Thought I would give body painting a try......

[BladeRunner80]

I tried the roll on paint method a few months ago, found out it was extremely difficult with the FJ40 body design, either that or I was just too lazy. So I was just going to rattle can it since I eventually want to take this thing on the trail. Well I went down to NAPA and talked to the paint guy (thye have an auto body and paint section at the NAPA down the street from where I work). He convinced me to buy a HVLP spray gun and to borrow a compressor from work. Anyhow, I'm glad I listened to him because I just spayed a couple coats of 2K primer this weekend at it looks incredible. I fixed some rust pitting I found behind the "Toyota" badge on the rear drivers side too.

A few months ago I had my "then" neighbor do some body work and a coat of primer, well he shot this ugly ass rosy red primer, nothing like have a pink cruiser........ I'm in the process of getting a ready to paint the truck sky blue (original color). I think it will look pretty sharp, plus I can say I did it myself. Hopefully the enamel blue coats goes on as nice as this primer did. All the red marks are glazing puddy, there small chips and stuff from left over paints from the last 40 years. I didn't really want to take it down to metal, just sanding as much as I can and then filling in the other areas.

Since moving into my new place a few months ago, I turned my garage into my "man-room"..........I try to limit how much my g/f goes in there!

 

[apeterson]

looking good!

 

[seeds]

pink floyd poster and all....looking good!

 

[TRESSEH]

Works

Going In The Right Direction And You Are Steering The Ship. Good Job

 

[Leaping Deer]

Hope when I try to paint my own it comes out half as good.

 

[BladeRunner80]

I love that Floyd poster.......leftover from my dorm days a few years ago

 

[breckbone]

Wow. Looks great! How long would you est the prep time took you?

 

[BladeRunner80]

its hard to say, back in July I had my neighbor strip the black rattle can paint job off, as well as fix some rust and a crunched fender. Then he shot a couple layers of pink primer on it. Although, there were still a lot of chips and dings here and there and he did this all without removing the top and front bib. I also got lazy and tried a roll on paint job, then went to wagner power sprayer with orange paint.....big mistake! Some people experiment with color on their kitchen wall, I chose my FJ40.

So to sand the original enamel off, fill small nicks, sand....sand....and more sanding.....then priming......then sanding runs and more priming probably around 15-20 hours over the last month. BUT.....if I had been using the HVLP spray gun I bought more for the priming (I had bought it originally to just spray the blue finsih and was using Dublicolor Sandable Primer for priming) I would have much much more time. I didn't get a compressor until Thanksgiving (Harbor Freight special). I bought the gun a while before, I was just going to borrow a compressor from work when I needed to do the final paint. I figure I'll do two-three more coats of primer then I'll do the final 3 coats of Sky Blue.

 

[supermanrs]

Your project is looking great. Just remember that you must be WAY more careful regarding dust and cleanliness when you paint. Also, I see you are in seattle. If you are planning on spraying in this weather, be sure to have a good heater in your garage. I painted mine in march, with a propane heater, but I didn't give enough time for the truck to heat up so the paint was more prone to runs. Runs are no fun, and wet sanding sucks. That is why I just reminded myself that it is a 4X4 and I don't care if there are flaws I can see from 10 feet.

 

[pontiota]

I've been working on painting mine also after I built a new rollbar.
Theres a reason why car paint is sooo much more expensive because it works sooooooooooo much better
I bent up a new roll bar and painted it with a epoxy primer and single stage silver using a HVLP gun and thats where the fun started. The silver went on so nice I decided to paint the inside of the Cruiser before I mount the roll bar then after the inside was painted I decided that while the inside is tore out the outside might as well be done so thats what I'm working on now.
Funny how one thing leads to another to another and so on and so on
Anyhow my point is no more rattle cans for me I even plan on stripping my bumper with the sand blaster and repaining them with a Single Stage car paint while there off

 

[BladeRunner80]

No kidding, so far I've just done primer, but it went on really easy and it was pretty chilly out. When I did my second coat, I screwed up my rear passenger fender and got some bad runs, I figured it was some laquer thinner left in the gun from when I cleaned it the night before. Who knows, but I sprayed it out for a few seconds, went back to the body and everything was fine.

I'm kind of anxious to see how the sky blue enamel coat will behave compared to the primer I shot. I still need to paint the dash too, but I think I'll use my airbrush for that, I'll have a little more control. The rest of the interior is covered with body liner.

 

[Chip B]

You have inspired me to try this myself in the spring. Nice score on your rig. I wish my 71 looked that good even with a rattle can paint job.

I'll keep an eye on your blog for progress.

 

[Hugh Heifer]

How about clean up? What are you doing to clean your sprayer, nozzles and hopper?

 

[BladeRunner80]

I bought a gallon of laquer thinner and once I'm done painting, I fill the hopper with it (about 1/3 or so full), put the top back on, swoosh (technical term) it around in there and then spray it out. This does a pretty good job of cleaning it out. This is what the guy at the paint shop told me to do. I don't really clean the nozzle, I probably should though. I figure I shoot enough thinner through that it should be okay.

 

[BladeRunner80]

Thanks Chip! I did a lot of research on all the differnet painting methods. I never used a HVLP gun before, just rattle cans and airbrush (to paint my models with when i was a kid). The HVLP is amazing! The amount of air and paint this thing pushes is awsome! I was really worried about runs too, but so far I haven't had any serious problems. When I shoot the final coat, that could change though. We'll see.

 

[mr_manny]

HVLP x2
Even though a buddy helped me shoot-it, It feels great being able to do it yourself...
When your done, you'll find it easier to picking-up that new Plasma TV w/the $ you saved

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=114103

 

[fjwagon]

I found this at the grocery store the other day.....surprisingly enough it has all kinds of info from from sandblasting, sanding, prepping to making you own floorbaard panel to painting.

 

[BladeRunner80]

Cool, I'll have to check it out

 

[Buckethead]

Looks Good

 

[idus25]

Maybe you should build a "man town", that way you can have you friends and rig together.