'75 FJ40 - First Project

[MJKFabrication]

Sitting here depressed after what has got to be one of the most bone headed moves I have ever made. I took some vacation time to go up to the mountains of NC to visit some friends for the fourth, left myself lots of time to get the hard top and panels in paint when I returned home. All went according to plan, shot nearly 2 quarts of Limco single stage paint on the fresh body work, it sprayed out perfectly. Spent all day yesterday in assembly, installed all of the new weather stripping and windows. Then came the time to install the panels on the tub and that's when the horror was apparent. The rustic green that I sprayed on the panels and all the other parts is not even close to the original color, it's at least two shades lighter and a good bit greener. I checked the code that was mixed and it is correct. An expert would have sprayed a test piece first and checked it for a match, a novice sprays and assembles everything then sits in the garage staring in disbelief.
Time to sand it all back off and start over.

 

[99UZJay]

My truck too is code 621 rustic green, I had the same problem with the limco stuff. I painted the entire thing with nason single stage, and it matched the interior, which I didn't paint so it is original. I bought some barn doors for summer running a soft top. I purchased some limco as I was near the place that sells it. It turns out that it was probably the same shade as what you turned out with... Well I ended up having to scuff it and go buy the nason to match, odd that it turned out that way...

 

[MJKFabrication]

How did you scuff it? I was thinking hitting it all with some wet 400 grit and doing the respray from there, you think I'll get good adhesion? Thanks

 

[99UZJay]

I used the maroon scotch brite pads, I picked up a big sheet of it at the parts house where I bought the nason. It has adhered very well in my opinion from just a light scuff. I would say 400 may be too much, but that is what a body guy told me once. I did my entire truck with the scotch brite pads prior to repainting the whole thing and it turned out fiarly well...

 

[MJKFabrication]

Thanks, I really appreciate the tips.

 

[MJKFabrication]

Well trying to match the paint turned out much harder that it needed to be. After the first failed attempt I took the gas cap door to the paint shop to see what might have happened. They pulled the T621 rustic green again to make sure they didn't mess up the first batch and it wasn't even close. Then they put a suction cup camera thing on the gas cap door that I brought with me and matched the color with their computer to a 1973-1974 Toyota - Turquoise (Limco single stage), seemed to be a good match, a few bucks later and lots of sanding and I shot the new computer "matched" color on to the hinges and some of the other parts, it went on great, but once it dried the color was wrong again, very close but not a match. Back to the drawing board, I emailed the PO, found out he painted the rig a couple of years earlier, factory T621 rustic green, only he used a PPG single stage product called Shop Line. He still had a can in his garage and emailed me a pic of the label. There are no PPG Shop Line distributors in south FL, so I found an online auto paint supplier in Philly and a few more bucks later and the new paint arrived this weekend. I shot a few small parts, the match is perfect. I painted the rest, installed the windows and got started on the rest of the install. I learned a lot from this little adventure, here a a few shots of it half way complete.

 

[99UZJay]

VERRRRY NICE!!! I wondered how the paint thing was going to turn out, hate all the hassle, but it looks worth it. I love the rustic green, everyone was asking if I planned on changing the color to the tan/dune beige etc... I turned that notion down quickly, you don't see alot of green ones around where I am, but every tom dick and harry has a freeborn red one. I like the look of the 80 series wheels on there, looks different which is cool!!!

 

[MrKazimi]

Sweeeeeeeeet