"Rocky" - 1981 F250 Restoration

[Gary Lewis]

I'll work on it more this week, I've just been stalling taking off the front bumper again. Right now I have the truck parked facing the street so I can work on paint-prep more easily on the driver's side. The HOA here is antsy about unregistered vehicles and I don't need the hassle if their goons can't see the plate.

Speaking of paint prep I have the driver's side in primer now. Looks pretty good though this is really just a guide coat. The driver's side was REALLY rough, it looked like a speckled egg it had so many tiny rust spots. I didn't want to take it all down to bare metal but also didn't want to leave any rust so I hit it with a mix of wire brushes and flap discs to get it all. This primer will get mostly sanded back off to help level out the base again.

And obviously also some bondo. I know I'll get lucky to have the rear fender rust area last very long but that's OK. I already have some cab corners in the garage and I'll be getting some fender sections as well, but my welding skills aren't quite "sheet metal" category yet so I just need to get by until then.

That seems like a good plan. And should give a decent finish.

[taskswap]

That seems like a good plan. And should give a decent finish.

A little progress the past few days. Starting to get warmer weather here. Actually the big challenge is that when it does get warm, it can sometimes spike way up there and be almost too HOT to paint. But I managed to get a few paint steps done on the driver's side:

1. Wire-brushed/flap-disked all rust.

2. Bondo-filled all "major holes" (until I get better at welding thin sheet metal, this is my only real option) and "minor dents" (I filled small dents but left the big ones as "patina" or whatever you want to call it).

3. Wet sanded to 240 grit.

4. Applied glazing compound to the entire surface.

5. Wet sanded to 320 grit. I've never used glazing compound before, this stuff is a game-changer. The small pinholes and other defects it fills are just amazing. Previously I'd dealt with these with alternating coats of high-build primer and wet-sanding, but the glazing was way faster.

6. Applied 2 coats of white to the center band. I had a change of heart on being all red. I'd bought that white paint already, why not see how it goes? If it looks good I can just redo the center of the passenger side to match it. (I didn't mask it because I'll mask for the top/bottom when I apply the red).

The pic doesn't do it justice. To be honest the white looks so good I almost wish I'd gone all-white. You don't see the minor defects as much, and it seems to be a higher quality paint. For reference, I have Rustoleum High Performance Enamel for the white and Rustoleum Stops Rust for the red. The "high performance" product is much less susceptible to runs and drips, although it seems to come out more spotty so overspray is more of a problem.

I wet-sanded the color coat to 320 grit mostly to address two or three runs, not bad for a rattle-can run on the entire side. Tomorrow I'll apply a final color coat and if the weather (wind) allows, the first of 2-3 clear coats.

 

[Gary Lewis]

A little progress the past few days. Starting to get warmer weather here. Actually the big challenge is that when it does get warm, it can sometimes spike way up there and be almost too HOT to paint. But I managed to get a few paint steps done on the driver's side:

1. Wire-brushed/flap-disked all rust.

2. Bondo-filled all "major holes" (until I get better at welding thin sheet metal, this is my only real option) and "minor dents" (I filled small dents but left the big ones as "patina" or whatever you want to call it).

3. Wet sanded to 240 grit.

4. Applied glazing compound to the entire surface.

5. Wet sanded to 320 grit. I've never used glazing compound before, this stuff is a game-changer. The small pinholes and other defects it fills are just amazing. Previously I'd dealt with these with alternating coats of high-build primer and wet-sanding, but the glazing was way faster.

6. Applied 2 coats of white to the center band. I had a change of heart on being all red. I'd bought that white paint already, why not see how it goes? If it looks good I can just redo the center of the passenger side to match it. (I didn't mask it because I'll mask for the top/bottom when I apply the red).

The pic doesn't do it justice. To be honest the white looks so good I almost wish I'd gone all-white. You don't see the minor defects as much, and it seems to be a higher quality paint. For reference, I have Rustoleum High Performance Enamel for the white and Rustoleum Stops Rust for the red. The "high performance" product is much less susceptible to runs and drips, although it seems to come out more spotty so overspray is more of a problem.

I wet-sanded the color coat to 320 grit mostly to address two or three runs, not bad for a rattle-can run on the entire side. Tomorrow I'll apply a final color coat and if the weather (wind) allows, the first of 2-3 clear coats.

That really does look good. I think I'm sold on the all white, but white and red will look good as well. However, is that red a "finish" type of paint?

[taskswap]

That really does look good. I think I'm sold on the all white, but white and red will look good as well. However, is that red a "finish" type of paint?

Waaaaeeeellllll the can says it is :) I've got experience now with 5-6 different brands and "models" of paints and I'd have to say the red is probably at the low end. In a future project I want to get into better paint gear and products, but for Rocky... this'll do for Frostbite Falls Minnesota if you know what I mean!

I didn't get a good pic yet but I've started masking now for the red. I hit all the straight lines already but I'm still waiting for my "automotive curves" tape to arrive. I'm not known for my patience, we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Where I'm masking, I'm re-applying a coat of white on the edge-to-be-painted side to seal it so nothing bleeds under. I think I'm more or less doing things "right" by the books, just maybe not always with the best gear, environment, or experience. It's fun though...

My next "project" on Rocky will still be the front winch mount, I'm just dealing with the weather. Since I can't pick it, if it sun's up and the wind is down, I'm painting and nothing else. I only get so many days of that here in early spring...

[Gary Lewis]

Waaaaeeeellllll the can says it is :) I've got experience now with 5-6 different brands and "models" of paints and I'd have to say the red is probably at the low end. In a future project I want to get into better paint gear and products, but for Rocky... this'll do for Frostbite Falls Minnesota if you know what I mean!

I didn't get a good pic yet but I've started masking now for the red. I hit all the straight lines already but I'm still waiting for my "automotive curves" tape to arrive. I'm not known for my patience, we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Where I'm masking, I'm re-applying a coat of white on the edge-to-be-painted side to seal it so nothing bleeds under. I think I'm more or less doing things "right" by the books, just maybe not always with the best gear, environment, or experience. It's fun though...

My next "project" on Rocky will still be the front winch mount, I'm just dealing with the weather. Since I can't pick it, if it sun's up and the wind is down, I'm painting and nothing else. I only get so many days of that here in early spring...

I think you'll be fine in Frostbite Falls, but maybe not in Moosylvania.

Anyway, keep on keeping on. I'm anxious to see how it comes out.

[rcarlisle]

Waaaaeeeellllll the can says it is :) I've got experience now with 5-6 different brands and "models" of paints and I'd have to say the red is probably at the low end. In a future project I want to get into better paint gear and products, but for Rocky... this'll do for Frostbite Falls Minnesota if you know what I mean!

I didn't get a good pic yet but I've started masking now for the red. I hit all the straight lines already but I'm still waiting for my "automotive curves" tape to arrive. I'm not known for my patience, we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Where I'm masking, I'm re-applying a coat of white on the edge-to-be-painted side to seal it so nothing bleeds under. I think I'm more or less doing things "right" by the books, just maybe not always with the best gear, environment, or experience. It's fun though...

My next "project" on Rocky will still be the front winch mount, I'm just dealing with the weather. Since I can't pick it, if it sun's up and the wind is down, I'm painting and nothing else. I only get so many days of that here in early spring...

I can't wait to see the two tone version. I absolutely love the 2 tones from back then. I wanted to do that to mine, but am finding I barely have the patience to do the top of mine back in this crappy blue. And I'm using Rusto 2x navy blue that matches what looks to be an Earl Scheib type paint job. BUt it's ok, if my paint isn't perfect, I'l probably sand through to the primer some on purpose on mine. I just needed to stop the top from rusting. Or at least slow it down.

I went to buy some touch up paint at Advance and it's like $17/can now - up $6? can in a year? and doubled in just a few years? I don't think so. I'll roll it with leftover paint here at work first.

I don't care how you're doing it, you truck is looking pretty dang good.

[taskswap]

I can't wait to see the two tone version. I absolutely love the 2 tones from back then. I wanted to do that to mine, but am finding I barely have the patience to do the top of mine back in this crappy blue. And I'm using Rusto 2x navy blue that matches what looks to be an Earl Scheib type paint job. BUt it's ok, if my paint isn't perfect, I'l probably sand through to the primer some on purpose on mine. I just needed to stop the top from rusting. Or at least slow it down.

I went to buy some touch up paint at Advance and it's like $17/can now - up $6? can in a year? and doubled in just a few years? I don't think so. I'll roll it with leftover paint here at work first.

I don't care how you're doing it, you truck is looking pretty dang good.

Thanks guys. Encouragement is always appreciated! I didn't do more over the weekend because I'm behind on a work project, and didn't have any tape flexible enough to line out the curves I want on the bottoms of the body panels around the wheel wells. That should come today.

I would say for the money, rattle-canning this hasn't gone too badly. The real loss isn't the cost of all the cans, it's the time. Especially on vertical surfaces you need to apply very thin coats to prevent drips/runs, and I'm finding I often need:

1. Apply two coats of primer (one to level/fill any final scratches I missed when glazing, then wet-sand that to 240 grit and apply one more to any slight bumps where the sanding exposed metal again).

2. Apply at least three coats of color: two to get a good base with no primer showing through, which I try to do on the same day so I can hit the second coat while the first is still not cured, to skip a sanding step. Then wet sand to hit any imperfections/orange peel and apply one final coat to get a nice color surface.

3. Apply three coats of clear-coat, same way as #2.

4. Wet-sand to 1500 grit then polish with polishing compound.

It's all actually really easy, but it takes a lot of time to do well. I've been pretty good about filling small imperfections and the glazing compound helps a lot too at getting a nice surface. But I don't always have the patience to make the surface perfect.

It sounds like it would be fine, right? It's just a hunt truck, who cares if there's a bump somewhere. But actually bumps don't just add imperfections. They add time. What happens is when you block off the primer coat, if there's even a tiny bump somewhere it becomes a high spot so you sand right through the primer and have to add a coat. If there's even a tiny dent, the block won't get in there and you have to hand-sand those spots carefully. It's not a big deal but did add a lot of time.

For my next project I really want to try a "single stage" product, like the epoxy paints. There's a guy that makes vehicle-based projects like mobile pizza food trucks who has a good video series on this. The results are pretty impressive:

It takes a bit to invest in the right gear but I think it's worth it in the time you save. For the type of stuff I do, I usually just want a "better than average" output. I don't need showroom quality, but also want it to be "better than motel lawn furniture" without spending 20 hours of prep and process.

[taskswap]

Thanks guys. Encouragement is always appreciated! I didn't do more over the weekend because I'm behind on a work project, and didn't have any tape flexible enough to line out the curves I want on the bottoms of the body panels around the wheel wells. That should come today.

I would say for the money, rattle-canning this hasn't gone too badly. The real loss isn't the cost of all the cans, it's the time. Especially on vertical surfaces you need to apply very thin coats to prevent drips/runs, and I'm finding I often need:

1. Apply two coats of primer (one to level/fill any final scratches I missed when glazing, then wet-sand that to 240 grit and apply one more to any slight bumps where the sanding exposed metal again).

2. Apply at least three coats of color: two to get a good base with no primer showing through, which I try to do on the same day so I can hit the second coat while the first is still not cured, to skip a sanding step. Then wet sand to hit any imperfections/orange peel and apply one final coat to get a nice color surface.

3. Apply three coats of clear-coat, same way as #2.

4. Wet-sand to 1500 grit then polish with polishing compound.

It's all actually really easy, but it takes a lot of time to do well. I've been pretty good about filling small imperfections and the glazing compound helps a lot too at getting a nice surface. But I don't always have the patience to make the surface perfect.

It sounds like it would be fine, right? It's just a hunt truck, who cares if there's a bump somewhere. But actually bumps don't just add imperfections. They add time. What happens is when you block off the primer coat, if there's even a tiny bump somewhere it becomes a high spot so you sand right through the primer and have to add a coat. If there's even a tiny dent, the block won't get in there and you have to hand-sand those spots carefully. It's not a big deal but did add a lot of time.

For my next project I really want to try a "single stage" product, like the epoxy paints. There's a guy that makes vehicle-based projects like mobile pizza food trucks who has a good video series on this. The results are pretty impressive:

It takes a bit to invest in the right gear but I think it's worth it in the time you save. For the type of stuff I do, I usually just want a "better than average" output. I don't need showroom quality, but also want it to be "better than motel lawn furniture" without spending 20 hours of prep and process.

Some mistakes were made. I have a few spots where I didn't quite mask carefully enough and got some red overspray in the white. I also have a few small areas where the tape pulled up some small paint chips. I'll fix those over the weekend, then wet-sand it before clear-coating. Despite the boo-boos I think it looks fantastic, I love the two tone effect. I can't wait to finish this to get it driving again!

[Gsmblue]

Some mistakes were made. I have a few spots where I didn't quite mask carefully enough and got some red overspray in the white. I also have a few small areas where the tape pulled up some small paint chips. I'll fix those over the weekend, then wet-sand it before clear-coating. Despite the boo-boos I think it looks fantastic, I love the two tone effect. I can't wait to finish this to get it driving again!

Ummm… can you come and paint mine too please!

[Gary Lewis]

Some mistakes were made. I have a few spots where I didn't quite mask carefully enough and got some red overspray in the white. I also have a few small areas where the tape pulled up some small paint chips. I'll fix those over the weekend, then wet-sand it before clear-coating. Despite the boo-boos I think it looks fantastic, I love the two tone effect. I can't wait to finish this to get it driving again!

It is looking great! And I agree, maybe Big Blue needs your help.