advice on painting 72 Blazer

[Team]

need some advice, I've got a 72 Blazer in mostly original condition, its got some surface rust, one quarter sized hole near the tailgate, small bubble under the rubber at the doors. The factory color is white on white and i want to stick with it. Ive already re textured and painted the single wall top which turned out great and now i want to do the body. its going to be a daily driver and will probably do very light off roading, not going to be a show car. so who can guide me? paint type, process? what should i take off, leave on, look out for? how do i fix the hole, does rust preventer really work?
Hate to ask so many questions but you guys seem to have great advice.

Thanks

[1949gmc]

Well, I don't think there is a short answer to your question, but I'll try. In order to paint the truck properly, everything has to come off, and by everything I mean moldings, clips, emblems, lights, bumpers, grill, mirrors, door handles and door locks. The windshield could come out, but I guess it doesn't have to... you can paint around the rubber and have it look okay. Fenders, hood and doors don't have to come off unless you were painting the jambs, then the doors could come off so you could properly paint the door and jamb. I would even go as far as to remove the gas tank filler neck and grommet so as not to leave a tape line around the grommet, but that's me... it depends on how far you want to go with it. When it comes to painting the truck, the more time you spend in prepping the truck the better the paint job. I've heard in the past that a vehicle should only have two/three paint jobs on it before it should be all sanded down to bare metal. I like to go all the way to bare metal so that I know what's under the paint... otherwise, you just don't know. I'm kinda OCD like that. If it's original paint, you might want to go all the way down anyway just because its been exposed for so many years. Any bare metal should be primed with either an etching primer followed by a 2k urethane primer or just an epoxy primer prior to final topcoat. Any body filler should be done on the bare metal, not over a primer, especially etching primer. After primer, some people use a sealer, then paint... others just use paint, no sealer. Not really sure of the advantages/disadvantages. As for rust, cut it out and replace it with good sheetmetal. That is the only way to stop this cancer.

For more info on painting, check out the Paint and Body section here on the board. Lots of good info in there.

[Team]

Thanks, i will be taking out the windshield as it is cracked and needs replacing anyway, will be removing doors as well. as far as the surface rust goes, would you remove that too?

[SeventyOne]

Definitely need to remove the surface rust - that would be in the process of going down to bare metal.

[DANTES JIMMY]

Just my 2 cents from a guy who has learned the hard way from shade tree to very nice resto's take every thing off that can be taken off every nut bolt grommet
tape leaves an edge and eventually that tape line edge will start to chip away from that edge
i agree with 49 gmc take er down to the sheet metal and then deal with the probs
sand blasting (use a professional shop) is cheap just dont do it on any of the big flat areas ie: Middle door , big sections of the bedsides it will ripple any big flat areas
have the jambs and all of the bended sections sand blasted and then hand sand the rest down to the metal and then determine how much body repair needs to happen
as far as rust stopper so far i have had very good luck with it
i think it needs paint over it i wouldnt trust just it to the elements
you will be happier with the project if you do it this way
however depending on what you want to spend as far as money and time is your answer as to how you want the finished product
i stand behind base coat clear coat all day long as far as ease and application and durability

[Team]

thanks for the help, will try to get a few pics up so you can see what i'm dealing with. on another topic, the blazer has tach and tilt, both of which are not listed on the build sheet, the 2nd owner, who inherited it from his father in law, says they are factory, could this be?

[1949gmc]

Tilt and tach came from the factory alright, just not on your truck. Now, by no means am I any kind of expert in this area, but if the truck had come from the factory with these options, they would be listed on the spid as 'N33- Comfortilt Steering' and 'U16- Tachometer'. Pretty sure they'd be on the spid, but maybe there's a chance that they weren't for some reason... this is where my lack of knowledge comes into play becuase I've only had two of these trucks so far.

[red71cheyenne]

Originally Posted by 1949gmc

Tilt and tach came from the factory alright, just not on your truck. Now, by no means am I any kind of expert in this area, but if the truck had come from the factory with these options, they would be listed on the spid as 'N33- Comfortilt Steering' and 'U16- Tachometer'. Pretty sure they'd be on the spid, but maybe there's a chance that they weren't for some reason... this is where my lack of knowledge comes into play becuase I've only had two of these trucks so far.

Absolutely correct. They are factory parts, just not installed on your truck when built. Someone added them later, as a lot of us have. Both of my trucks didn't come with tach, but I added it and it looks factory. Just not listed on my spid.

As far as everyone else says, I too would go down to bare metal and repair any rust you have and go from there. I took both the pickup and Blazer down to bare metal and have been very happy with the results. It also lets you know if there is anything hiding there that the previous owner may have done that was maybe not to your liking. Like bondo, filler or what ever.

[DANTES JIMMY]

They maybe factory oem equipment
but not installed from the factory i am in the car business and i cant even tell you how many times i have heard "i would buy it if it had..." and trust me as a sales man you will do whatever it takes to make it have it
and back in the day the dealer did have some options that could be dealer installed options but it did not get that way from general motors
it may have been added from the dealer or a previous owner it still may be factory equipment just not fact installed

[Team]

that would make sense. Im attempting to add some pics, would like some feedback on front tie rods, i was told they are not stock and wondered why they would be changed, if in fact they are not stock,
[ATTACH][/ATTACH]

Rust:



Again, thanks for all the help, as you can see i am no expert, but i sure like these trucks

[1949gmc]

Wow! That's a clean looking truck! White with the blue interior looks really good. I think you need to post some more pics!

As for the tie rods, they look exactly like the ones on my truck and like the ones you'd get from Napa... so I'd say they are correct. I also believe that '72 was the first year for a factory steering stabilizer, so the u-bolts holding the one end to the tie rod while the other end is welded to the axle is also factory correct. It looks like the truck may have had new ball joints recently as it looks like there is a new lower on the right side. The only thing that looks funny is the backing plate on the right side... from the angle of the first picture, it looks like something has been done to it... I see a lot of rotor showing. Nothing wrong with it, just different.

Is that rust on the door the only rust you have? If it's just surface rust, you would want to have it blasted off, I think, then treat it with a por 15 or RustBullet to keep rust from creeping back from under the door skin, then prime and paint as usual. If its rusted through, you should cut/patch/weld to stop it for a long while. In a worst case scenario, if it's rusted really bad, you'd want to re-skin the door while applying epoxy primer to everything OR get new doors... but that's worst case scenario. After looking at the picture again, I think you have some filler there, so that makes me wonder as to what is there and how bad is it.

I like these trucks, too. Maybe one day in 2011, I'll actually get to drive mine!

[Team]

the other door has rust in the same spot and there is some at the top of the tail gate, does not appear to be rusting through, but i will be grinding through soon so i'll find out. only spot with a hole is right inside the bed at the back, about a 1" hole. I agree it looks like some filler, i just spoke with the 2nd owner last night and he said he did a frame off in 1995, replaced floor, rockers, and fabricated his own tubs under the doors, took it down to bare metal then painted it with PPG Concept single stage with an epoxy primer, most of the paint is in good shape, needs waxing, makes me wonder if i could use it for a primer coat and just take the rusted spots down to metal, any thoughts?

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by Team

... makes me wonder if i could use it for a primer coat and just take the rusted spots down to metal, any thoughts?

If it were me I would sand the areas that need rust repair and see what you find. If the P/O did strip to metal and the adhesion of the current paint is good, don't strip it again.

Yes, if you were doing a show quality job you might want to. It sounds as if the paint on it might be fine for a base.

[1949gmc]

Originally Posted by N2TRUX

If it were me I would sand the areas that need rust repair and see what you find. If the P/O did strip to metal and the adhesion of the current paint is good, don't strip it again.

Yes, if you were doing a show quality job you might want to. It sounds as if the paint on it might be fine for a base.

Ditto. Clean up the areas that need attention. No need to do a lot of extra work if you have a good substrate. Is it possible to just do 'touch up' on these spots? Or does it need a complete paint job?

[Team]

dont know how it will buff out, i'll give it a shot when the temp gets out of the 30's, my concern would be color matching, if i could get it to look right this would save money for some other parts i need!
Ive heard of some people moving the gas tank fill and patching the hole, any of you seen this? Is it just for cosmetic reasons?
Oh, one more thing, when backed it out of the carport to get the pictures this morning the steering was very tight, the temp last night was 20 degrees, something i should be concerned about?

[1949gmc]

As for color matching, you should be able to go to an automotive paint supplier, like Finish Master or Sherwin Williams (I don't think NAPA could do it, but maybe) and ask them to color match the paint on your truck. They'll have a little gizmo that they put right on the paint and it will tell them what formula to use to mix some up for you. That is certainly a cost saving option, as long as the rest of the paint is solid and it would get you by for a few years. Then, if you still wanted to do it and it needed it, you could shoot the whole truck then.

Not sure on the filler neck, except that I could see moving it to keep from having gas run down so much paint when it overflows.

For the temp that you said it was last night, I wouldn't worry about the p/s. It'll get better when the fluid warms up.