Just Remember : RUST NEVER SLEEPS so be sure you spray it well with something to keep the air & moisture out !. Satin clear or whatever but failure to do this and in a few short years , the whole rig will be paper thin and un repairable .
I have finally settled on a method I'm happy with for repairing the body panels. Until I retire, (longways down the road) I won't be doing a frame off restore. Also, I don't want too much tore down for too long. I want to keep it a driving restoration. Also, i dont like different panels different colors. Also, I didn't want a primer gray, red or black truck. I like blue. Captn' suggested blue primer, but I read that primer doesn't protect metal. Later I realized he might have meant epoxy primer. My truck is parked inside, so fading is no immediate concern. Now, the next criteria for my attempt to tackle these repairs is equipment - I don't have the spray equipment - and even if i did, I don't feel comfortable spraying toxins (poison) in my garage. Even if I dress up in a full bunny suit, where do I ventilate these toxins? Also, I'll be doing a small repair, then moving onto another small repair. I dont feel like setting up everything for every small repair, and then cleaning everything up. The solution; roll-on epoxy primer. In my research, I found that the really fine foam rollers do a nice job. Also, getting the repair areas to blend with the overall truck would be a challenge. But about a month ago I remembered a look that I really like for a driving restoration. MisterC's 66: So, I now I have a method/direction/procedure that I'm happy with. This way as I repair an area it's done correctly for if I ever decide to do a frame off restore and give it a paint job with quality paint. . I had a local paint store mix up some enamel the same color as the blue epoxy. The bottom right is the epoxy. - good match: Here is my first attempt to emulate MisterC's truck: (I really like how it's turning out.)
Another huge reason for the direction I'm going with the paint and body is when I first decided on getting a classic to tinker on, I settled on a truck for the practicality of it. I want to be able to use it as a truck. A few months back was the perfect example. I went to pick up a big steel gate. It didnt quite fit in the bed. It caused some pretty good scratches. No big thing. Just hit it with some sandpaper, and touch it up. I own a truck. . Here is a post Mark made quite some time back that stuck with me and convinced me of the direction I wanted to take for the body and paint:
Really looks good.. I am curious as to what kind of prep work you did before applying the epoxy? Sand / scuff the existing paint, wipe down with any thinner or wax remover, apply any primer? Any post paint sanding?
The first thing I did was give the truck a good scrub wash with dawn soap and scotchbrite pads. Then a few weeks later I rolled on blue enamel paint over the whole truck. Didn't try to be real careful, just wanted to get a nice coat of all one color. Painted over dents and rusted areas. Just wanted everything covered. Then I left it like that for close to two months. Then I did redneck body repairs just to get rid of the real ugly stuff. Hit those areas with the same blue enamel. Then, I went to the local Autopaint store to see what they had in choice of blue epoxy primer. Picked a color I liked and had them mix me up a quart. The way I decided to go with the repairs, exact mixes won't be an issue. Then I went to Sherwin Williams and had them mix me up some blue enamel to match the epoxy. I then hit my whole truck again with this richer blue that you see on the can lid. A couple days later, I dusted the truck with black primer. Then weeks later, I went over the truck with wet/dry 600 grit - using water - doing very light sanding to allow the lower more rough coats of lighter blue show through, but also allow the black to remain settled in the imperfections of the rolled on paint job. Now, as I do repairs I can just roll the repaired area with the blue epoxy and lightly dust it with black primer, lightly wetsand it, and it'll blend right in. I really like the faux-tina look for the practicality of it.
But, yes, when I go back to do each panel correctly, I will take down to bare metal. use a wax and grease remover, and then epoxy. Dust with black, and move on to the next panel. Take my time - tinker as I feel. . Right now I really like how it looks and it's protected from the elements. Next on my agenda is to get concrete in my pole barn so I can start doing some mechanical upgrades this winter.
Not in the in 16 by 24 section I'm doing first. I'll enclose this area to have a little warmer place to tinker.
Just Rustoleum Gloss Black. . Yesterday I put some clear on the hood to see if I like it. I'm not sure.
btw.... This flaw in the paint is from an engine fire from the old fella who I bought the truck back from. He said he was going up a hill at some pretty high rpm's, and boom! the engine blew and caught on fire - burning the paint off the hood. It was the original 283 that I had rebuilt myself and put back in it just before I sold it. That means my JC Whitney rebuild lasted 20+ years.
I think I am finally done with runs to the dumps and such. The last things I wanted to keep my truck mobile for is done for the winter. I didn't get done what I wanted to do last winter with the truck, so hopefully this winter. . . . . . Goals: Swap in the Th350. Upgrade to power steering and power brakes. If the above goes well; maybe more.
Thanks. I sold the 66 to my old framing partner. When I went back to school to learn CAD, and Architecture, he went off to do Trim Carpentry. . He hasn't really been doing anything with the truck since he bought it.
I'm a fan of AutoCAD Inventor, also spent a few years using Solidworks. Of all they years I spent in Design and Engineering the thing I liked best was CAD, hands down. Are you using CAD now, or still in school?
