painting body pannels...

[rob h]

I am going to do the whole truck later in the year but for now i just want to prime the bed for now...The paint on the bed is nice so can i just scuff it and use a spray can black primer for now..?...The front half meaning everything from the bed up willl be changed with all new pannels...for now i just want the bed to match.....any ideas here...? heres a pic of what i got..?.......and if its ok just to scuff it and prime, what are the best cans to use, i dont have a gun....?

 

[86-1ton]

do you have an air compressor...? get a $15 Harbor Freight (purple) spray gun... they're cheap, and they work really well for first-time painters... i wouldn't trust spray-can stuff because they're not '2-part' (material + reducer/activator) and if you took a rag with some lacquer thinner on it, you can just wipe it off even after it's dry...

best thing - scuff the bed, then get the gun, and go to NAPA and get some of their 'epoxy primer' it's really good, actually, the best 'kind' of primer because you can put filler over it, and neither will be affected... then go have some fun...

 

[blackk5350]

do the rustoleum roller paint method. im doing it on my car and the roof of my k5 soon(this coming up week) TONS of info on the web. start off by typing in moparts paint job. you will be amazed what you can do for around 50 bucks

 

[ryoken]

and a million hrs of sanding....

 

[rob h]

The other thing is im not sure what do do with the paint, i just wanted to primer the bed black for now so it matches the cab... a friend of mine has a body shop and will paint the truck cheap but i have to wait until the end of august... i have new fenders, doors and a cowl hood, the bed wont need a whole lot except for the ding in the gate..rockers and cab corners were done in the summer.. If the truck is painted nice i wont wanna use it , so what kind of pain is real durable and would hold up..? i thought eurathane....???

 

[ryoken]

epoxy and urethane primer holds up indefinitely to weather... epoxy is unavailable in rattle cans pretty much.. tho any enamel primer will hold up well enough.. just don't run around for months with lacquer primer on there.. i use zinc and urethane primer on everything.. the urethane sands better than epoxy..

as for paint, eh, you can guess my opinion, I prefer some sort of catalyzed paint... even if it's just an oldschool enamel, not urethane or poly-urethane.. tho I hate enamel paints for their compatability issues, etc, they are pretty durable and cheap.. I see gal kits at the swap meets, etc for under $100... worth the extra $40 or so, over air-dried rusto imo...

a ready-to-spray, mixed gal of catalyzed paint will run from the above $90, $100 enamels to upwards of $300, $400 for reds in nice poly..

 

[rob h]

so is it better to just leave it alone and just wait to prime and paint all in one shot...i found eurathane/activator, primer/activator in victory red, sunburst orange, white, black, green etc for an average price of 250 to do my whole truck but whats the best to hold up from scratches...? there are alot of rough trails here that the trees run along the sides. i know thats a tough one...

 

[r2d2]

U could always get the whole thing rino-lined. I hear its not real expensive and comes in colors other than just black. Also do you plan to use A newer front clip to match the bed. Knew some body that did that on an 84 short bed. He used the body off a 90-something SS454 it looked great