ready for some paint!!!

[IDIoit]

well kinda, after i prep!
ive ordered a studgun,
a 17 1/2" pneumatic long board
have a gallon of HOK3000
the reducer and the cat
2 gallons of acrylic enamel OD green
lots of sand paper for the DA

first things first.
i hope to get the truck out of the shop, and steam clean underneath and engine compartment.
pull front and rear axles
and then coat with POR 15

not very knowledgeable on painting, but im planning on being self/forum taught.
il get pics and specs on my gun later.

im not looking for a perfect finish, just something that will make it look presentable.
i could easily spend 100 hours + on straightening everything, but im impatient.

right now me and my son are DA'n the entire thing in 36 grit
after most of the paint, or our patience runs out, well hit it with 80

i will work out most of the dents, add some fiber bond to the metal worked areas ive done, and bondo the rest up.

then squirt the HOK primer sealer on it.

when i did the roof, i squirted the enamel on it while the primer sat for about a 1/2 hour.
dont know if i intend to do the same.
guess we will see after i spray the primer, i may be a lill runny

wish me luck, imma need it!!!!

 

[laserjock]

Most of the epoxy primers call for 80 DA on the bare metal so make sure you go over the 36 good with the 80. Are you going to epoxy prime then prime again for the enamel? You are mixing paint systems here. I'm certainly no expert on any of this, but I would highly suggest if you want a durable paint job that you do whatever body work you are going to do and then seal it with a seal coat of epoxy and let it cure fully. Then scuff it and switch systems to enamel primer and paint. Acrylic enamel used to use a LOT of solvent. Not sure if that is still the case but I don't know if the solvent is compatible with the urethane stuff (i.e. like a 2k primer surface). I just don't know. I would suspect however that if you seal everything in epoxy and let if fully cure (like past the normal re-coat window), you could put about whatever you want over it.

My unexperienced self would probably do epoxy, bodywork, 2k, seal coat, full cure, scuff, enamel primer, paint.

Hopefully @junk will pop in here and weigh in.

 

[IDIoit]

yea ill definately be hitting it with 80 grit before prime.
i have just enough to prime it with a pretty thick coat of epoxy primer.
i guess i can get more.

im gonna be doing all the body work before priming.
ive been told that fillers do better against steel rather than primer.

its not alot of body work, just the fenders and 1 door that need work, the rest is fairly straight.

 

[laserjock]

I think it depends on the filler. There are direct to metal fillers and there are fillers that need primer under them. Just read your tech sheets. They are life savers. It was years before I realized that this stuff does come with instructions.... you didn't just have to make it up as you went.

 

[junk]

I would be concerned about Epoxy over the 80 grit. Seems too course. I'd probably be leaning towards 180 grit before epoxy. Read the tech sheet though and see what they recommend. Normally they give a range and I typically go on the fine side. I'm always worried about scratches coming back through later.

There again for coating I would check the tech sheet. If your going to block out the primer I'd go with 400 grit wet paper to smooth it out after it dries. Probably overnight. You could do a wet on wet application and not have to sand it if they allow that and the body's straight enough. My epoxy can be recoated without sanding for like 2-24hours. After 24 hours it has to be sanded.

I normally do all my mud work right on the bare metal. Differing thoughts on that, but bare metal has worked fine for me. Priming before seems like an extra step before mud work.

That HOK 3000 stuff is interesting. I was looking at the KD3000 Primer/surfacer/epoxy It looks like it would replace two of my products. Typically I use epoxy for adhesion and water resistance. Then I use a surfacer primer that sands nice and helps level things out. That KD3000 looks like it would replace both of those with one product. That seems like a great way to go. Price ain't too bad either. I pay 75ish for a gallon of either primer right now. This was 115/gallon.

 

[yARIC008]

If you really want it to last, sand blast to near white metal, https://protective.sherwin-williams.com/pdf/tools-charts-list/surface_preparation_standards.pdf

SSPC-10 is what you want. This will give you a nice anchor pattern, I believe somewhere between 5-10 mils is what you want.

If you want the best paint there is, I would recommend Wilco. They're the industrial paint we use at work and it's pretty bad ass. They make some paints that can be used on cars, their paint is 100% pigment and no filler crap in there.

When I repaint the van that's what I plan on using. If you want a contact, I think I can rustle up the dudes business card that helps me.

 

[icanfixall]

Most important thing about using a spray gun is knowing how to use it. Do not allow the gun to point away from directly down from your hand. Maintiain the same speed and distance from the work piece. DO NOT EVER stop moving the gun when spraying paint. If you do this there will be a run because you just added about 20 coats of paint because you stopped moving the gun but kept adding paint to the work. Getting the spray tip adjusted for the viscosity of the paint in important too as is keeping the paint the same throughout the painting process. A few years ago I was painting our horse trailer with a 2 part paint. It had a hardener in it I needed to add. I found my gun was not delivering the same amount of paint near the end of the job. The paint got too thick for the nozzle so a tiny amount with a very small spray pattern was all I could get . Thick paint requires a huge head and a lacquer paint requires a small head plus several other parts in the gun. Test out on an area someplace other than a direct eye site. Don't start painting the hood because if you screw up there your looking at it every time you drive the rig.