Ryoken's Guide to Rust Treatment and Bodywork 101

[Chief Brody]

OK...I got the sandblaster at harborfreight. It wasn't that bad to assemble...problem is my compressor is blowing tons of water into to blaster, wetting the sand and clogging it.

I was able to blast the rail and it did do a good job...it just took me 10 hours to get it done.

On the top of the rail, when you blast the paint off, underneath is some yellowish stuff, under that it looked gray and thick...like JB Weld or something. THere was a deep pit near the the front about a foot away from the door, I kept blasting...I don't think it went through the metal, but man...it's thick. Did somebody lay something down like fiberglass on the rail top? Or did it come from the factory like that?

I hope I am not getting in over my head...

 

[ryoken]

that's filler and primer... if you let the truck sit around, watch out for that raw stuff to start rerusting quick.... once clean and raw it's best to get it primed asap....

 

[ryoken]

oh, and yeah, get a water seperator.. blasters do not like water, as you've found out...

 

[Chief Brody]

I already sprayed it with primer to hold it till I can get back to it.

Should I blast away all that filler and take the whole top of the rail down to bare metal?

Where does the water separator fit?

 

[ryoken]

well.... here's the deal.. you'll need to determine how much schtuff has been put on this, and how good of a job you wanna do.. i take it doing the interior is a precurser to the outside..

your best bet is to take a flat sander to it... your gonna need to see how many layers and how thick it is... if it reaches a point of, hey this is pretty ripped down, i think i can fill prime it.. stop.. or, if you feel the filler should go, should be redone or not be there... rip it down..

here's a trick... train of thought.... always do as little blasting as possible.. it's slow, dirty, etc.... great for that last, now thats clean steel look... stripping paint and body filler that could easily be ripped down with a sander is foolish....

if what you wanna do is just work on the tail rail, and interior... sand the top, then just feather sand that edge of paint as it comes around the corner and down the qrter... then you can just spot prime the top lip and leave the qrter for later.. you can hard mask the qrter off when priming, but generally i just run a big sheet from about 6" below the curve and blend/spot it in...

 

[Chief Brody]

The only think that bothers me is that there was rust under the filler in that spot that I blasted...the reason I hit it to begin with was that there were tiny bubbles in the paint on that spot...

 

[Chief Brody]

i take it doing the interior is a precurser to the outside..

Exactly...When I started this, the idea was to take off the rust and scuff up the bed and floor and prime and spray it...knowing that I am putting down carpet and panels...there won't be much if any of the interior paint showing.
The bedrails were the worst part of it, I figured I needed to do that first.

Would you sandblast the bed or just scuff it and go with it?

 

[ryoken]

in that case, on the top rail, i'd blast thru with 36 grit on my big makita 7" grinder..


like this..

kinda like this black grinder setup..

just on the top flat... once i ripped the majority of paint, primer and filler out, use the blast as that last "perfect raw steel" hit to clean any rust out of the pits.... definitely have bit more on those topside spots... probably induced by water in the blaster... the side rail looks nice and clean...

 

[Chief Brody]

Dang...I just bought a 4.5 inch angle grinder...wist I had went ahead and got the 7"

The dual action would take a long time to cut through that wouldn't it?

 

[JDNobodi]

I thought your rails looked too clean. Rust on the bed rails is a common problem. Well, at least for me. You just found the P/O repair. The worst part is the bed rail is the transition between the interior and exterior.
Ryoken is the one of the best to advise you how to repair this.

 

[ryoken]

not too bad, run some 50 to 80 grit.. a DA would rip right thru it with 60 on it.. but a palm sander will get it done too.... remember, your just trying to remove material so you can do a final hit with the blaster...



yeah, my makita is a variable speed buffer...


like this

i run everything on it from 2 + 2 buffing pad to 7" cutoff wheels, 7" stone wheels, and 7" grinding discs like i posted on a black plate.... i also do some flatpaddiung with it...

 

[ryoken]

oh, and you can bet that a lot of that filler, primer isn't necessary... ton's of bodyman leave stuff too thick...

 

[Chief Brody]

That's a nice Makita...I bet they are worth the money...my Harbor Freight has rough sounding bearings...

What would you do? Just scuff the whole inside bed with a cup brush or sandblast it?

 

[ryoken]

well, i'd probably see how it sands... i assume your using a palm sander like this...

if not, go buy one, they can usually had for $50 or less... i'd start hitting the bed with that and see how it does... try something in the 80 to 150 range and just spot prime any bare spots ya make..

if it's ripping down pretty good and ya think blasting to clean steel wouldn't be too bad after some sanding, have at it...

 

[Chief Brody]

Yes, my DA is sort of like that...it has a round base where the round sanding discs attach with the hook-and-eye stuff...I think it is a Black and Decker

 

[Chief Brody]

Go ahead and show me what kind of filler I am going to need to use

 

[ryoken]

eh, tomorrow i'll do a filler write up for ya.. fair amount to cover for ya... got an early morn tomorrow...

i really need to start saving my pm's.. pretty sure i just wrote a pretty extensive one for someone recently...

 

[Chief Brody]

Thanks!

 

[Chief Brody]

Holy crap! I may be in over my head but I am going to have to learn quick...I talked to a guy today about painting my Blazer inside and out and doing the necessary bodywork...
He said it would be $8000 and that's if everything is as it appears....his work is show quality...absolutely beautiful. But he said it would take up to 8 months to get it done because insurance jobs pay the bills.

Can I learn to paint a whole truck? I am happy with the finish on my glovebox...if I am willing to hand wetsand the clearcoat, why can't I duplicate that?

I dunno...I was a little shocked at the estimate...I had originally figured $4000 would take care of it...$8000 wouldn't be too bad if I was getting a rotisserie job...

I am not going to jump into anything right now,,,need to think and consider...first I will attempt to do the body filler on the bed rails and see how that turns out.

 

[JDNobodi]

I'm amazed every time I hear how much to paint a vehicle.
It seem like it goes up exponentially every decade.