I have a 1991 F150. The factory paint is pealing realy bad and I figure that I will try to paint it myself before it rots away. My main concern is that the truck is almost 12 years old and if I spend the time and money to paint it, will it rust from the inside out in a year or two? If it is likely to rot in the near future is there anything that I can do while I have it tore apart to stop it? It still has a solid body with no sign of rust except for some surface rust just starting because of the great paint job that Ford gave me. The factory paint has been pealing for 4 years now and is really looking bad.

Any help would be apreciated.
Also I have never done any bodywork and would like if anyone could tell me where to get starter pointers like what grit sandpaper, primer, etc...

thanks

 

I would recommend sand blasting or at least pressure washing the inside of the body panels and sealing them with Extend. If you want to spend the cash ($100 a quart) you can put por-15 on them and that should make them last forever. As far as bodywork goes you need to buy a book. I have Chilton's Auto Body Repair and it gives some good info. Body work is simple but extremly time consuming and tedious. If you spray it yourself it won't be factory quality, especially if it's your first paint job. You will also need hundreds of dollars of equipment - Compressor, paint gun, filters, water seperator, etc. You best bet would be to do the body work and prime it yourself and let a paint shop do the paint job itself.

I have done a lot of body work and touch up painting but i am going to spray my truck myself this winter (under the supervision of an experianced paint guy). Hopefully it will turn out ok.

-Jon

 

Hey thanks for the info. I had the same trane of thought as you on the paint, I figured that I could do all the time consuming work myself and have someone experinced spray it for me.
I couln't spray a tin can without a run! I think I will do the por-15 on the inside panels like you said also. It sounds kinda high but if I am going to do it I want to do it right. I plan on keeping it for a long time and I want it to stay looking good. I just put new rubber (6 ply) on it yesterday and I really like how it looks, I cain't wait till I get my new paint. I figure that I have a while to decide on a color, my wife wants the factory two tone blue/grey but I'm thinking yellow/black.