Roller Paint Job Project Completed - Pics.

[grey beard]

This project has taken three years of spare time, right to the month. It now runs and drives and I am pleased with the results. Insofar as the paint job goes, what you see is the last coat with no rubbing out or polishing. Should get a whole lot more shine with a little elbow grease.

The truck was in pretty rough condition when I started on it, and much body work was done. Once that was out of the way, the paint job took some time, but total cost for materials was less than $150 - sand paper, paint and thinner. I recommend this method for anyone who does not have a fat wallet but wants a durable paint job. This is not Rustoleum enamel but single stage polyurethane - pretty durable stuff.

Your comments are welcome.

[55 Fargo]

Looks great Dave, will be real purdy when you polish her up, not that she don't look great now..............Fred

[carl b51]

The new paint looks Great. It looks like it just came off the show room floor, if it drives as good as it looks you have a lot of happy times ahead. looks Great! Carl

[SteveMelchiorre]

Nicely done!

You've inspired me to take my running boards off this winter and roller paint them in the basement. My wife will be real happy about that!

Steve...

[51 Fargo]

very nice

Can I ask what rear bumper is that > Is it stock ?

[pflaming]

51 Fargo: I saw the bumper also and also would like to know its source. I need a bumper.

Great looking truck, ya gotta be proud!

[buds truck]

just plain awesome. great job.

[grey beard]

The rear bumper came with the truck. From what I've seen on this forum, I believe it may be from a '54 pickup. It is not the correct part for my '48, and the braces were bent to accomodate a different frame width.

My running boards were very rough. All the brackets underneath were rotted off and there were several places rusted through. I made new brackets and migged them on. Used stainless bolts to secure them to the brackets so they should never rust again.

The board brackets were all out of line on the drivers' side, until I discovered the frame was cracked. Once that was repaired, they lined up pretty well. Had to use a few fender washers for shims on the rear bracket.

Both running boards had been curbed repeatedly. I spent nearly two weeks doing work on these boards, but they were still too rough to be painted gloss black, which shows every pimple. Finally made the decision to paint them with rattle can bed liner. Used 8 cans of the stuff, four really heavy coats. I'm sorta' pleased with the way they came out. I also use this stuff for undercoating and sound deadener inside fenders, etc.

Thanks for the kind words.

[4852dodge]

The truck looks great.

[Jim Roach]

Dave,

Your truck looks great! I still plan on taking you up on your offer to come up and bleed my brakes with your pressure unit. I have been tied up with other projects and just havn't had the time, but we'll get to it soon. Thanks again for the offer.

Jim Roach

[DanOlson]

That'll turn some heads. Beautiful job.

Dan

[PatS....]

That turned out beautiful, Dave.

[Merle Coggins]

ATTA BOY Dave! Lookin' Good!

It feels good to take it out of the shop and drive it around, doesn't it. Your hard work and perseverance paid off.

Merle

[Reg Evans]

Beautiful job Dave. Another Pilot House saved !

[Brendan D25]

Your truck looks good Dave. Could you elaborate a little a more on the brand of paint and how you applied it.

[grey beard]

Youbetcha!

Paint is Brightside polyurethane marine enamel made by Interlux. I bought my paint from Jamestown Supply.com on the internet - about $28 a quart. I used about a quart each of the green and black - bought two of each and still have most of one of each left. Originally I used the Interlux #333 reducer for this paint, but subsequent experimentation led to good old mineral spirits, which worked identically and looks the same.

This polyurethane paint is pretty durable. Although I do not have a lot of miles on this truck, I inadvertently got some Zero Rust paint on it that dried a few days. Lacquer thinner took it right off, as well as some undercoating with no effect to the Brightside paint. From this experience, and the fact that the paint is formulated for boat decks, salt water and full sun, I believe it will be long-lasting.

I applied the paint with four-inch white foam rollers from Home Depot. They're probably the bulk of the cost for this paint job - more than a buck a pieee. I use a new roller, and when I'm finished, wrap it in a plastic bag, handle and all. It keeps for two or three days, then must be replaced.

Pakint is thinned at least fifty percent. With this method you are apolyinfg very thin paint. It takes very little material to cover a panel. Like two rollers full of paint will do any single Pilothouse panel one coat. I mix the paint in a glass jar with a lid, and pour this into my roller pan. Never return reduced paint to the can. It messes up your measurements for later coats.

Once it dries, you can treet this stuff like lacquer. If you have dirt or bugs in irt, just wet sand them out and give it another coat. I gave three coats average between wet sanding, starting with 320 grit paper and progressing to 1000 before the last two coats, using a 3M sanding sponge and soapy water to keep the paper clean.

In the process of hanging the fenders, we scratched a few spots, but spot repairs were very easy to make and it blended right in. Final compound with white, fine Turtle Wax comound and a slow speed buffer brings out a shine nearly equal to base/clear coat, in my estimation. I have hot polished out the main paint job, just a few trial panels, and I'm amazed at the results.

This method is particularly well suited for old men like me, who get tired often and need a nap. If you chose, you can do just one panel at a time. Contrast this to the frenzy of getting ready for an all-over ewnamel job, with masking, air-bone overspray and fumes, etc., and there's no contest in my mind. Gentlemen, I painted this truck in my basement garage, underneath first wife's bedroom, and got no com0laints of fumes or odors. The suff has no smell other than the mineral spirits used to reduce it.

On fhe downside, this method takes more time than spraying, but is safer, requires no compressor, no respirator and virtually no masking. There is no overspray involved, no exhaust fan needed, and no paint in my hankey when I blow my nose, if you know what I mean.

Guess I could say that I recommend this method for home DYI-type restorations on a low budget. :)

[Brendan D25]

Thank you Dave, I have been reading about the roller paint jobs on the net for about a year now and have come to the conclusion that it is an excellent way to paint a car if you have the time and patience. I will be saving your method for future reference. Again, thank you and congratulations on your achievement of a fine restoration. Brendan.

[MBF]

Dave-it looks great and I like the running board treatment. Having taken a header off a set of shiney running boards a few years ago I'll go with functionality over originality. I may be using your process on my Ford L800 since it would have to be painted outside-can't get it in the garage. Mike

[bobaloo11]

Hi,

Beautiful paint job! Is there any special prep items you need. Is there a special primer needed?

TIA

[grey beard]

Bobaloo,

Prep and body work are absolutely identical to any other method of refinishing. If it isn't perfect, it will show up underjeath the paijnt, especiallywhen it's as shiny as this stuff gets.

I originally used primer from Interlux, but it dried so rough whe applied with a ller that I seemed to need to sand it all off to get a smooth finish. Finally went to NAPA and bought a quart of NAPA Crossfire high-build primer. This stuff is their number 15204, and is a 2K matereial - which means two-part catalized matereial for fast curing. Didn't know how well it would apply with a roller, but it seemed to work out very well.

Interisting problem I ran into was that when I tried to wet sand this primer, it just balled up and acted like it wasn't dry, no matter how long I let it cure. Finally figgered out it would dry sand beautifully, and on the strength of this experiment, I went back and bought a gallon of this primer and a gallon of the recommend activator - $100 bucks worth of primer, in all. Beauty of this stuff is that it really fills well on top of body work. Every panel on my truck, including the roof needed body work or rust repair, so this fast-fill fearture is a real blessing when you are working from rough bondo up to a 320 grit paint prep surface - lots of grinder and file marks that need to be filled. Many times I thought I was finished work on a panel and after putting a few coats of color on, discovered body work marks still showing up that weren't adequarely finished.

There is really no shortcut to paint prep. If anything is less than perfeft, it will show up when paintedl. And the smoother and shinier the paint job, the more noticeable will be the flaws. The only way I was able to get this sort of finish was to spend many hours and days sanding primer to get it perfectly smooth. There are just no shortcuts in this process. I probably spent more on sandpaper than I did on paint.

Just now I'm trying to repair some dried out and badly cracked corner window and windshield gaskets that I should have replaced but didn't, back when it would have been logical to do so. I'm hoping to fix these big cracks with black silicone gasket material. Anyone have better suggestions?

Thanks

[bobaloo11]

I noticed that you liked the finish paint because it didn't smell like when paint is sprayed. Was the primer sprayed?

Thanks for the great advice so far!

[grey beard]

Negatory on sprayed primer. Only sprayig I did was some small bare spots betweedn paint coats where I used Rustoleum automotive primer. The main fast-fill priming was done with NAPA primer and rollers, as mentioned above in this thread. Worked just fine.

[coW52Dodge]

That looks incredible. Rollers - seriously??

[buds truck]

you did yourself proud. A truck anyone would love to be the proud owner of. Bud

[themanchild]

Iam now going to be painting my truck with rollers. Thanks for the tips.