Thinking of Painting the K5

[m1ndless]

Well I just bought my 79 about a month ago, right now it is white and is in pretty bad shape, I was thinking of fixing the body and painting it, but I cannot decided on a few things.

I am going to be doing a "at home" paint job, now should I do rattle cans or should I invest in a sprayer?

Secondly, I am thinking of a dark gray or charcoal color, what do you guys think?

Thirdly, do I need to sand down all the way to metal to paint it? What about the hard top?

Any tips? As this is my first time painting a car myself, I did soem touch up work on my k5 yesterday, and decided I should do the whole thing. I will put up pictures soon

 

[dremu]

Well I just bought my 79 about a month ago, right now it is white and is in pretty bad shape, I was thinking of fixing the body and painting it, but I cannot decided on a few things.

I am going to be doing a "at home" paint job, now should I do rattle cans or should I invest in a sprayer?

Secondly, I am thinking of a dark gray or charcoal color, what do you guys think?

Thirdly, do I need to sand down all the way to metal to paint it? What about the hard top?

Any tips? As this is my first time painting a car myself, I did soem touch up work on my k5 yesterday, and decided I should do the whole thing. I will put up pictures soon

Sanding the top down to the metal would be hard

Me, I'd rattle can it ... but it depends on how nice you want. Search, it's been covered ... look for any of my posts about my trucks. I've rattlecanned two and did one with the sprayer, it's kinda a tossup.

Also look for anything ryoken has said.

Really, the key is prep, prep, and prep. Clean, sand, clean, sand, clean, bondo, sand, clean, bondo, sand, sand, clean ... etc.

-- A

 

[m1ndless]

I meant do I need to do any real sanding to the top, I am WELL aware that the camper is not made of metal. Lol

 

[dremu]

I meant do I need to do any real sanding to the top, I am WELL aware that the camper is not made of metal. Lol

Hey, don't I get to TRY and be funny? =))

Anyway, that also has been covered ... I've only done one K5 top (the other is topless and the pickup is, of course, a pickup.) I lightly sanded it to take the crap off, but the previous owner, the local PD, had painted it well so I just primered over that.

-- A

 

[rjfguitar]

Take it to Maaco, Miracle, or Mr. Sheib. For $1000 you can get a nice paint job as long as your body isn't full of rust and/or dents.

People will quote me and say Maaco is junk or what not.... It's cheaper than a factory style $3K job and will come out a heck of a lot better than an amateur can do without a spray booth and pro knowledge.

 

[ryoken]

S
Also look for anything ryoken has said.

i feel, Oh so special.

Mindlust, go search around the body shop forum... lots of long posts in there..

If you want a metallic, don't plan on rattle cans.. it'll look like utter sh*t..

If its got 1 paint job, factory, painting over that is fine.. if its been painted a bunch of times, it's advisable to sand it down to a reasonable amount of mils, as paint jobs have a tendency to craze, etc when paint is too thick..

I can answer anything you want to know, but do some searching first, I hate repeating myself on body tech, as I usually end up writing novels...

 

[littlejimmythatcould]

Try this, lots of good info. It was the tread that helped me out when I painted my truck. Hope this link works.

http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=168236

 

[ryoken]

Man, that threads always gonna keep coming up...

Thats one thing about my new marina, I haven't rolled and tipped a boat since I've been here... I leave all that bs to the house painter/varnish dude...

 

[littlejimmythatcould]

Yeah, that's what I figured but it really helped me out. I'm still kind of a newb so I remember what it was like to when someone handed that thread down to me. I thought I'd keep the tradition going.

 

[ryoken]

Just not one of my better intraweb moments...

It's all good....

 

[Thunder]

Just paint it yourself
I painted my k5 last summer. I wasn't out to get a show truck, and beings I was just going to dent it or scratch it up again i really did not go too all out with body work.Besides I hate body work. I didn't do the hard top because it looked good.
I sanded most of the old paint/primer off because It was GMs famous high quality paint that flakes off and leaves huge patches of primer showing. Ahhh the paint job that looks different after every car wash..
Sanded it down using a DA with 80 grit then finished up with 100&120
Used a cheap sprayer that I bought on sale at Checker for 12.00.
Primed 2 coats with dupont nason Ful Fil primer. Great thick sandable primer that coverd and smoothed out the many imperfections in my lousy body work.
For paint I used 2 coats of Dupont Fulcryl exact color match to my stock color. Very easy paint to spray no drips runs or sags. just be sure to mix &reduce according to instructions.
My K5 turned out looking great. Way better than I expected. Took me about 8 hours to prep it. Then shot it in my garage. Left the doors open because even with a charcoal canister mask Fulcryl is nasty stuff to breathe in a closed up space.
Total cost was only around 130 for everything. Way better job than rattle can for about the same price. Doing the hard top would have cost more but the cost would still be under $200.
I am not a painter I have only painted a couple of cars. Its not that hard.
As said above the better the prep work the better the paint job.
You can do just as good or better of job yourself than getting a cheapo paint job at a in and out paint shop. For wayy less money.

Not The best pics. Blazer looks dirty because I invested is a couple cans of that spray on mud to protect the paint. But it looks way better than it did with half the paint flaking off in big splotches.

 

[fatbob]

Get a cheap sprayer [$30] and a gallon of that rustoleum mentioned in that mopar link [$25-30], and start your education.

reasons

1 Depending on the quality of rattlecans, you could
easily spend as much or more and get less paint.

2 Your first paint job is not going to be that great, but
you will start to get the hang of the spraygun by the
time you get done. And you will have enough paint left over to shoot it again if you get a gallon.
3 This paint is a lot easier on your lungs than the real
stuff.

You COULD get a better job doing like the other guys mention, but you'll get a decent job for cheap this way

Bob

 

[Drey]

Hey thunder whats that color code? That is the color my truck originally was, I couldnt find it at the time but ive always wondered what it was.

 

[Thunder]

I dont know the color code I think it is listed somewhere on the glovebox sticker But I know GM called color "Light French Blue"
I took my Gas cap cover down to the paint guy at my local Carquest and he matched the orginal color exactly right down to the metallic content.

 

[76zimmer]

Just not one of my better intraweb moments...

It's all good....

Certainly not mine Paul,
thanks again for setting me straight in noobland.

 

[ryoken]

Certainly not mine Paul,
thanks again for setting me straight in noobland.

Eh, I reread the thread myself and thought to myself how harsh I was with ya, not realizing what a cool dude you'd turn out to be...

Live and learn..

 

[76zimmer]

Eh, I reread the thread myself and thought to myself how harsh I was with ya, not realizing what a cool dude you'd turn out to be...

Live and learn..

I'm not worthy....

 

[Thunder]

I like fatbobs post on what you should do to paint your Blazer. Rustolium is good stuff. Its cheap, Lung frendly, and a gallon will give you a nice paint job. Espicially in grey tones. You said you wanted to paint it grey. Grey covers real well and covers mistakes. Grey Looks good too on a truck
Learn to spray your truck your self. i guarentee you will be happy with the results.
Yeah you can use spray paint cans. but it will take 3 coats. Spray paint is thinned out a lot and does not reallly contain a lot of paint. The stuff will come off when you wax it. It will take around 2-3 cases to paint your Blazer with enough paint to look Good for a few years. Spray can painting sounds easy.... Untill you pick up a spray gun.

 

[m1ndless]

Woah, that mopar link is awesome, I am going to be doing that, I have to do a little body work first though. I cannot decided on a color, I was thinking possible two tone, black and gray, the top and bottom parts charcoal gray with a 2ftish glash stripe along the sides? Or just alll charcoal gray..


Or should I do a bright blue, and call it the smurf-mobile?

EDIT kind of like this guys..

 

[ryoken]

Hope you have a ton of time (and sandpaper), cuz thats what a nice roll and tip job takes...

As the others said, your better off buying a cheap gun, cheap paint (heck you can get gallons of enamel, hardener and reducer for under $100, as a much more durable alternative to Rustoleum) and blasting away... It'll take 1/20th the time...