My 1989 F-350 Diesel Dually Crew Cab had seen better days when I got it. Paint was faded, multi-shades of blue with rust and was just plain fugly. So I went to Walmart and Lowes to pick up some supplies:
$5 Masking Tape
$20 Gallon of Rustoleum Gloss Black Enamel
$12 Gallon of Paint Thinner (Odorless Mineral Spirits)
$7 Packet of 4 inch Foam Rollers with tray
$0.35 Foam padded paint brushes
$0.50 Clear Plastic Paint mixing containers
$3 200-400 Grit sandpaper
Sand it down to make a good paint surface. Take it to the car wash and hose it down after sanding, let it dry. Mask off the areas you don't want painted with masking tape and newspaper.
For a quick paint job, use thick coats. This may result in more 'orange peel' but get's the job done faster and less coats. Measure out 7 parts rustoleum and 2 parts mineral spirits. Paint 3 times.
For a nice smooth surface & less orange peel thin it out more. 6 parts Rustoleum and 4 parts mineral spirits. You'll have to paint it 5 times or more. Wait at least 8 hours between coats.
You'll be amazed at the results! Friends and family won't believe it's the same truck!
VT247

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXbIJ4M37lw

 

Dang, for $50 you can't beat that. Looks real good. I've been throwing the idea around of painting my F150 but I need to take care of some of my cancer and rust first. Any idea how long a paint job like this lasts or if it needs constant retouching?

 

Paint last forever. It's pretty durable too. If you do get it scrapped up touch ups are easy.
VT247

 

OMG!!! I had no idea you could make something look that nice for $50. My hat's off to you, that's really impressive.

 

Holy Crap! i would love to do this to my truck but i am scared i wouldnt be able to make it look right. did you paint your door jams... also did you wet sand inbetween coats??

 

Ive seen this done time and time again, always comes out good if you take your time with it.

Trick is to thin it out so its like the consistency of 2% milk, then wetsand the orange peel away after every coat (if you use the thinner more it will have far less orange peel).

The paint lasts a longtime too and its a good idea to do 1 coat of clear, paint will not scratch as easy and it adds more shine/gloss.

Also, if you want to do no thinning and use even better paint (it would only run you maybe max 120 or so dollars) use brightside boat paint. It is a heavier paint but has self leveler in it so it works with no mixing. people use it on boat hulls.

 

Nice use of BONDO as panel adhesive

 

i seen this in the 80-86 forum.... and im still trying to figure out the bondo super glue.... thats gunna fall off and look worse then it does now.... i think i would have gotten some metal to metal and patched over it instead of the bondo glue lol but hey what ever works

 

OMG Im doing this, this week end lol i thinkong of going back black heres my truck man that thing looks sharp







do you think i may be able to just do the top and the hood and make it look right?

 

Hey cool,I just did mine this weekend as well! I went with flat black though, gives it that nice Mad Max look! The truck was given to me and it had a fair bit of dings,dents gouges and rust. I fixed all the rust,put some salvaged fenders on it and sanded it all down. A friend at work is a professional painter and he gave me some tips. I paint trailers at work so I've been able to learn a little bit. He taught me to thin the paint out with Gun Wash Solvent till it starts to drip from the stir stick at a 6 count. I put on 5 thin coats,one right after the other. He told me that if I waited in between coats I had to let it dry,but if I put on another coat just as it gets tacky your okay. Has turned out pretty good! I'd have liked to use a gloss but the various flaws would have been that much more obvious so I just went with flat. I'll go take some pics and post 'em up.

 

Well,it ain't pretty,but here's the Black *******! It may not look like much,but a few months ago it was back in the weeks on a farm,then it was in my garage with no fenders,hood,grille or bumpers and rust all over. Then it had fenders,hood and bumpers,but half were red and half were white! Now at least it's all one color and there are no more holes or rust-

 

Well,that failed miserably.Here,lets try again-

 

i think your picture is to big

 

I think your title has hit the kiddie filters...

 

cant wait to paint mine that gets me 1 step closer to camo racing stripes