Painting a faded 91 FJ80 (1 Viewer)

[jomichael]

I purchased a 91 FJ80 that is native of Texas. No rust but the sun has baked off the clear coat on most of the vehicle. I am not new to body work but it has been awhile. Where the clear coat is still attached it is flaking and then is pretty solid on the lower part of the doors. I plan to block sand the original paint then transfer to a body shop for final primer and blocking and painting. I am looking to spray the original color and want a durable long-lasting and good looking paint job, but my budget is about a "pretty darn good paint job".

My questions are as follows:
1. Can I just blend in the clear to the base and primer? I am using 150 > 220 > 320 > and a final of 400 before adding any primer for blocking.
2. Can I get away with not removing the windshield and rear window? What about the sunroof? Worried that clear may start peeling at the rubber.

Here are some pics of the FJ80 paint. I only use flexible blocks for sanding, not free hand.

 

[lp2k]

not sure if you seen my thread. it just took me 7 years to get around to it...

1994 FZJ80 re-paint- 2-Stage process w/ closure of roof rack

Re-painting your rig is very hard and expensive, but the end result is gorgeous and I something I am proud of. Click here for pics of my rig before the painting and what I had to asses (2014) [yea i am a bit on the slow side, just took me 7 years but who is counting right?. 3/15-3/22/2021-...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[jomichael]

It's getting there! I was sanding and driving it daily, but at some point, ya got to pull everything off. Block sanding to 220, fixing any small dents and shooting with 2k Primer. Then then on to more blocking.

 

[jakey poo]

Any updates?

 

[jomichael]

Any updates?

Masking everything off for 2K Primer, and it takes FOREVER! Hoping to get it "wrapped up" this weekend and prepare to spray 2k on the jams first and smaller parts. I need to rent a larger air compressor for the entire body. Will post pictures of each step and any lessons learned.

 

[jomichael]

Here is my update. Have the FJ80 sanded to 220, everything taped off, which took forever, paint booth built with plastic retractable walls and exhaust. I have wiped the truck down a couple times with wax and grease remover and have blown off everything multiple times. I am ready to add 2k primer. I plan on using my small compressor to do the jams and small parts then rent a big gas compressor for the exterior. When I do the base/clear I plan to rent a big gas compressor as well.
Here is a video:

And here are some pictures:

 

[jomichael]

Finally I shot some primer. Wiped down the entire 80 with wax and grease remover and tack rag.

My plan was to only do the jams, fender flares, rear hatch and tailgate interior.

I had a very few issues with trash even though I meticulously cleaned and wiped the parts down. Luckily, this is the primer stage.

Learnings:
The temp was 89 degrees, need a slower reducer.
The hose kept dragging across paint due to tight spaces. Be more careful!
The jams were hard to reach because of space (garage door etc).
The gun was hard to maneuver because the interior door was taped off. Not sure how to deal with it when it comes to base/clear.
Even with a three stage water separator the thing filled up without me realizing it until water spots sprayed out at the very last moment. Empty those water traps!
The TCP paint guns I bought had a filter below the cup and it got clogged up.

Pros:
Very happy with my old cheap pancake compressor, I shot at 12 PSI and it kept up, barely. Might even shoot the rest of it with it. I will rent a decent high volume compressor for the base/clear.
Happy with the gun, except for the filter. Remove that.
Easy to sand, went on very easily. Sands smooth. No complaints about the primer at all.
Feel very happy about my progress this weekend.

More to come...

 

[lp2k]

Hey I would have left the door handles on. Reason: that rubber gasket behind it is NLA and it will leave a gap when you place it back. Looking good either way

 

[jomichael]

Hey I would have left the door handles on. Reason: that rubber gasket behind it is NLA and it will leave a gap when you place it back. Looking good either way

They are still attached to the back of the handles. I just used playing cards to separate them from the body of the handle so I can paint the lip. Glad to know I was gentle with them seeing they are no longer available.

 

[jomichael]

In primer! I shot the FJ80 in 3 sections, the hood and front fenders, then the roof and rear quarters, then the doors. I covered each section to keep overspray from landing on it. I used my small pancake compressor for the whole thing (it barely kept up and ran continuously). Was shooting at 10 psi as per the data sheet and about 6" from the surface. I did an 80% overlap to ensure I only needed to do one coat as the body was already very straight. All-in-all I am happy with the job, there are a few dry spots but I can always spray more. I purchased a gallon of primer and have a little less than 1/4 still in the can. Working on blocking today, and probably weeks to come.

Here is how I masked the sections off. Forgot to take photos at every step, but this photo shows you the sections I masked and painted in order.

1. One large sheet of plastic over the entire truck on top of the existing masked off windows. So I could paint section #1.
2. Folded that large sheet covering the roof back on itself, cut it and shoved it into the doors to paint section #2. BTW, I didn't cover section #1, I just let overspray hit it knowing it was going to be blocked anyway.
3. Removed the plastic from section #3 and shot.

I do not have much space so I had to get creative, which is why one of the fender flares is on the windshield. I have to figure out a better process for the base/clear. Here is my rough plan. Paint is factory metallic dark blue. Would love to get any feedback.

1. Tape off exterior to shoot the jams, the interior of the tailgate and hatch all the way to clear. Should I consider mixing base and clear? If so, how is that done?
2. Use a very high sandpaper grit on edges to smooth paint line. If there is going to be a visible paint line, I'd like it to fall right inside the jams. Any helpful hints?
3. Install tailgate and hatch.
4. Use that 3M rope foam to mask off all jams
5. Paint exterior. Do I do it in sections like I did for the primer or is that a no, no with metallic paint? Just afraid that I will be too slow to hit the right flash time and second coats with such a large vehicle. Maybe overthinking it? @lp2k did you do the entire exterior of the truck at once? Any advice?

 

[lp2k]

so a couple of things:

1. Use the slow hardner, this will help keep it the way you want on between coats.
2. I did 3 coats of paint of 6M1 oem green pearl but I didn’t lay primer down on the whole car, only where I had to patch dents and rust and holes I patched up from things installed at the port. If your shooting pearl, u should do it all in one shot with the slow hardner. I said you should, not that you must but my uncle who does this for 30 years says it’s the only way to do it right.
3. I sprayed a guide coat with some generic mixed by eye green paint which was lightly wet sanded 1200 grit to smooth roughy sections out.
4. I sprayed the primer clear coat separate and after all of the paint was dried. Takes time for it to dry in between.

Looking good overall

 

[lp2k]

hey spray the clear coat after you are done with all the base coat. I used U-Pol, my uncle swears by it. I think its german and OEM to Mercedes and BMW. Look into it, as we didnt have to buff the car when it was done. I do plan to buff it anyway to bring the shine out.

 

[jomichael]

I finished spraying the FJ80! It looks pretty good for my first paint job. A little trash, and some orange peel that I hope can be polished out. I did save almost 5K from what I was quoted for the work though. Total with building a paint booth, hose, water separator, sand paper, primer, base, clear, rags, new orbital polisher kit, compressor rental, and everything else was about $2,300. I think most people do not add up the little stuff, everything purchased for this job is accounted for. Don't fool yourself, this is a massive job so beware. I am super happy with the results. Took 3 months since I work so much.

All the tape is to deal with trash.

@lp2k how do you think it turned out? Thanks for all your advice.

 

[lp2k]

Wow it looks amazing - I would definitely take your time now with the waxing and clearing the orange peel out. It’s like a new car now.

I was following you on YouTube - will you be posting more videos?

I have a ton of videos I’ll be posting up once I can get my brother in law to help edit

 

[jomichael]

Wow it looks amazing - I would definitely take your time now with the waxing and clearing the orange peel out. It’s like a new car now.

I was following you on YouTube - will you be posting more videos?

I have a ton of videos I’ll be posting up once I can get my brother in law to help edit

Thanks man, I'm pretty happy with it. I started practicing polishing one of the flares. Not looking for show quality, just factory.

Which YouTube channel? I have an older one with my 1955 Chevy 3100 NAPCO and I am locked out of that account . Youtube won't give me the damn account. I have this new one that I will add some videos at some point https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoVIVrulJYAJTgEaJWWmg-Q

 

[lp2k]

I am glad I was able to give something back to the forum and you were able to get some guidance out of it. Hopefully I can see it in person if you are in Florida or if I am driving through texas i'll look you up. I will subscribe to your new channel also.

 

[jomichael]

An update on the 91 paint job. I have most of it back together and its on the road. I started tackling the orange peel and bits of trash here and there. The orange peel was worse on the passenger side as the was the first place I started (first time spraying base/clear) and the lighting wasn't so good. I was freaked out to take sandpaper to the new paint job, but dived in and now feel comfortable with the process. I have only done the p-side rear door. I wasn't shooting for a mirror finish, just a good home done job. Might work on the panel a little more in the future but happy with the results for now. I was more confident on the front p-side door and got an even better finish. The front fenders and hood do not need much attention because by the time I got to those I had the spraying down better.

I will post final pics in a few weeks when I am completely done.

 

[jomichael]

I still have not finished wet sanding the orange peel out (it's time consuming!) but thought I'd update this post with a few after images and the finished interior. You will notice that the gas cover is missing. I forgot to paint the sucker! I painted the back and not the front, duh. Doing that in the next week or two.

 

[MountaineerLC]

That's truly impressive work! I think I'd cry the first time I pinstriped that paint job!

 

[lp2k]

Which is why mine just sits for now, waiting for the zombie apocalypse