• Please be sure to read the rules and adhere to them. Some banned members have complained that they are not spammers. But they spammed us. Some even tried to redirect our members to other forums. Duh. Be smart. Read the rules and adhere to them and we will all get along just fine. Cheers. :beer: Link to the rules: https://www.forumsforums.com/threads/forum-rules-info.2974/

Body prep, and interior for my rebuilt 1991 dodge first gen

IMG_4811.jpeg
IMG_4812.jpeg
IMG_4813.jpeg
 
Finished the taping today
Wiped the door jams with 50/50 water, denatured alcohol to remove any contaminants like grease or wax.
Tomorrow I’ll wipe the whole truck down, then a coat of primer.
 
Got a coat of high build urethane primer on it today, used 1/2 gallon, now wet sanding and spot priming if I burn thru somewhere. Found one small dent as I was priming on the bottom of the driver bed quarter panel, other than that the body work looks better than it should considering the shape it was in.
 
Yesterday I made the last little dings I could find go away, today I sanded the whole truck with 400 grit.
Tomorrow I will spot prime the repairs and some burn thru areas. I didn’t get much burn thru, that a good sign Thea the body work is straight , as the primer isn’t but maybe .030 thick at the start of the final blocking process. Won’t be long now. I plan to hook up my new compressor and pipe it to a couple different locations in the shop. The portable paint booth is going to be a learning process too
 
Spot primed it today, I mixed it a little thick and got some texture, until I added some more reducer, put it on plenty thick, tomorrow I’ll hit those areas with 320, 400 then start the final sanding with 600
 
All the sanding is done and I’ll be painting next week, first gotta get the new compressor hooked up and blow up the portable paint booth and get that learning curve out of the way, I would like to get the painting started by Thursday.
If I can manage to lay down a nice smooth run free base coat, it will go quickly, if not, I’ll have to wet sand it and clean it again before the clear.
 
This morning I picke a sunny flat spot in front of the shop, picked up sticks and stones, then layer some plastic down.
Rolled the paint booth out, connected the blower and blew it up, only took 5 minutes for it to inflate.
Next staked and tied it down, then erected a portable garage frame inside in case I lost power during or after painting, then deflated it. The frame worked to hold the roof up so I left it deflated until tomorrow.
 
Tomorrow morning I have to un tape the truck enough to pull it outside and wash it real good, dry it and pull it into the paint booth after re inflating it and re tape what I removed, plus I need to tape off what I am not painting under the hood.
The following day will be paint day, I’m going to try to get it done in one day, but that depends on how good the base coat lays down, can’t have runs or orange peel, if I get some of that I’ll have to wet sand it with 600 and apply the clear the following day. Fat lady is in the building warming up to sing.
 
Perfect week to do it, mid 60’s, no wind and sunny shirt sleeve weather, inside it’s about 75, perfect temperature for paint. Nice weather for the beginning of March
 
Pulled the truck out, washed it, put it in the spray booth and got most of it taped up again, but not without drama.
Right when I was finishing the washing, the fu<king wind started blowing, and not a little bit, it blew 20-25 mph all day from about 11am on and just now stopping. WTF, there was no wind in the weather report, always has to be something.
I left the blower going so it stays inflated all night, it doesn’t like wind much when deflated. Tomorrow, I will finish the taping in the morning then blow it off and wipe it down with a tack rag. Then it time for the rubber to meet the road. The paint is the quickest part of the whole project but the most technical.
 
Looks like you could use it as a bouncy castle when you're done! Lol

Truck is coming along nicely 👍
Thanks, it almost became a balloon and blew away today. I got a couple more to paint over the next few years. All the body and paint equipment costed about 1/2 of what one paint only paint job costs, now that I have it all, it’s just materials going forward.
 
Started at 7 this morning, by the time I got the remaining taping done ( under the hood etc. ) and got everything set up, wiped down and wiped with a tack rag it was 11am, I put a little more than a gallon of reduced base coat on, came out nice except for a couple runs I got in it, not enough time to sand them out and do the clear. Tomorrow I’ll give it the once over after sanding out the runs, wipe it down and put on a lite base coat over the sanded runs, then if time allows do the clear. The high today was 69 and it was at least 85 in there around 2:30, you are not going to paint in there in the summer unless it’s at night. The booth is doing fine, even handled the big wind ok yesterday. If I have to keep it inflated for a couple more days I don’t think it’s a big deal. When I started painting a bunch of little jumping spiders came out of the nooks and crannies. I haven’t painted a vehicle in a while and it shows, It’s a lot of in and out of the booth when I have to refill the gun, in this case it was 6 times. I bought the disposable cup system, very nice and easy to use, a lite weight plastic cup fits inside the measuring cup, then a lid and retainer ring, the whole thing then snaps on an adapter on the gun, as you use the paint the plastic liner collapses inside the measuring cup, it doesn’t require a vent that way, you can paint upside down without spilling any paint, I love it. Fat lady is making me work for the song when I’m done.
 
Top