The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop How tough would this be?

Hey guys:
Question

I have a fully restored '53 3100. Truck was a restored a few years ago and hasnt been driven much since. Everything in front of, and including, the firewall was painted. New wood in the bed, chrome, etc., however, the body man did not paint under the cab or the bed. Its still original under there and looks kind of bad from the back.
How hard would it be, or how costly, to go back and spray under the bed (frame rails, rear end chunk, spare tire hardware, etc)

It doesnt seem like it would take an experienced body man too long...

I f you would get your body man to remove the bed, which isn't all that hard, painting will be considerably easier and probably applied much nicer then with the bed on.

True. Can the bed be lifted w/o taking out the wood? Its been a while since I've worked on it, I cant remember

Its the clean up and prep that will take time.

Sure.

It should just be four bolts and tail light wires. If you want to take the fenders off, that's just more screws. I hope your running boards aren't welded to your fenders like mine were.

Nah, running boards are bolted. (Rear fenders are fiberglass anyways)

It doesnt need to be show quality, just something better than 57 year old brown rust color and cobwebs.

.... do it once and do it right. And the only way to do that is to remove the bed. Not costly but a little time consuming.

If you can be happy with it just pressure wash, rub-a-dub and then put some POR15 on all you can get to. This may serve your purpose??

"fully restored" wouldn't that include all the paint? Reminds me of the mechanics sign.

We can do it right - $50 per hour
We can do it fast - $100 per hour
We can do it half fast - $75 per hour

You should be able to remove the four bed to frame bolts and the taillight wires and four guys can lift the bed wood and all.

Our truck even got a new bed, but for some reason, our guy didnt paint under the bed or the cab (fully restored wasnt the best wording) I guess he cut a couple of corners...oh well

I researched the POR15...can anyone voice their experiece with this stuff?

Reading that sure makes me glad I did everything myself. Take a look at Zero Rust for chassis painting as it's a bit more user friendly.

I am using POR-15 and I love it. Follow the directions and make sure you don't get any on you or you will wear it for a few days. It doesn't like the sun and if you want to top coat it you need to dust it with primer as stated in the directions. It is hard stuff. I haven't seen any down side yet but someone that has a longer track record with it will chime in.