helidriver

Ok, so I finally had the guts to take tool to paint a few weeks ago. The old paint had been beat up after most of it's life in LA, Ca. SUN BAKED. Made it worse so were the decals. I love the old throw back designs but once they bake on and dry out...... look bad and hard to remove.

After I picked her up on a move back to Oregon the week paint started to give way on the hood to light surface rust..... Then the move a couple years later to North Carolina were she sat in the humidity of summer while I was in Iraq for 7mo. the rust doubled and started blistering the paint in spots from undernieth.

So after doing alot of research on here (swimmer boy... thanks) watching others working out. I had the balls to begin...... heres my story so far....

BackGateYota92

good luck man!!!

helidriver

I started on the hood. There was no playing with the damn stripes..... Cracked and dried out, just had to start sanding. Took a corded drill and a 80grit circles and went to town..... Rust was pretty shotgunned over much of the hood so wasn't real worried about hitting metal cause I was going to have to do it all over the hood anyway.....

helidriver

Took along time getting the hood stripes sanded down......

helidriver

So after I got it all sanded and no more rusty spots that I could see it was time for primer. I'd got down to bare steel about 25% of the hood or more at that point. My "mentor" had said once I was ready hit it with "self-etching" primer on just the bare metal spots. So much of the hood had been exposed and to practice controling where the paint went and didn't go I decided to do the whole hood and get it all even blended. Hit the bald spots with ascetone to clean the oils from sweat and started spraying. Took about one can of primer....

Worked out ok. Wasn't expecting anything too dificult and wasn't suprised. Made sure that I got the seem between fender and hood real well too cause getting the edges of the hood I of course got abit of the fender too and can't leave that bare for long around here.....

helidriver

Next day took 220 and 400 to the primer. got it nice and smooth. evened out some of the edges and some of the stripeing residue again. hit the few little spots i wore through to bare metal again and added another base coat and a few layers to the thin spots.... came out real nice....

helidriver

Then came the rest of the stripeing on the fenders and doors. I was at my sons football practice and started thumbing at it as a waited for the 2hr practice to wrap up and found the top decal layer was peeling up nicely. Got alot of wierd looks as I peeled most of the drivers side before practice was done in the parking lot. as long as you could keep each stripe together past the cracked or chiped parts it mostly stayed together long enoug to peel off.

Spent a Saturday night till 2am getting the not so easy parts off. finally after finger nails worn down, throbing thumbs, and seized joints got the rest off. Had to use a razor blade in spots cause I was getting tunnel vision and just wanted to finish it with what was on hand in the garage. Hind sight I should have borrowed the wifes hair drier or waited till morning to buy a heat gun like on 4Crawlers threads...... but it started so well with just a finger nail.....

In the end, razor blade not the best idea. dug into the paint a couple times. Oh, and wearing flipflops not a great pairing with the razor blade. Damn thing likes to slip out of your worn down fingers and land on your exposed toes..... Got myself a couple times....

Nervo19

I'll be watching this thread! How do I subscribe?

helidriver

The decal sticker part was off and done.... but then there was still the part of the adhesive/glue layer was still left. Talked to my "mentor" again and he told me to get a eraser wheel for the drill. Found one at CarQuest and went to it today.... worked AWSOME..... other then it being 100000 % humidity outside (I hate North Carolina).....

After that started sanding the razor gouges out and softening everything out. Removed the trim. Was on a roll when a thunderstorm from NO WHERE!!!.... ( i hate North Carolina) put an end to the day..... More tomorrow I hope.

helidriver

"Thread Tools" on top right hand side..... opposite "post Reply"

MKtaco_98

Ive been thinking about repainting the huge scratch alongside my truck, Subscribed!

helidriver

Well don't go following me on some damn fool cursade like i got all the answers. I'm learning as I go starting from straight NO WHERE!! lol. Just from what I've read here and what my new buddy tells me I "should" do. I'm a Marine and on base we have a auto hobby shop were you can take your vehicle and work on it. They got lifts and tools to check out. Also a staff to "help" with advise on what your project is....... I went in there to see if they had a paint room and just happend to bump into another yota freak. He happend to mentioned he builds and paints for fun.... Said he'd guide me through it and once I was done with the prep work I can come over to his place and spray....

So that's the extent of my base knowledge.....

helidriver

Anybody used any Duplicolor paint? I'm getting to that point of picking brands..... Sherman Williams I hear is pretty expensive. Was looking for something a step nicer then rustoleum...

anyone have any good luck with any other brands???

MKtaco_98

Haha ya ill be practicing before i actually paint it maybe on my brothers 4 runner, and i have some body work to do just another good thread to watch for a future project

helidriver

hope i can help. hardest part so far is just getting up the balls to start. tomorrow goingt o finish the easy sanding of the body then drop the top and get the sunroof out and give it a good sanding, i'm pretty sure it's leaking.... then try and take out the molding around the windshield without breaking it.... haha

last is that damn cowling on the front! I know that's going to be a B($%#@ to sand all the rust off.... but hell, then i'll be ready to take it down and spray.....

phildelfino

Keep posting and taking pics.

The hardest part IS getting started and getting over your "I've never done this before" fear.

Nervo19

Well I'm following blindly like you got the answers... I'd really like to try painting. Some people on the 'net seem to like www.paintforcars.com and www.autocolorlibrary.com With auto color library you can get the exact factory color or paint it any factory color you like. What color are you planning to paint it?

helidriver

my first truck was black..... I think i'll going back to black. what do you all think? here's some of my inspiration.....

helidriver

here's some ideas. I love the old retro designs. really looks good. I MAY be able to get some extra color and get a design going....

AZkid

i say black, always looks good imo