How To Prep For Painting: Chevrolet Task Force Truck Running Boards

Our Top Tips & Tricks For Getting The Paint Prep Work Right

By “Rotten” Rodney Bauman – Photography by the Author

If you’ve ever by chance worked in an auto paint shop, or even done your own paintwork at home, you know it’s not completely pleasant. In the trade, new painters’ helpers generally become aware of that on their very first day.

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As a painter’s helper in the ’70s, I didn’t exactly start at the top. Determined to work my way up, however, I knew if I stuck with it I’d one day graduate from the sanding pit. Little did I know—that day never comes!

01 Fairing out first round urethane primer surfacer on accessible outside skins would make a good technical topic — Fairing out first-round urethane primer-surfacer on accessible outside skins would make a good technical topic, but nope. This won’t be about that.

The Importance of Preparation

Because a quality finish involves far more prepping than painting anyway, conscientious painters (at least the ones I know) don’t pass all of the prep chores along to helpers. For me in this shop there are none, but Mrs. Rotten is a good hand. Through our years together she’s participated in countless sanding pit parties. She gets it, but she’s not here today—and here I go again.

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02 Doing the same job on wrinkly crinkly running boards will require a somewhat different bag of tricks — Doing the same job on wrinkly, crinkly running boards will require a somewhat different bag of tricks. On that, let’s begin the usual way with an application of dry guide coat.

Now, don’t misunderstand me. It’s not that I’m tired of fairing and blocking and sanding and such. I’m tired from all of the above. At this stage (and age) in the game it takes longer to clamber back up off the concrete slab. If we’re in the same near-elderly age group, you know how carefully we must plan our moves nowadays.

03 Since well be working in small spaces between ribs well be using trimmed to fit flexible sanding blocks — For the job at hand, 120-grit abrasives will do nicely. Since we’ll be working in small spaces between ribs, we’ll be using trimmed-to-fit, flexible sanding blocks.

Back in the sanding pit, where we make a lot of dust, our project second-series ’55 Chevy Truck Cab is wearing a first-round urethane primer-surfacer. With adjoining body panels now in the same stage, we’re moving along into fairing (some just call it block-sanding) operations, beginning with the cab.

04 This particular portion of a once larger block fits the grooves fairly well — This particular portion of a once-larger block fits the grooves fairly well. We’re not just sanding back and forth, however. We’re wiggling and jiggling in various directions.

Block Sanding Prep For Primer

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At first the tedious task didn’t seem worthy of a CTP tech story. Then, as I neared the home stretch of my lengthy solo sanding session it occurred to me—the cab’s convoluted running boards would be the most difficult areas to prepare for final primer.

05 Since repeatedly getting up and down from the concrete slab requires extra effort nowadays — This particular portion of a once-larger block fits the grooves fairly well. We’re not just sanding back and forth, however. We’re wiggling and jiggling in various directions.

Fixing Front-End Collision Damage

Thinking back to when this cab’s bodywork began, both running boards were pretty beat up. They had, after all, endured the truck’s working years—and a serious front-end collision. Out of shape as they were, they weren’t rusted out. As the cab’s heavier damage was corrected with jacks, the running boards followed. Toward the end of that round our lower-horizontal door gaps had returned to what we’d consider normal, too.

06 The guide coat is black like the epoxy primer below — Since repeatedly getting up and down from the concrete slab requires extra effort nowadays, a magnetic blowgun holster lessens the grunting and groaning.

Restoring Vs. Reproduction

In the past (as you may have seen here) we’ve repeatedly worked too long and hard to salvage original body parts. Time invested often adds up to more than reproduction panels, and their shipping costs to boot. This time, however, we believe we’re doing alright—so we might as well take pictures and write about it.

07 For the ribs topsides lets try this modified Dura Block — The guide coat is black, like the epoxy primer below. We’ll need to read our progress. Because the grooves fill and hold primer dust, we’ll keep blowing as we’re going.

Sanding Supplies

As we go you’ll likely notice three-or-so different brands of modified sanding blocks, as well as leading-brand abrasives in use. If your local parts store doesn’t carry auto body supplies, or if they’re just not competitive price-wise, you can always do what we do. For the commonly used paint shop staples, we’re quick to call Summit Racing.

08 It is importance to feel for the difference in the shape of the grooves — For the ribs’ topsides let’s try this modified Dura-Block. From an earlier job, it’s got stiffening paint sticks still affixed.

Paint Primer Application

From here we’ll be working toward this cab’s final primer application. At primetime we’ll pull not one but two HVLP spray guns. The epoxy and urethane primers we’ll use are available to shops here, but not everywhere, and perhaps not where you happen to be. For this reason we’ll focus on the hands-on how-to stuff and not so much the materials used.

09 Wrapped in adhesive backed abrasives another wooden paint stick makes a great mini longboard — Wrapped in adhesive-backed abrasives, another wooden paint stick makes a great mini longboard. Although the guidecoat helps us see, we also rely on feel.

Knowing this type of work is not completely pleasant. We’ve saved the running boards for last—and they’re positioned pretty close to concrete. While you may not hear it all in print, just know there’ll be some grunting and groaning for sure. Welcome to the sanding pit.