56 Chevy truck bodywork

[jeffs56]

Hey guys I was hoping you can give me some advice on doing the bodywork and paint on my 56 Chevy truck. It’s been to two different shops and both of them never finished it and got me for $6500 bucks. I don’t really trust taking my truck to another body and paint place, so I’d like to hopefully try it myself. I’ll post some pics and hopefully get some ideas on how to do the bodywork and paint. Thank you

[jeffs56]

Here’s a couple more. Trying to send pics of the worst spots

[mongocanfly]

for certain, anywhere youve got cracking filler ,itll have to be removed to bare metal..the rust you can see peaking thru the cracks will all have to be removed to clean bare metal..
but theres no telling whats under that filler, unless youve been involved since the beginning.so welding in patch panels may be needed
once you get it all clean itll need epoxy primer put on it..then filler and sanding..and lots of it...and more primer till your satisfied
as far as the finish,it alls depends on how good you want the end results
if youve never done bodywork, it can get frustrating at times
anybody shop worth their oats wouldnt touch that truck until they had stripped it down to bare metal ..
to bad you got ripped..

[franken]

The OP should probably do a bunch of reading about rust repair and bodywork. I'm not sure why people post questions when the answer is a search away and a tenth of a second. Sure, many answers are BS, but all are educational.

[Rickysnickers]

Flipped

[Rickysnickers]

Maybe he's asking because of the frustration of losing $6500, and is looking for a little reassurance. I'm sure you wouldn't be happy about that either. Instead of knocking him, why not help him with some links to said search.

OP I have a friend in PAso Robles. He's building a 7.0 pro car. He has used these guys for all his painting needs. I know you said you didn't want to take it to a shop, but if you change your mind, it might be worth a call to these guys.

Rainbow Marine Autobody & Paint
1107 Paso Robles Street Paso Robles, CA 93446

[jeffs56]

Thank you I appreciate it. Yes I’d like to try to attempt to do it myself cuz of the issues I’ve had. can’t be any worse then it is now lol. Dang Franken you got me, I just got on here and didn’t read any other posts or anything lol. Everyone has different bodywork issues providing pictures of what I’m dealing with gives people on here a visual and maybe they can help. Thanks for your post though

[theastronaut]

You'll want to strip it to bare metal and start over from scratch to be sure that all the rust is gone, and all of the materials used are compatible and good quality. Who knows what is on it now and what it looks like underneath.

I like to DA sand outer panels to bare metal, use 40 grit until you start seeing metal then switch to 60 so its not leaving deep scratches in the metal. Spot blast any rust. Then make sure its super clean and prime with epoxy primer to seal the metal and provide a good foundation for your body/paint work.

The best order would be-

Strip to bare metal.
Straighten dents.
Correct panel gaps.
DA sand all bare metal to establish fresh/sharp 80 grit scratch pattern for adhesion.
Super clean metal.
Shoot 2-3 coats of epoxy.
Filler work- Block filler flat with 80, guide coat and reblock with 150-180 to remove deep 80 grit scratches.
Shoot 2 coats of epoxy.
Spray high build within the recommended recoat window.
Block with 80, use guide coat to find low spots.
Fix high/low spots.

Depending on how many high/low spots you have to fix and how many breakthroughs to bare metal there are, you might want to shoot epoxy on the bare areas and shoot more high build, then block again with 80/150 to make sure it's super straight.

Once the high build is blocked straight, you can apply more guide coat and block with 220 then soft block with 400 to prep for sealer. Use guide coat in between grits to make sure you've sanded out 100% of the deeper scratches from the previous grit.

(if using SPI epoxy) shoot reduced epoxy as sealer, enough coats for full coverage, then shoot your paint within the recoat window.



I've been using SPI epoxy and clear and really like it, and they have an excellent forum for their users and products to share their work and ask questions.

http://www.spiuserforum.com/index.php



I post a lot of details on the bodywork process in my build threads, my current one shows how I strip to bare metal, straighten the metal, correct panel fitment, shoot epoxy, do any filler work needed, and shoot/block high build primer.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=784498