1976 Chevy Truck 3/4 ton 4x4 - 2nd rebuild

[firefighter]

*Update*
If you're going to use spray on rubberized undercoating, get first hand advice from people who have used it and find out what brand works.
Do not guess on this step!! I used CarQuest brand spray on rubberized undercoating and it sucks.
I let it dry for 4 days and it never really dried. Well it's rubberized you say? I could easily scrape it off my my fingernail. Trust me, do not use that stuff.
I ended up recoating every square inch of the bottom of the cab and box.
A classic car guy told me about this spray on stuff he uses called Evercoat undercoating. It's a black can with a red Corvette on the label. He told me it dried hard within a few hours and that's all he's used for years.
He had me look under his rebuilt Chevy truck and 1960's Pontiac car that he rebuilt years ago and the Evercoat undercoating still looked great and full intact.
I'm not pushing this stuff but just posting what DID and DID NOT work for me in case someone else doing what I'm doing reads this thread.

Ok, now that I've said all that, I had the guys over again last night and uprighted the cab and box.
I have them both on roll around 4'x4' platforms so I can move them around.
I'm ready for the final states of body work and sanding on the cab and I hope to have it primed and painted within a week or two.
I'd love to get the cab back on the chassis but don't want to rush it.

I also got the extended flexible brake lines installed but ruined other rigid brake lines in the process. If you try to loosen the brake line fittings and find the rigid pipe is seized to it, you have no choice but to replace it since the rigid line will twist up like a pretzel. Putting on new brake lines on an old truck is never really a bad thing though. 

I'll be posting a few other questions in the correct areas if you can help me.
Thanks guys.

[mrboyy17]

i hear ya...i used 3m brand spray can rubberized undercoating and it does the same thing.....never did dry all the way and you can scrape it right off.....i said screw it and put in my new carpet over it anyways.
mark

[beastie_3]

many undercoatings do that. Its made that way. go scrape the frame on some older fords and GM trucks. same thing. Duplicolor, i think, makes a coating that dries hard. its the blue can, not their black and white can.

[firefighter]

I can't believe it's been almost 2 months since I've done an update. I said then that the cab should be ready within a few weeks for primer. Boy was I wrong.
A person finds so many other things on the truck to do in the meantime.
Anyway, I am hoping to get the cab primed today.
I'm not a painter so it should be interesting. I'll post an update later this evening.

[thirsty]

That's great news. After just being where you are right now, I can relate to your anticipation. You will feel great once it is all one color even if it is only primer and that will motivate you...believe me.

[firefighter]

Well I did get the cab primed today and am super stoked about it.
After fighting with a cheap HVLP gun and losing the battle, the new Devilbiss HVLP gun I got was way more user friendly and I felt I was the one in control, not the gun. The adjustment knobs actually did something when I turned them!! Priming around and under the dash was tricky but I guess you just try and get it the best you can.
After a bit of sanding, I hope to have some paint sprayed soon.

This is a before pic. I had to replace a passenger side floor panel because of a heater core leak gone undetected, put in a taller transmission tunnel, a few sheetmetal dings or trim holes filled, and repair hail damage on the roof.


Here is the aftermath of priming. Yippee, it's all one color!! Words cannot express how good this feels. 


View from the back

[thirsty]

Nice job firefighter! Looks like you got your new spray gun figured out ok. I know how it feels to be stoked seeing the cab in primer. Once mine was in primer I spent every minute I could spare getting ready for color and clear. Keep at it and before you know it you will be stoked about the paint.

This bud's for you!

[firefighter]

Good thing for long holiday weekends!!

Well today I finally got some paint on my project. The color I'm using is an original 1971 Chevy truck green, Olive Poly or something like that.
I'm using single stage urethane paint and I didn't want to try and paint the inside and outside all in one shot. I did some masking and only painted the inside today. The gun was shooting great but the inside of a cab is just a pain to paint. So many inside corners, upside down areas, weird angles and hard to reach places. Sometimes all you can do is hold the gun close and hope the overspray turns it the color you're painting. 
I got a few runs but feel like I learned a few things so I feel pretty comfortable getting ready to paint the outside hopefully some time this week.
Thanks to all who have answered my painting questions.
Anyway, here is what it looks like.

[jdl71]

Looks good. I absolutely love that color. So refreshing to not see red, black or white. Great choice!

[thirsty]

That's going to be sweet in that color. Are you going to paint it one solid color or are you going to two tone it?

[firefighter]

Thanks jdl71. I had a hard time deciding what color to paint. Since I take it out hunting, I didn't want some flashy bright color standing out boldly. I wanted something that would blend in a bit. I came across this color and liked it. I really liked the fact that it was an original Chevy truck color from the 70's too.

Mr. thirsty. I'm just going to have it a solid color. I guess I never really thought about a two tone.
Heck, I'll just be happy to have it all one color and not complicate too many things. Ha Ha !!   
I now understand what you meant when in your post you mentioned that you struggled while painting the inside of the roof.
That is just a tough area to shoot.
I've found that good lighting is a must too. You never know how wet the paint is going on unless you can see the point where it turns from just a mist to a flow on the painted surface. Man I wish I had a paint booth!!

[firefighter]

Well today was the day. I took the afternoon off work and painted the outside of the cab.
Yahoo, the cab is all one color now!!

There is some minor orangepeel in it, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It does have a nice shine to it. Man it's hard to get a really smooth paint job. I'm afraid if I actually got the paint really smooth, it would show how much I suck at body work.
Looking at the finish under fluorescent lights I have found is the worst way to gauge how your paint job is (it's humbling). Out in the sunlight is a whole lot more forgiving.
I now know I want to re-fix a few spots in my doors before I paint them. They'll stick out like a sore thumb otherwise.

Here it is.

[bake74]

     Looks really good.

[79 chevy]

Looks pretty sweet

[thirsty]

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

You should be happy with the way it turned out.

Nice work firefighter!