It seems that the old beast will be around for longer than I thought. I guess it is time to dress it up a bit. It has its fair share of scratches and dings. I'm pretty good at that sort of thing, but not real sure how to address the rear fenders.

Will normal body filler work on those little chips and dings? Another thought is using MarineTex. Lots of good luck on boats with that. Advise?

Probably going to use a good enamel, not sure on clear coat or not, color not decided yet. Current is black/silver.

Advice and ideas welcome.

Ed

 

I would say paint depends on what kind of overall quality your going for?
If the scratches haven't went thru the color coat (limb marks mostly), then you might get away with good polishing compound/wet sand to restore the existing paint.
Up one step in quality would be to rough sand it (200 grit), shoot a coat of sealer over it and use a single stage acrylic paint. Typically, it will look about like a two or three year old factory paint job when your finished.
If you have a paint booth, there are some better tougher paints, but they required climate control and are much harder to shoot without sagging. If your going for this quality, I would do the body work and drop it off at a professional.
For the dually fenders, it would be best to go with a fiberglass tape/ resin system to fill any holes, cracks, and damage. Any sheet metal I would fill with weld and grind smooth (if your definitely repainting).
Going thru this much trouble, go over the truck with a fine tooth comb and look for rust and cancer.

 

Not too much "cancer", just the typical bottom of the door rot. One rear fender will need some extra attention due to a problem with a mudflap.

The end result will be a fairly good looking work truck that will still accumulate dings and scratches.

Will probably shoot it in my shop, so absolute cleanliness will not be possible, but it will be the best I can manage.

Thanks,

Ed

 

best thing to do is talk to your local paint shop, they can tell you which paints work the best and how to shoot the paint.

 

Before you buy paint check out this thread:

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/...0&fpart=1&vc=1

tremclad=rustoleum This is not a joke!

 

You can use a base/clear and buff with good results in a not so perfect spray enviroment such as a backyard shop. I've done several over the years with excellent quality. I stopped by a couple of local body shops to get an estimate on mine recently. It is black/silver with very few dings and scratches just 11 yr old paint....$3000 I think I'll be shooting this one in the near future as soon as the weather cools down a bit.