First time "real" painting.

Popped that cherry this afternoon.
Other than some airbrush-ing in high school, I've never painted with anything other than a rattle can.
And let me just say, "Holy Krap" that $$$$ is expensive.
Over $200 just in a quart of urathane primer and all the ******-berries that goes with it. I stopped and got a el'chepo hazard fraught hvlp gun. I had the compressor and trap manifold already.

So, a few days ago I was pruising the pull-a-part and stumbled upon a Taco of 1 year newer than mine. I thought it was a mirage. You never see them in a bone yard, never. It had only been there 4 dsys. The hood was perfect-ish. The fenders, same. I couldn't believe it, and I hsd no tool with me, so I called a buddy who owes me big-time. 20 minutes passed like 20 days. Soon we had the hood off, as 2 other guys came walking up. One asks, "are ya gonna be taking that hood?" (No, we pulled it off, so the engine could bask in the warm sun."...here's your sign.)
"Yes, and I'm taking both fenders too." "Whatcha after?" He wanted the rad overflow tank.
So a few minutes later the driver's fender is off and they are still wrenching and cussing at that tank. Well, homer has to go get a 3/8" socket from the car in the parking lot (1/4 mile round trip) Great, while he's gone, I'll snatch the other fender. 6 or 7 bolts later, the frnder is off. But that OF tank is still hanging on. I swear it had more bolts than both fenders combined...and not one of them was SAE. (H.Y.S.) lol.

So the point to that whole sidebar is this..my taco needs a hood and fenders badly. I figured this would be a great opportunity to learn how to "real paint" car parts and practicing on the winter truck is perfect. Nobody cares if the paint job on a 24 year old taco looks like some knuckle head's first try.
So I'll learn on the taco and then go after the c10's fender rockers, and then color match the fiberglass cap.

So forgive me for this not being totally chevy, but it's sorta leading up to it.
I know 1 thing, that taco sheet metal is only .030 with paint on both sides...maybe 22g. I can move metal with my thumbs and I got girly hands and I'm old..and gray...so you know it's thin tin...lol. Seriously, I used old roller blade wheel and hockey puck to bang out dents...sheesh.

I told the guy at the paint store, the last time I felt like this was my wedding night...there was a lot of work leading up to it. It was only going to last a few minutes and it could either be blistful or total disappointment. And you won't know until it's too late.

So today, I shot my first 3 coats of primer. Let's just say I'm not disappointed. I'm not sure how she feels...lol

Anywho...wish me luck as I try to not disappoint.

Just going to warn people, be sure you only have friends around, no "bad" neighbors,or in an area where you have a hairbag "greenie" neighbor that might smell the fumes. Most paints, especially urethane's, are required to be sprayed in a booth that recycles and filters the air before releasing to the outside. Fines can be huge!

Its all in the prep! As we all know whether we've done it not lol.

Ill be popping my paint cherry on my truck and I'm just as nervous haha.

Robert Bare said:

Just going to warn people, be sure you only have friends around, no "bad" neighbors,or in an area where you have a hairbag "greenie" neighbor that might smell the fumes. Most paints, especially urethane's, are required to be sprayed in a booth that recycles and filters the air before releasing to the outside. Fines can be huge!

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I get the fumes thing. Fortunately, both my nearest neighbors have crntral A/C, so all they smell is their own recycled stank. And the guy 2 doors down, is too busy chain smoking weed (talk about stink) and drinking beer, the only thing he can smell is "failure". We have quite a bit of farming in the area so around here, stink can be a normal thing.

@hey mister cool to see you trying new stuff.
Couple comments to your post. 1. Paint expense. You’re right, ain’t cheap. But you’ll pay about double at the jobber shops as a cash customer than you can buy quality paint materials for online. Just like everything else in this world…..
2. Why 3 coats of primer on those panels? I presume they were straight and don’t need blocked, just repainted. Or even 1 coat? Depending on a couple things, I may not even use primer if just re-spraying something a different color. Except for repair areas of course.

"Taco"?

pnwnvrdn said:

"Taco"?

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Toyota Tacoma

Good luck with the project. I did body and paint for 20 years. Almost everything that could go bad I experienced at one time or another. Bugs crawling across a hood in the clear, drips, runs, dirt, water and the big one lifting. Follow instructions to the letter. Use proper material and allow enough time between coats.

You said 3 coats of primer. Keep in mind excessive material can be as bad as not enough.

Don't feel bad about sharing. You're not alone in this quest. Although I seem to always do things the hardest way possible, dive in head first, don't bother starting small, and somehow usually manage to not screw it up too badly.

My paint is supposed to be here Tuesday. Weather guessers have me thinking I'll cut out of work early this Friday to do final prep, and I'll be spraying sealer and color Saturday.

I've done a lot of minor touch up painting over the years, but it was on things that don't matter, like aircraft parts. lol My 1st time painting a whole vehicle, and of course its the wife's Suburban..... so it's been a MASSIVE undertaking. Hell, it'll probably take me at least 4hrs just to remask the truck later.

I see you're outside, well ventilated, but hopefully you have a good respirator? Suits/gloves and a good full-face are cheap-ish.

Grit dog said:

@hey mister cool to see you trying new stuff.
Couple comments to your post. 1. Paint expense. You’re right, ain’t cheap. But you’ll pay about double at the jobber shops as a cash customer than you can buy quality paint materials for online. Just like everything else in this world…..
2. Why 3 coats of primer on those panels? I presume they were straight and don’t need blocked, just repainted. Or even 1 coat? Depending on a couple things, I may not even use primer if just re-spraying something a different color. Except for repair areas of course.

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So the panels do have stone chips clear to metal with rust starting. No perfs, which totally surprised me.
So the 3 coats, was to get enuf on that when I sand down the bdeep spots will get filled snd I really needed the gun time.
And yes, just to get the hood painted if I did all the prep work was $350. Each fender was gonna be $150.
I am fortunate to have a very good paint shop about 7 miles away and they keep great hours and are always willing to help and answer ???.

I just sprayed my cab with epoxy primer yesterday - first time I pulled a spray gun trigger in 30 yrs. I thought it came out fine.

Today was told that I cannot paint over "cured" epoxy. ?! Never heard that before.

Update:
Hood looks good...I guess.
And then the sanding starts.
400g. Took 2-3 hours to sand it baby butt smoof, by hand. I got 1 tiny spec of metal showing thru on one corner...I think the coat was light or hand sand heavy.
Other than that, it's flawless. Not 1 dimple. I can't believe it. Fixed it.
So now it's ready for color on the next nice day.
Leaves and debris is starting to fall, so color will be done under a popup fly.

Doppleganger said:

I just sprayed my cab with epoxy primer yesterday - first time I pulled a spray gun trigger in 30 yrs. I thought it came out fine.

Today was told that I cannot paint over "cured" epoxy. ?! Never heard that before.

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What does the data sheet say?
It may take a special paint.

I know in my R/C hobby days, (1970's) there was a company that put out a phenominal epoxy paint. K&B Super Poxy. I ran that thru my Paashe airbrush. And painted a flame job on my hovercraft. Good times.

Doppleganger said:

I just sprayed my cab with epoxy primer yesterday - first time I pulled a spray gun trigger in 30 yrs. I thought it came out fine.

Today was told that I cannot paint over "cured" epoxy. ?! Never heard that before.

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Gonna depend on the product it seems, but most have a mandatory top coat time within 24hrs. I'm used to that working with a lot of epoxy primer in my work. After that window, you have to scuff sand and clean..... but unless its ACTUALLY cured, it sands like garbage. lol Easiest method I found was to get a sandable primer (or whatever topcoat) over it within that recoat window..... then not worry about it much. You run into adhesion issues if you don't follow that. In picking the brains of our painters at work, they'll use an adhesion promoter sometimes, if they're feeling lazy and don't wanna scuff an entire aircraft again. Spray it on, then follow with the topcoat.

hey mister said:

I got 1 tiny spec of metal showing thru on one corner...I think the coat was light or hand sand heavy.

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You can get high build in a spray can, for those burn through spots. Maybe not worth it for a small project though. Or some sealers are direct to metal, supposedly, if you're gonna use a sealer. I had a few of those. :/ Gotta watch those edges and corners, it's always thin there.

hey mister said:

What does the data sheet say?
It may take a special paint.

I know in my R/C hobby days, (1970's) there was a company that put out a phenominal epoxy paint. K&B Super Poxy. I ran that thru my Paashe airbrush. And painted a flame job on my hovercraft. Good times.

Click to expand...

Not much. Just heard this today, along with a '72 hr window' (was someone who does ALOT of higher end paint jobs too). I had always expected to have to scuff or sand it before high build primer, but never heard that it wont stick to 'cured' epoxy. WTF are you supposed to do - primer, seal, and paint all in one day? Only been 24hrs so I'd like to know if this is true or hype. I've known cars that sat in epoxy (covered) for years and then scuffed and finished. Dunno.