First time "real" painting.

[hey mister]

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.

 

[Robert Bare]

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!

 

[CountKrunk]

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.

 

[hey mister]

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!

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.

 

[Grit dog]

@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. What necessitated 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 wouldn’t even use primer likely if just re-spraying something a different color.

 

[pnwnvrdn]

"Taco"?

 

[nvrenuf]

"Taco"?

Toyota Tacoma