Order of Operations - Painting

[ckuske]

There is no reason to pay that much money for them to strip it down when you can do it for a fraction of the cost.

I fully agree.

Matter of time.

Stripping doesn’t take so much time.

But in my case, considering family and job, it took me several weeks to reinstall everything.

So, matter of time… and patience.

And at the end, it’s also matter of pride.

Nope it doesn't, and if you don't want to strip it yourself you can pay a mobile blasting company and come out still ahead. I won't be using the paint shop local cause they are getting insane on pricing and the quality has gone down over the last 5 years to the point we weren't recommending them at the shop I used to work at.

For me I plan on doing everything in steps so it allows me to schedule time that I know I will need for each stage.

I hadn't thought about having it blasted at home! That is tempting, as I'd feel a lot better about having a fresh surface to get painted. A few questions about that:

I'd probably only take the bed off (to get the back of the cab), and the maybe the front fenders. Good enough? I haven't taken the doors off before and don't necessarily want to try to be honest.

After blasting, how much do I need to work about flash rust? Should I try to primer myself and deliver it to the painter like that? Or get it to them the next day sort of thing if I don't primer it?

I have a flareside - is the blasting safe for the fiberglass bed flares?

[ckuske]

For weather strips, I went with LMC.

https://www.lmctruck.com/door-components/door-glass-parts/fd-1980-96-door-glass-and-components

https://www.lmctruck.com/body-components/exterior-rubber/fd-1980-96-hood-door-and-window-rubber

Thanks Jeff! I'll check it out. I have to look into replacing the felt/track of my sliding rear window. The outer window gasket is pretty easy to find, but I need to rehab all the surface that the panes slide on as well if that makes sense.

[ckuske]

For paint if you want to do it right you want to remove the glass and the weather stripping so you can paint and clear behind the weather stripping and you dont have to deal with the glass getting paint on it.

Lots of places do quote $20,000+ for stripping down and painting. You can strip it down yourself quite a bit and save money, a local paint shop quoted me $15,000 starting to strip all the paint off my dad's El Camino, but only $5,000 to 80 grit sandpaper the entire car and respray it. Cheaper option I realized is to contact one of those dustless mobile blaster companies that charge under $1,000 to come out to you use a water-based blaster to strip all the paint off your vehicle and then take it in for paint. There is no reason to pay that much money for them to strip it down when you can do it for a fraction of the cost.

For my truck however, what I planned on doing when I get to the paint stage I am going to pull the bed off and drive the truck to whoever I have paint it and have the glass removed (need new weather stripping for back sliding glass window) and then have the truck repainted in its proper Midnight Blue Metallic and Argent Silver two tone. Only thing is I haven't priced out how much I would be charged to have the pinstriping painted on, I got a NOS passenger side set of light blue/medium blue factory pinstriping but rather use that as a pattern and a source for the proper color blues. Once the cab is done then I was going to trailer the bed in have the bed done, and I would put the wood in and place it on myself. This will save money and it will ensure the paint shop don't try and cheap out by just misting clear between the cab and the bed.

On the wood bed it depends on what your plan is, if you plan on doing like the factory and have the wood and bed rails painted body color then replace the wood before paint. If you plan on doing like me and going with polished stainless bed rails and stained wood then replace the wood after paint. Doing it after the paint allows for the paint shop to make mistakes and get over spray on the old wood vs getting it on your new wood.

Regarding the pinstripe - have you seen this kit from Phoenix Graphix? Even though it sounds goofy, I'd prefer to keep the vinyl over a paint pinstripe.

[Rusty_S85]

I hadn't thought about having it blasted at home! That is tempting, as I'd feel a lot better about having a fresh surface to get painted. A few questions about that:

I'd probably only take the bed off (to get the back of the cab), and the maybe the front fenders. Good enough? I haven't taken the doors off before and don't necessarily want to try to be honest.

After blasting, how much do I need to work about flash rust? Should I try to primer myself and deliver it to the painter like that? Or get it to them the next day sort of thing if I don't primer it?

I have a flareside - is the blasting safe for the fiberglass bed flares?

On the fiberglass you will have to verify with the blasting company but generally it doesnt hurt bright metal trim or glass so I assume it shouldnt harm fiberglass but still Id verify before though.

I dont know what I might run into on removing the fiberglass fenders I never removed them before but I know on mine I want all the old paint removed so if there is any hidden rust that it can be properly treated. I also know the bed rails will have to be fixed as well as I currently have a camper screwed down to the bed rails so those holes will need to be welded up also.

You could primer yourself but you have to be careful cause some primers will cause issues with the color coat. I got my paint for my hood from a local paint shop they sold me acrylic lacquer primer and enamel single stage paint top coat. Went on fine but with in a few weeks the top coat split and curled up down to the primer. That was a reaction between the acrylic lacquer primer and the enamel top coat.

[Rusty_S85]

Regarding the pinstripe - have you seen this kit from Phoenix Graphix? Even though it sounds goofy, I'd prefer to keep the vinyl over a paint pinstripe.

Yep Ive seen that pinstripe before, it would be more work to cut it and shape it like the OE than to simply mask off and paint the pinstripe on.

See mine is not a simple horizontal stripe like they are showing, mine creates a box on the cab and the flare side fenders then I have a curved S shape piece to break up the two tone roof and lower cab.

I dont have a stock photo from the ebay auction for the pinstripe kit I purchased and its currently put up and I dont like taking it out of the box as the decals are a pain to get back in properly.

But my truck uses the following two pinstripe designs which I could in theory duplicate with their pinstripe I just dont know how I would duplicate the curved pieces for the cab roof and around the wheel arch.

As far as decal vs paint goes, I personally prefer paint it makes for easier polish/waxing as you dont have polish/wax trying to build up along the sharp edge of the decal. It also is more likely to get caught and scratched off being raised up. My plan was to have the pinstriping painted on before the clear then have it cleared over then block sanded and cleared again in a layering process to give a smooth finish without being able to feel the edge of the painted on pinstriping.

Something like that will cost more money but I am willing to pay for it.

[Rusty_S85]

Thanks Jeff! I'll check it out. I have to look into replacing the felt/track of my sliding rear window. The outer window gasket is pretty easy to find, but I need to rehab all the surface that the panes slide on as well if that makes sense.

hit up ebay and look for NOS parts.

I picked the following up off ebay, this is the weather strip for the back stationary glass.

I haven't looked lately however to see about the other weather stripping for the sliding back glass, but my plan is to get my factory back slider removed without damage so any rust damage can be repaired and then I am going to put the back glass back in using NOS rubber pieces where possible to essentially rebuild. They do sell a reproduction back slider, but it has its own latch and doesn't use the reproduction latch. I wouldn't go with that unless the body shop screws up on removal of the back glass and breaks it.