Not ready for a full repaint, stop this from getting worse
 

Hey everyone, I have a mostly rust-free truck, except for the hood and the roof.

https://i.imgur.com/gVxwK5D.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/ezwMMEV.jpg?1

I bought it when I lived in Georgia, and I believe it lived a lot of it's previous life with pine needles piled on top of it.

Floors, cab corners, wheelwells are all in perfect shape. There's a little more rust like the hood under the grill and below the tailgate, but not as bad.

I'm not ready to paint the entire truck, so I'm looking to remove the rust here to stop it from getting worse. I also don't want to hurt any future repainting plans by using some products that would be hard to remove/prep later.

So after some searching, the best bet appears to be to sand down to bare shiny metal (80 grit? It's rough to the touch) and then epoxy prime.

Do I need to wipe down with something first? What, exactly? I've seen some people using an acid? Converter of some kind?

What's a decent, affordable epoxy primer for a non-bodywork guy that would be easy to get my hands on? Something from Summit? Something I could even find at Lowes/HD/Tractor Supply?

Re: Not ready for a full repaint, stop this from getting worse
 

That's pitted pretty bad it looks like in the pic...if it's not pitted though ,then the 80g by itself should do it..
I've never done the acid stuff before...
But the rust all needs to be removed
But your on track with the 80g and epoxy....just about any parts store that sells paint will have epoxy primer..summit and eastwood both carry epoxy...but if you want a quality primer go with SPI..

Re: Not ready for a full repaint, stop this from getting worse
 

Attachment 2046468 In 1988 I painted the front of the 38 Packard. This is a photo I took today of the hood ornament area that was pitted. I got tired of carrying the entire radiator shell to the shows as a demo so I cut the top off . What I would do on that hood is I would take it down what 80 grit. Wipe it down with the metal prep and etch and apply 2/3 coats of the permanent rust sealer. Then I would prime it. It's only been 32 years now

Re: Not ready for a full repaint, stop this from getting worse
 

What is your time frame for the full paint job?
What is the planned quality? High end show or looks good at 20 feet?

If the time frame isn't too far out and planned quality is looks good at 10 or 20 feet, might try a wire brush in an angle grinder followed by a single coat of Rustoleum. A single coat of spray paint should wire brush off fairly easily once you get to the full paint point.

Re: Not ready for a full repaint, stop this from getting worse
 

Time frame - a year or two? Even then, a 10-foot paint job would be fine for me. It's a truck and I use it as a truck, so it doesn't need show quality.

Re: Not ready for a full repaint, stop this from getting worse
 

Just for fun I was polishing up the not-rusty sections.

800 grit wet sand
1500 grit wet sand
Meguiars 105 on a wool pad
Meguiars 205 on a foam pad
Carnauba wax

Even with the scratches, nicks, and little rust spots here and there I'm pretty happy with it. The bed still has some dull spots I should go over more with the 205, but you can see the difference in the fender vs the door and bedside.

https://i.imgur.com/hUlmCoT.jpg?1

Re: Not ready for a full repaint, stop this from getting worse
 

Why not just prep/paint the hood and roof? Wipe down with wax and grease remover, sand till rust is gone, apply 2 coats of epoxy, apply filler if needed, re prime any sand thru’s with epoxy, 2 coats of 2k high build, block sand to 400, seal with reduced epoxy, 2-3 coats of black single stage, and wet sand and buff if needed.

Re: Not ready for a full repaint, stop this from getting worse
 

I've thought about it. Might end up going that route, I guess if I went and painted them I'd like the hood at least to match. The roof I could change up and go with silver or something (I have a cap I want to paint silver/gray as well), but the hood being different would bug me.

Re: Not ready for a full repaint, stop this from getting worse
 

Paint them both black using the paint code on the truck and finish polishing the rest of it...The fresh black will blend in pretty good.

Re: Not ready for a full repaint, stop this from getting worse
 

Be sure to check that hood for pinholes. If you use primer and filler on any kind of pinholes you will have a bubble in the paint pretty quickly.

Re: Not ready for a full repaint, stop this from getting worse
 

It's not black, although the pic kind of looks like it. I think it's called "Midnight blue".

Re: Not ready for a full repaint, stop this from getting worse
 

Sweet! Well it would sure look better repainted than in it’s current state if the match wasn’t perfect. You can probably get a guy to adjust the color some if it wasn’t right

Re: Not ready for a full repaint, stop this from getting worse
 

Clr green scrubby then coat with boiled linseed oil . Wont look pretty but it will stop further rust . I did a hood for my 68 . Left it out for 3 months after treatment .first picture was early May second end of June. It's in the barn now a year later but the clean metal spot is still rust free

Re: Not ready for a full repaint, stop this from getting worse
 

If it's been stored any amount of time under a pine tree I would be more concerned about getting to those areas you can't see and cleaning them out.