I've been out of town most of this last week, so not much progress to show. Yesterday I did take some time to get setup for painting stuff. This is the first time I'll be using an HVLP gun, so I'm pretty excited about it. Fortunately my wife has been using one for painting various craft stuff, so we're pretty well setup for it. We only have a 2hp, 26gal compressor, but it seems to do the job well on small to medium size things. If I was painting the whole truck it'd be a different story.
I'm gonna be using Majic Paints Tractor paint and primer for all the under-body, frame and such pieces. It isn't POR-15, but my hope is that with proper prep and priming it should do just as well. It's an oil based enamel that's supposed to be pretty tough.
Oh, and I should mention that I've changed my mind about not separating the frame and body. I'm going to do it now. With the axles out and the frame and body just sitting there, it's just too close to stop at this point. I'm going to replace the body mounts anyway, so I'm gonna have to undo those bolts at some point. And that'll just make it so much easier to prep the frame and under-body for paint properly. As it sits all that needs to be removed is the gas tank and fuel/brake lines. I'd be kicking myself if I stopped so close. So there's that.
I'll be picking up a pressure washer to clean up the frame now that I can get it outside the shop. The under-body is all together pretty clean. Small patch above the transfer case got greasy, but otherwise pretty good and should cleanup nicely with a simple rag and wire brush.
Anyway, I got one of these "portable"/"temporary" car ports setup in the back area of this shop, cleaned up the ground and put the sides mostly on. Since I'm not painting anything anyone is going to see on a regular basis I'm not being super picky about sealing it and putting in the ventilators and filters and such. If a little dust blows up on my frame or crossmember I'm not gonna cry about it.
I started with the engine crossmember and 1 of the HD shackles just to see how much I suck. Turns out I don't know what I'm doing. So I let the first crap coat sit (24 hour cure time :Wow1: ) and went home to do some learning on the YouTubes. Likely I had a few problems causing the A) low coverage and B) orange peel. First, my PSI was likely way too high. I had it up around 100 because I thought I read that in the Majic Paints tips & tricks pdf. Nope. Seems it should be around 30-35psi, so I'll start there next time. Second, I really didn't mess with the dials/settings much on the gun. I should have spent more time getting the fan and quantity just right. Will do that next time. Thirdly, I'm still deciding it I want to thin it or not. I did straight primer because I had a 2.5mm tip on the gun, which should be plenty for the heavier oil paint to flow. But, I get the feeling that's not gonna help with atomization. So I've got a 1.5 on order, and my wife has a 1.4 and 1.8 I can try as well. Thinning extends the dry time, so I'm not especially eager to do that. But... yeah, will see after some tests.
Today I'm busy with Memorial Day parties, so nothing happening. But tomorrow I'll probably spend a good amount of time painting as well as tearing out the remaining pieces from the frame.
I also started poking at the rust spot on the inner fender liners from the front and it turned into a pretty big hole.
Fortunately I found new replacements for pretty cheap at Classic Industries. $75 a piece including shipping is certainly better than trying to salvage these guys.
"Paint Booth"
Ewwww orange peel
Inner wheel well rust hole
