Dirt-Cheap Paint and Body Tips

Since the cab of the El Camino was in relatively good shape, we used a window molding removal tool to save the parts. We junked the driprail moldings and liked the clean look, so we don't plan on replacing them.

Here's the scheme: no drip molding and no side or fender lip molding. The Elco is only going to sport the bed, window, grille and hood trim, and nameplates. If this were a '70 SS, we'd likely reconsider.

If you are going to use a paint gun, you need the car to be as clean as possible because any dirt and grit that are left on the car will get blown into the paint. The primer will not stick to grease or adhesive, either. It all needs to come off.

To facilitate scrubbing, we used lemon Ajax detergent to cut grease and a red Scotch-Brite to clean and scuff up the original paint so the primer would adhere.

The Scotch-Brite left the finish dull and rough for adhesion. There shouldn't be any shiny spots left on the original paint.

After the car was cleaned and dried, we began the taping process. A good tape job should take about two hours, so allow yourself some time to do it right. The correct tape and paper can be purchased at an automotive paint supply store. We've tried cheap tape and newspaper and were rewarded with messy globs of goo.

To protect the interior from overspray, we taped the weatherstripping to the window glass and closed a strip of paper in the doorjamb.

It's best to use a spray booth for this, but if you can't, drop some painter's plastic on the floor and hit it with a little bit of water to make it stick. Also, cover anything else in the building you don't want painted, even if it is far away.

We are going to buy new door handles, so we just taped off the old ones. We also bolted on the ugliest wheels we had and draped them in plastic as well. We can paint the wheelwells later with that new Eastwood Ceramic Chassis Black using our jamb guns.

We wiped down the car with Pre Painting Prep cleaner and some low-fiber cloth. If this were a base or clearcoat, we'd finish the job with a tack cloth.

The primary difference between rattle-can primer and stuff you get at the paint store is longevity and resistance to the elements. Spray-can primer will allow water to get to the metal, will not want to sand off easily, and might have a chemical reaction with the original paint, causing a mess. We found a group of pretinted epoxy primers from Valspar that were designed to be applied directly to bare metal (DTM) or over a correctly prepared existing paint job. We were OK with the green because we are sick of blue.

We consulted Russ Stevenson at Gold Coast Customs for his advice. He told us if we are going to be replacing panels and driving the car to have a supercheap primer tinted with 10 percent of the final color we want and to spray it on knowing we will have to strip back to metal any panels we keep. This is the fast way to primer a car you want to drive. Once you get a good panel on the car, use an epoxy primer to protect your work if it is going to be a year or more before the car is painted.