Infamous $50 paint job!!

[MannyDantyla]

First I want to say that I'm NOT a body/paint guy, this is the first time I've ever done anything like this. Oh, and I apologize for the image size, wish they were automatically resized. I can't resize them I'm afraid. If you need, resize your browser window.

I'm not the first to do the "$50 paint job" and I wont be the last. More info:

• http://www.rickwrench.com/index79master.htm?http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html
• http://www.gwellwood.com/project-cars/the-crusty-chevy/tremclad-and-a-roller/ )

Basically, the idea is that oil-based enamel paints from your hardware store can be ROLLED onto the vehicle if you thin heavily with mineral spirits. The mineral spirits help it level out while it's drying and its supposed to make the paint cure faster so you can wet sand the next day. The popular paint for this is Rustoleum Stops-Rust (or Tremclad for you Canadians). Once the dots were connected and it was discovered that boat painters have been doing this for decades, people started using boat paint which is supposed to be easy leveling right out of the can and is a urethane enamel as well and boasts UV protection which Rustoleum can not.



But, Instead of using Rustoleum or boat paint, I'm going to use Sherwin-Williams "all surface" oil-based enamel! Why? Because you can get it mixed in any color you can possibly imagine! The folks at the Sherwin-Williams store will mix any color from their massive pallet. Good luck trying to get Home Depot to do that for you with Rustoleum (they will not and can not). And it says it's UV resistant, which Rustoleum is not. However, I've done a lot of research and I've never found anyone else who has claimed to use this paint. So, hmmm... It's also more expensive, $23 for a quart plus tax and about $60 a gallon. Thats twice the price of rustoleum. That will make this the $100 paint job after supplies and such, lol.

The only problem... deciding on the right color is really hard!


What I bought was Sherwin-Williams 6719 Gecko Green (looks like Medium Lime, right??), just picked up a quart in case its the wrong color.


Mixed 5oz paint with 3oz mineral spirits. Still experimenting with what I need to get it right. It didn't roll on nearly as well as the Rustoleum.


Let's star with the hood. Keep in mind that it's going to look like crap with only one coat.

First the body work of course:




Now I was ready to apply a coat of the Sherwin-Williams gecko green All Surface enamel paint.

no flash:


with flash:


Wow! look at that color! After the initial shock went away (it's completely different then the Medium Lime I tried to pick out), it started growing on me right away.

More pics coming right up, but this is a work in progress currently.

[zieg85]

Actually you made a good choice.  I've been a 30+ year employee of SW and appreciate your business.  That all surface enamel performs well.  I'll be watching your progress

[MannyDantyla]

Remember, I said I'm still experimenting with the correct way to roll this All Surface stuff on. Well, after the first coat and with the mixture of paint + mineral spirits sitting around over night, this is what I saw in the morning:




The paint has seperated into layers. I don't think mineral spirits is the correct thing to thin this stuff. The can just says "thinning is not required" and says nothing else about what to thin it with or how much.

TIME TO DO SOME EXPERIMENTING!

I bought some Flood Penetrol from the hardware store for a little over $10. This stuff is supposed to help the paint lay flatter and comes highly recommended my many on the net. I also found a can of medium strength Acrylic Enamel Reducer that my roommate had left over from his S10 build. My plan was to try several different combinations and see which one worked best.



I used an old junk hood I had laying around, and made a matrix of combinations. Top row was with penetrol, buttom one without, and the columns where no thinner, thinned with mineral spirits, and thinned with enamel reducer.



So the exact samples tested in this experiment were:

• strait paint
• 3:2 paint:mineral spirits
• 3:2 paint:enamel reducer
• 3:1 paint:penetrol
• 2:1:1 paint:mineral spirits:penetrol
• 2:1:1 paint:enamel reducer:penetrol

Oh, and I'll try two diffrent paint methods for each trial. Just plain rolling in one half of the square, and rolling then "tipping" in the other. "Rolling and tipping" is what boat painters do, look it up on youtube if you're interested. But the basic idea is use a brush just after rolling the paint on, just barely drag the brush on the paint to pop all the little bubbles.



Things got real messy right away when I picked up the cup for the mix with enamel reducer and the bottom of the solo cup stayed on the floor! I guess the enamel reducer melted it off...



Anyways here's the results:




I think the best combination was the enamel reducer and the penetrol was the best. Thats the upper right corner in the matrix.

Ugh, all these pics are an a PITA.

[MannyDantyla]

Actually you made a good choice.  I've been a 30+ year employee of SW and appreciate your business.  That all surface enamel performs well.  I'll be watching your progress

That's awesome! please advise me! 

[MannyDantyla]

So now I'm ready to apply another coat to my hood.

The color is getting a closer to what it truly is I think.





daggum flies..

[illinoisk30]

Hood color looks good. Oh, and I wish I had a guy playing guitar when I worked on my truck.

[FlatBlack77]

if you ask me, the color says classic old green. perfect for a square body. and thats coming from someone who doesnt like green on vehicles.

ive never tried painting cars like this before. ive always used spray cans or the rustoleum/krylon "indoor outdoor" stuff in a spray gun.

[fitz]

A while back I googled "$50 paint job Charger". I ended up on a Mopar forum and spent many late nights reading all about it.  It seems that if you have enough time, you can do a respectable job for cheap money.
Looking forward to seeing your results.

[MannyDantyla]

Thanks for the kind words! With your support, I've decided I'm going to stick with this color. It's going to look awesome! My worry was that it was too bright, it kinda looks like the 2010 Synergy Green Camaro, but it's really not that bright. To be honest, the reason I was inspired to do a green truck is because I saw the Gas Moneky's C10 build. I then later decided that, to make my paint look exactly like that, would be impossible because I think they have a lot of very fine metal flake in the paint. I don't have any evidence, but if you watch closely in the second episode he says "the paint is going to be very vibrant" and if you look closely at an image that shows the interior, the paint in the door jamb just doesn't seem like a solid color (I don't know, I could be tripping). So I thought I should just forget it. But... THIS color I have is going to looks REALLY close!! Getting excided

[MannyDantyla]

Anyways, here's my truck. Before the paint job or before I dodid anything to it.





I bought a front clip because I'm converting to the older body style.



The hoods bent, obvious in the pic. I found another one for only $40. Thats the one I was painting in the previous posts.

============================

Meanwhile, the rest of the body needed some attentions. A bit of rust, plenty of dents and dings...




For the white, I'm using Rustoleum stops-rust because it's cheaper. I just decided to cover the whole thing for now, while I decide if the green is the right color. It seals up the primer too.

I thinned the rustoleum about 3 to 2, paint to mineral spirits. It rulled on MUCH better than then Sherwin Williams. Completely flat and I didn't even need to tip to pop the bubbles, they just went away on their own.

After one coat:


and after two coats:

[LTZ C20]

Nice job so far! I liked the Gas Monkey C10 also.

I saw this truck on the internet, I think it may be a member's but no idea who. Anyway, it's a good example and a really nice truck.

[SkinnyG]

I'm the "Crusty Chevy" guy in your second link up there.  I'd do it again in a heart beat for a truck that doesn't have to be perfect.  I didn't thin mine at all, and I'm mostly fine with the outcome.  But I use it as a truck.

Enjoy the transformation!

[roundhouse]

Everything I've read says use rust oleum
Nothing else works

I've read all those sites too
Cause we just can't spend mega bucks to get out truck painted by a pro
And really don't want a expensive paint job on a daily driver work truck

Thanks for posting
And please keep posting up your progress and results and experiments



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jason S]

I saw this truck on the internet, I think it may be a member's but no idea who. Anyway, it's a good example and a really nice truck.

Sartobuilt

[LTZ C20]

Now we know!