Builds 86 Xtra Cab Build (4Wheelunderground 3 link front, 4 link rear and 3.4 swap)

[aztoyman]

Just a quick update. All the heavy hitting on the cab is done. The welding, paint stripping, sand blasting, rust removal, seam sealer all removed, under coating, you name it, it's gone. So are my finger prints after using 3M scrubbing pads. I wore gloves too. My phone won't open without a pass code now.

Anyway, it's down to the nitty gritty of 80 grit prep for the primer and lots of wipe downs. The last two days I spent building my spray booth INSIDE the garage. It's not big enough for a complete truck but I'm doing in in pieces anyway. It's 12' wide by 16 ' deep with 85" tall walls to clear the garage door tracks. I put the bed on the truck and rolled it out in the driveway. I'm expecting an HOA nastygram. Fortunately, one of my snow bird neighbors lets me park in his driveway so my Ram truck is over there.

The spray booth is framed out and I am going to try to wrap it all the way around with plastic and cap the ends with plastic tomorrow. I have stick on zippers for access and some cheap lighting, a couple fans and some filters. It's not ideal but it's better than nothing and it should keep overspray off the neighbors cars and all MY stuff too.

I ended up blasting the firewall (inside) and down the entire floor because of the surface rust. I found some rust up at the the corners at the cowl too. So I have blue paint on the way. Sorry, no pics. I've been workin hard on this. Maybe some pics tomorrow.

 

[aztoyman]

Another busy day and I said I'd get pics. I don't want @gnob to call me out with the no pics, it didn't happen thing.

I should be able to finish the spray booth tomorrow. I just need to skin the front wall and put the zippers in, install the filters and...........DAMN, I forgot about the giant hole in the ceiling. Oh yeah, the cab HAS to be vertical for me to have access to paint the bottom. It kinda sticks through the ceiling so I'll have to work around that. AFTER the bottom gets painted, I'll put it back to a horizontal position and have a sealed paint booth.

 

[aztoyman]

I'll have to rig something to cover this hole in the ceiling.

 

[aztoyman]

I have a few lights that are super easy to put wherever I need them.

I have NOWHERE to put my table saw so it looks like it's going to get a drop cloth cover and be my work bench in there.

 

[gnob]

damn son.
you're killing it. don't make it too nice

 

[88repo]

going + or - pressure booth?

 

[aztoyman]

Trying it both ways. I'm totally winging it. I have 2 box fans and a bunch of filters.

Originally going pressure until I saw that the fan motors look sealed. I'll have the bottom painted before I get to close off the ceiling.

 

[88repo]

Back in my track day life I got elected to be the painter for the group.
Decided to go positive pressure, thought being we'd rather have booth air leaking out than dusty air leaking in, fwiw.
Real pleased with the results. Only complaint was how fast the filters loaded up.

 

[aztoyman]

That was my thinking too. The way I'm wedged in the garage space going negative pressure is what I'm going to have to do. Otherwise the exhaust is blowing into the garage.

I wrapped the plastic completely around the framework and taped the seams. The floor sucks up if I have the fans on high. I added a couple more inlet filters and that helped.

It's not ideal but it's what I have to work with. It's more to contain over spray than it is for a perfect paint job. This is my first time painting a truck. I painted a motorcycle WAY back when on my back patio and it looked great (to me).

Thanks for the info on your experience. It's appreciated.

 

[aztoyman]

I put the front wall on and installed the 2 zippers. I cut the ceiling section oversize and draped it over the section sticking through. Taped it down enough that it works well enough to get the bottom painted.

Ran my air hose and power for the fans and lights. Guns and supplies are ready to go.

Did two more wipe downs with wax & grease remover and I'm ready to paint in the morning. Woohoo

 

[RichardSkinner]

holy schnikes, you're doing some serious work over there.

 

[aztoyman]

It was a little stressful but I got the bottom of the cab in primer. Thanks to @88repo for the heads up about shooting the primer thin on the first coat, I avoided some problems others have had with this particular paint.

I can top coat this with my single stage paint without sanding if I do it within 24 hours. The manufacturer claims it doesn't need to be top coated on the underside so I'm undecided if I should or not. It will be covered with heat shield anyway. Maybe I should save the quart of paint.

What do you guys think? I'll compare the color chip they sent and see what I think.

 

[88repo]

Now you can tell me how the first coat is supposed to look as I've yet to spray any.
I'm guessing somewhere beyond sandy looking and wet?

How many coats went on the bottom?

I plan to leave my underside in at least 3 or 4 coats straight epoxy.

They say a coat or two of lizard skin within the window is the shiz.

 

[aztoyman]

I basically "dusted" it evenly. Then came back in 30 minutes with a slightly heavier coat. Not what I would call a "wet coat" but it wasn't as translucent as the first.

I could still see through the first coat.

I tried a "wet coat" in one spot and it looked like $hit so now I know why there are all the YouTube videos about fisheyes. It's not actually fisheyes, there's another term for it. I forgot it already after reading posts about this paint all last night.

I tested on my trans tunnel cover and I KNOW there was ZERO oils or silicone on it. It was prepped to the T. And it looked like fisheyes if the first coat was anything more than a dusting. Kind of like a guide coat.

 

[aztoyman]

So to answer your question, I put the dust coat down and then two normal coats on top of that.

Here's a couple more pics. The stripes are the frequency of the lights. I only see them through the camera.

Here's the top coat color chip next to the primer. I don't think I'm going to waste the paint to top coat.

 

[Mudder]

That paint booth is slick, it’s looking really good!

 

[bkg]

nice work all around.

I suck at painting... but I enjoy it for some odd reason.

re: Top coating... This may be one of those "it's here, it's accessible... it's may not really be needed, but why not?" situations?

 

[Homey15]

It was a little stressful but I got the bottom of the cab in primer. Thanks to @88repo for the heads up about shooting the primer thin on the first coat, I avoided some problems others have had with this particular paint.

I can top coat this with my single stage paint without sanding if I do it within 24 hours. The manufacturer claims it doesn't need to be top coated on the underside so I'm undecided if I should or not. It will be covered with heat shield anyway. Maybe I should save the quart of paint.

What do you guys think? I'll compare the color chip they sent and see what I think.

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Fwiw, I would definitely topcoat it. It's never going to be any easier than it is right now and in the grand scheme of things, an extra quart of paint and the few hours spent to apply it are a drop in the bucket from a time/cost standpoint on a project of this magnitude.

 

[aztoyman]

You guys are right. I'll top coat it while I can. I don't want to regret it later.

 

[aztoyman]

Got it done. Just under a quart (27 oz) was enough for two coats. Sorry about the vertical bands in the pic. (LED lights)