1988 b2200 $600.00

no rustoleum quart mixed with mineral spirits and sprayed through a harbor freight hvlp gun.

Looks good!! I thought about getting one of those harbor freight guns myself

that's look really good for what it is really..your convincing me to paint mine now.

it is very easy if i mess up i let it dry and sand it away. i have maybe 1/2 quart on the truck now and cost less than 20.00. i say go for it but the more time and effort you spend on prep will make all the diffrerence.

thats really cool werer can you get that paint im just dieing to paint my truck now

home depot, lowes, walmart in quart it runs about 8.00. i use a small 2.0 hp 3 gallon compressor ( larger would be better) and a hvlp purple gravity feed gun from harbor freight. get use to the gun and adjustments before you start practice on some cardboard till you can spary it without getting tons of runs.
here is what i use for paint and thinner
paint........

thinner.......

my gun holds 20 oz so i got a measuring cup from home depot when i got the paint and thinner.

for me the best results are mixing the paint to thinner 60/40 so to figure this if the gun is 20oz i put 12 oz of paint and 8oz of thinner mix it and strain it into the gun cup. i sray at about 15 psi at the gun . trust me this stuff is very forgiving i have spayed cars in the rain (tercel, it started raining mid way through painting ) i just let it dry and wet sanded and buffed.

ok for the steps if you are going to try this is

1. clean the vehicle , i pressure wash the vehicle very well.
2. i try to disassemble as much as i can trust me this step will make or break the paint job. ie. taillights, door handles ( even though i just painted over my door handles) ..
3 sand the vehicle down with 400 grit sand paper i do this step wet meaning i mix a bucket with dish sop in it and dip a spounge in it and the sand paper and as i sand i wipe the spounge over the area to keep it wet and soapy or you can just run a hose as you sand, but i find that the soap helps the sandpaper glide over the paint.
you are basicly wanting to get all of the "shine" or gloss off of the truck to give something for your paint to bite into. trust me if you dont get the gloss off it will flake off down the road.
4. get any body work performed and primered i used the rustoleum enamel primer in a can since it is compatible with the paint in the quart cans.

after all the body work is done and you have wet sanded again then clean the truck again with dawn dishsoap and don't touch the body with your hands your finger prints leave oil. go ahead and mix your paint. instead of mixing 20oz at a time i mix two batches of thinned out paint and keep them in mason jars ready to be added to the gun when you start to run out. so mix paint and thinner test spray gun on cardboard then set gun in stand.

OH i better let you know that you need to tape up the vehicle first. i buy the blue masking tape , i know it is expensive but it makes a difference.
i also get the cardboard colored masking paper from home depot to mask windows.
TIP ON MASKING ... for best results remove everything you can weather stripping from under hood tape over and mask engine bay then close hood because overspray will get through the hood and fender line and get on engine. i also tape over the door weatherstripping , nothing looks worse than seeing paint on weather stripping.
another tip for the rear window moulding get a putty knife and slide it under the moulding and take some string like the kind used for making troutlines hell i don't know what you actually call it but it is larger than kite string ,,,, but i digress get the string and push it under the moulding around the window , what this does is lift the moulding from the body and allows you to put your tape over and around the edge of the moulding so after the paint drys you remove the tape and pull the string and the moulding covers the paint edge ( if anyone does not understand this i can get a pic of this method)
ok so you have masked everything and put trash bags over the tires and taped then cause the wind will inflate them and then the bags will touch your freshly laid paint.........
pay attention kids im given you gold here....... learn from my mistakes.

ok so we fast forward back to you mixing the paint ......................................................................... you have mixed the paint strained it into the gun and have your reserve pant saftly in mason jars (out of the sun. ) you have checked the weather and it is not going to rain (yeahright)
so you take a lint free rag ( cheese cloth ) and pour some mineral spirits into it wipe the truck down , now you should have already washed it numerouse times but trust me crap will come off.

so it is clean ......

now grab your paint gun test spray it again on some card board get the perfect fan pattern look at the instructions again to figure out what all the knobs do and start painting.

i start jamming the vehicle first this is basically painting all the body lines and panel edges. trust me dont try to cover the whole vehicle on the first spray just a light coat if you try to completly cover the panel it will run on you (means more sanding down the road. ) so you have jammed it and made your way around the whole vehicle. now check that you are not running low on paint in your gun (if it runs low it will start to spit paint in globs ( remember this is gold now)
so you have topped off the gun if needed put gun down and admire your jamming yes you may have runs , but heay its a truck not a piano. and trust me the runs will happen and they are fairly easy to get out just be conciouse of them and leardn your pattern and what you are doing that causes them usually moving to slow or spraying to much paint through the gun (means adjust the gun to fit your speed or speed the hell up. )

now you have rested and are ready to go over the vehicle with your first full coat. now you again are not trying to cover the entire vehicle at this point just lating down an even light coat.on hood and roof i start in the middle off the panel but i am 6'2 and can reach the middle but try your best keep the gun as level and even with the hood and start spraying from the middle to the edge then i move to the roof same thing middle to door edge, the i start aroud the front get the edges and jams again and start from top to bottom light coat, then to the door then back of cab then bed side the tailgate dont forget to get under the door jamb and rear panel ...... oh crap did you forget to cover your exhaust tip well its painted now dont worry you can clean it of later with acitone... ha ha.
ok tail gate now bed side all starting from top to bottom the back of cab then center of roof outward to door edge the hood from center to fender edge then fender. and the front..

now stand back and admire by this point you will already start to see a shine and bugs and leaves and hairs and lint and damb more dirt that blew in from who the hell knows oh and your kids are now outside throwing things at your freshly painted truck and oddly it seems the naighbors decide to cut their dirt filled yard even though they have no grass... not really but be wary of your surroundings, but again relax this is supposed to be fun and again it is only a truck not a piano or worse your wifes car.

ok man i dint realize i was going to write a novel tonight.

ok i digress again... so forst full coat now depending on if you are doing a color change or matching the original will determine how many coats you apply but it never fails after you paint , paint , and paint somemore you will always see some light spot ... so word to the wise dont take off all the masking paper and tape until you have pulled the truck into the sun and looked at it from all angles.......

ok so you have now applied x number of coats of paint and cursed x number of times doing it.

now it is hot down here in Georgia so i let the vehicle sit after i am done painting for about three or four days in the heat then i sand the vehicle ( i know it sounds crasy but trust me you will have some bugs dirt hair gum trash what ever in the paint. but you are only using 800 grit and 1000 grit sand paper. and using the soapy water mess for this sanding this is the step that will make it look like a 1000 paint job.
TIP AGAIN do not i repeat do not wet sand on the edges or the edges of body lines you will sand through the paint. sand the panels in one direction and use a foam backing you do not want to put sandpaper in your hand and transfer your finger sanding marks into the paint . so you have carefully wet sanded the whole truck with 800 now switch to 1000 grit i know it feels like papertowel but it works. do same as with 800.... dont sand edges.

now done with sanding wash vehicle with dawn and clean with tac rag ( from home depot advanced auto oriley auto any parts store. )
now check truck for any sand through marks dont lie to yourself if you sanded through the paint on the fender edge it will stick out like a neon sign . just repaint it with the paint and let dry for day and then lighty wetsand with 1000 to match surrounding area.

now i go to harbor freight and get these 7 inch foam pads tht velcro to a disk that fits into my drill. i wet the spounge and then apply turtle wax rubbing compound / scratch remover to the sounge you dont need much i then lightly spray the panel down with the hose just to mist the panel then put the pad on the panel and then start the drill dont spin the pad and then apply to panel it will burn the paint. ......TIP let the pad do the work if you push the drill into the panel and bog the motor down while you are trying to polish the paint it will burn through. keep misting panel the water cools the paint and gives polich something to mix with and move around under the pad. ok so be carful on curves and edges try to avoid all edges with drill and pad you can hand polish these spots if you must later with a t shrt and compund.


ok so you have polished the whole truck and it looks like a mess wash it with dawn dishsoap and clean everything then admire your work. it should shine pretty damb good at this point now once you are satisfied get some wax apply it by hand or a clean polishing pad and let wax dry the come back hour later and wipe wax off ..... you are now done.

if you screwed up or like me always find that one side is better than the other repeat steps over sand with 400 and go through the motions again.

and trust me you too can have a paint job that looks this good and you have only spent about 15.00 on paint and thinner.......

example
and just in case any one doubts this
the car was painted in an open garage with rain misting on the hood as i was painting in my dirty garage.................

disclaimer...........i am not a proffesional painter all instructions given are opinions of the writer and in no way are the only ways to perform this task. the writer is a cheap basterd that refuses to pay for anything that he cant learn to do cheaper. if anyone knows a better way to do this procedure please pipe in but i have painted over 20 vehicles and 3 airpains with this procedure a few boats some motorcycles and numerouse othere parts and pieces. the car was painted approximatly 6 months ago and looks just as good now as it did then besides it is just a car not a piano. and hey i did it myself so to all the people whom paid thousands of $$$$ for that custom paint job congrats but i have to many kids and mortgages and student loans to go that rout. ok so its 1:53 am friday night i am going paint my trim pieces black check back in tommorow night for updates hope this helps someone get the courage to try things for themselves if you must start by removing a fender and setting it on a stand and painting it first i did this on the truck. time consuming yes, but i wanted to paint the inner panels also.

oh my note on saftey use it and think about your saftey and those around you ie mask,open area saftey goggles when mixing, all that good stuff.

alright started a new job that has put mu b on the back burner. but going to pull a part tommorow for one more bolt then i can install my torsion and raise the front a little. I have also started wet sanding and filling some minor dings and dents getting ready to put a final coat on the truck hopefully this weekend . so look for some updates by sunday .

Right on man looks good, I was at schucks/O'Reily and saw there pre-mixed paint think "house of Kolor" brand and was thinking of doin this. But they want like $50+ for a Qt so thinkin the Rustoleum sounds like a way cheaper option.
-Do you clear coat these as a final step before buffin out? or does the paint have a gloss in it or somethin?
Anyhow great write up, I definately have a problem with touching cleaned area's with oily hands lol so also pick up a box of latex gloves when your at harbor freight

I did the same thing you did with the Rustoleum paint with my old 78 Ford F100.

I just wanted to see if paint was paint. In other words what was the difference in $150 a gal automotive paint vs just off the counter paint.

Well, I fixed all of the dents and dings, all of the prep work, used 2 gallons of Pre-Clean-o before doing any sanding to clean the body of any wax etc.

Anyway once I finished the truck I was AMAZED. It looked GREAT!!!

As good as any base coat, clear coat, DuPont paint I ever used.

Now the bad.

After about a year, with regular waxing, and washing, the bright red started to fade. With-in five years it was nearly pink. Then it started to lift in little streaks resembling cuts.

This Shit don't work. I have seen many people over the years do this as a temp paint job until funds for the real deal, but for me with all the work involved in painting a vehicle {sanding, filling, resanding, priming, repriming, more sanding} its just not worth the effort.

IMO I would drive it in primer {as long as you have some self etching primer under} until I got the money to buy the real automotive paint, then, if you wax regular, it will last a long time.

Please don't take this as a put down in any way, but I have been painting cars for years {only for myself as most people where I live think a good paint job should cost 1k}, but I have been down this road, and know what I'm talking about.

Anyways, good luck in whatever you do.