Well, I started some body work...

[1STGENFARMBOY]

dang-it Caleb..i have a perfect right bed side i could have brought with me to SOP, and i could cut it on the seems
where it would be easy to fit in, not 1 ding in it. it might be nicer than trying to fix
a bad bedside, holler if you want me to hang on to it for you.

[cmann250]

Thanks Darwin. I'm not going to get anywhere in this cold weather, so it will be a while. I'll keep you in mind though

[1STGENFARMBOY]

It ain't going anywhere, it's a bed that came off of tampabaybills truck when we did the bed swap at my house.
i just keep stuff piled in it, i have it up off the ground so unless a tree falls on it it should be good if you need it.

[cmann250]

It's almost April and I'm starting to think about this project again. Mother Nature did not get the memo that it is spring and I'm staring out my window at 8" of snow at the moment. Oh well, my truck improvement spirit cannot be crushed!

To bring this thread up to date, I bought an '88 D150 a few months ago and it donated it's bed and fenders to the cause. The DS fender is perfect and will not recieve a drop of filler. The PS fender is good, but it does have a golf ball sized dent by the antenna. The bed's straight with the exception of both rear corners where the bumper pushed into it at some point. The wheel wheels are rusted through, but that's easily fixable and to be expected with any truck that old within a 500 mile radius. I have a tail gate in great shape courtesy of one Mr. Andrew Hineman that just needs the guts installed and color. Overall the "new stuff" is alot better than what I have now. Those that have met my truck can attest to the fact that it is farm fresh to the max.

I'm going to patch, sand, fill, prime, paint, and clear when work and weather cooperate. After my efforts last fall, I'm sure it's impossible to daily drive and do body work on a vehicle at the same time.

Now for some questions:
- Patch panels: I was advised to hold up the panel, trace around, measure 1/2" inside the line, mark, and cut on the inner line to make room for an overlap. Then drill a few holes, run some screws into it to keep it in place, and weld away. After that, fill the holes, grind the welds down, and feather it out with filler. Seems like a good idea, especially since I've seen this guy's work and he offered to help me do it. Second opinions?
- Sand blaster: Yes or no? If yes, what kind of sand? I have a good industrial compressor at my disposal and I'll rig up a water trap.
- Air block sander: I think a Northern Tool one should suffice for the duration of the project. Pointers?
- Primer: I was using a Rustoleum primer before. It is a zinc-chromate, which I was lead to think was the most important part. Should I pony up the big bucks for a fancy primer?
- Paint: As per 1STGENFARMBOY's suggestion, I'm going with a Nauson (spelling?) paint that O'Reilly's carries. I need a suggestion on when to paint. Could I get away with putting color on the fenders and hood one day, bed the next, and the cab a week later? I'd be most worried about temperature, humidity, and my marginal mixing skills resulting in different shades of blue. Any insight here?

Thanks in advance. There's more than a few good looking trucks on this site that motivate me to improve mine.

[Mark Nixon]

If I know one thing about painting, you want to do all of the most visible color all at once, if possible, from one batch of paint.
Otherwise you run the risk of having light and dark panels.
Now, if you're wanting to edge out panels, or paint the underside or the engine compartment, you know, places it would be very hard to tell the difference, THEN you could get away with doing it piecemeal.

Mark.

[dazedandconfused]

Okay my suggestion is to use walnut shells in the blaster and paint stripper on the big areas. Do your body work and spray with high build etching primer on bare metal and over the repairs. Block sand it all back down and high build again if needed. Block that and spray with sealer. Spray color on all the door jambs, back of fenders, under hood, back of cab and front of bed. Put it all back together and spray the entire truck in one shot. We have painted many outside over the years. Usually we try to do it earlier in the morning before bugs get bad and it gets humid.

[cmann250]

My gut instinct said do the color all at once, but thanks for the conformation.

I think I've come to terms that what will work on a tractor won't necessarily work on a truck I can't shake that "farmer" voice in the back of my head.

I think I understand high build primer (it acts like it's really thick and it fills in imprefections) and I read up a bit on sealer (keeps primer and color separate, protects primer).

[dazedandconfused]

Yeap and make sure you use a primer and sealer that is recommended by the paint manufacturers.

[PToombs]

They make mixing cups with graduations on them that work well to keep batches uniform. You pour in 6oz of paint, 3oz of hardener, and 20oz of thinner and get it real close every time. (or whatever the ratio is) Humidity will make the paint cloud, it really sucks!

[1STGENFARMBOY]

like Pete said, do not paint in high humidity, use the 3M fill-n-sand primer, it's a bit pricey but very good, i would make a make shift plastic paint booth with a furnace filter in one side and a cheap box fan blowing out in the other, wet the floor before you paint, if you have the panels off while doing the body work after your done with all the welding spray a heavy coat of a good undercoating on the back side, moisture comming in from the back after your done is your worst nightmare with bondo.

paint the color all at one time, the paint shop will try to sell you a reducer to match the outside air temp, but get the slowest drying reducer they sell ( it will be easer to run but at the same time alot easer to keep flowing and keep shiny, the down fall is it will stay tacky longer colecting bugs and dust.

a good sugestion for bugs and dust is, as soon as your done shooting turn off the lights and go in the house, you can admire your work in the morning.

pick up a cheap 25.00 gun to spray the primer and sealer, it's just better this way.

use the crap out of the inline air sander ( air file) or what ever they call it, dont sand on it without a block on your paper.

i don't like using a sandblaster myself on panels, i would rather use 40grit on my inline sander to strip it, you can find hidden dents that way, now if you have a problem rust spot the by all means blast it, i also like to use a 4 inch grinder where my filler is in contact with the metal, it gives it a good profile to hang on to.

when your wet sanding set up a light where you can look at the reflection on the panel ( it shows bad spots better ).

where the bed corners are dented try to beat it out with a hammer best you can before filling.

[jerseybud]

Now for some questions:
- Patch panels: I was advised to hold up the panel, trace around, measure 1/2" inside the line, mark, and cut on the inner line to make room for an overlap. Then drill a few holes, run some screws into it to keep it in place, and weld away. After that, fill the holes, grind the welds down, and feather it out with filler. Seems like a good idea, especially since I've seen this guy's work and he offered to help me do it. Second opinions?
-
- Primer: I was using a Rustoleum primer before. It is a zinc-chromate, which I was lead to think was the most important part. Should I pony up the big bucks for a fancy primer?

For your patch panels, are you flanging the sheetmetal to accept the patch? If so I would use a panel adhesive to minimize dead space and moisture collection and rust BUT I would also leave spaces to weld near the corners/long straight runs. If you are saying the outer patch panels overlaps the exxisting sheetmetal, that ~1/16 gap is not going to be able to be smoothed properly. Its either butt weld or flange for a perfect smooth surface.

I'm a big fan of epoxy primer.

[cmann250]

OOOOOOOOOOKKKKKKKKKKKK......

I dinked around with my sheet metal some today. The PS wheel well trim was hiding a rust through. I did beat some dents out and sanded those nibs for the trim off the fenders and one side of the bed. That rust through made me mad enough to decide to not put one speck of trim back on, only CTD badges and the mandatory Goat. Maybe one day this week after work I'll weld in the holes for the trim on the fenders and doors. I know I need to get an inline sander before I do much more.

Now I'm ready to buy primer. Who can help me make sense of primer? This is the last time I promise I've seen both high build and epoxy primer thrown around in this thread. Is that an either/or or both/and situation? I like the protection of the epoxy and the smoothness of the high build.

Thoughts?

[93oneton]

I just primed mine with a high build, once it goes to my buddies place who is painting it for me he will spray a sealer over the whole thing right be for paint. From what I understand it just ads some extra protection. The primer I used wasn't a primer sealer. I'll go look and see what brand it was but he swears by it.

[1STGENFARMBOY]

I have always used 3M fill-n-sand high build, then wet block with 400g, then seal and paint.

[cmann250]

I have always used 3M fill-n-sand high build, then wet block with 400g, then seal and paint.

I've googled "3M fill n sand" several times and I didn't find anything that sounded reasonable. I suppose when planting is done, I'll have time to go into to town and look around at the paint shop.

Thanks Dar and oneton