheet metal and made a cover that I held in place with construction spray foam. Of course I forgot about the passenger side. Twenty years later, the passenger side developed major rust. I had to replace the floor pan and lower door post, and some of the rocker panel. After tearing out my 'super custom' metal apron on the driver's side, I found that it was in cherry condition. That taught me the value of the oe aprons. So, I ordered new ones from LMC and spent more than an hour trying to shove my hand into ungodly positions so that I could shove in LMC's plastic pins to secure the apron. After some choice profanity, I realized that I had to remove both fenders to install the aprons.
Don't you think that a retailer might want to help its clients with some simple instruction, or maybe even a description longer than one word?
Summit high build urethane primer: I am very happy with this product (now that I learned how to tell when the primer is old and no longer useable). I find that I can finish my body work with 80 grit, spray a good coat of the primer on with a guide coat, and am able to sand out the scratches with one application.
Last edited by F-250 restorer; Feb 19, 2026 at 11:21 AM.
I sent a DM saying how I enjoyed looking over your build. I should paint the underside of my hood, but I don't think I will; maybe once I'm on the road. I guess there are two points I would make: Just as a precaution, always use two throttle return springs. If you've ever broke one and had to frantically jump out as your engine is redlining, and the ignition won't shut it off, you'd love installing a double spring. The other thing I wanted to pass along is that I've never had luck with Sun gauges. Maybe you'll have better luck. Other than those things your build is looking top notch. Good luck.
Driving a 66 passenger C-60 school bus loaded standing room only almost to school, top of hill near stop sign, throttle spring snapped, 366 4V in 3rd still pulling as I eased off, just get to stop sign and turn key off. Girl loaned me a hair pin after I found the broke spring laying on the intake, made a hook, got them to school (Jr. High) and got bus to garage. Yeah, two springs good.
Today I was able to spray some color! Glory be. I sprayed the inside edge of the hood, both the underside of the hood and the fender top where it meets the hood. You know, the part around the hood that can't be seen when it's closed. I also sprayed the cowling.
I have to say that I REALLY like this Summit brand paint. I sprayed outdoors, under an awning, in about 66 degrees, and this paint just lays down nice and smooth, with a water like shine.
Since the windshield is the only window that I haven't removed, I wanted to remove any fine stripe of primer or paint along the edge of the rubber. I found that I could use a plastic putty knife to get behind the rubber and hold it up. Then I used an 80 grit disk, folded in half, to sand off the primer/paint stripe. You can't tell I did it. Putty knife inserted and rubber sanded!
Last edited by F-250 restorer; Feb 21, 2026 at 10:22 AM.
