Project Jeep CJ-7
Painting the Jeep body
Part Four

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Goals:

• Prepare the Jeep body for Primer and Paint

• Mask off all areas of the Jeep body not to be painted

• Mask off entire lower area Jeep frame, engine, axles

• Prepare garage as a Paint booth

• Start Painting!  Color: 1977 Corvette Yellow

With the Rocker panel guards removed and the 1/4 panel armor installed, the tub was primered and masked off.  Then the entire garage was masked off with clear plastic and a make-shift ventilation system installed which was comprised of 2 high flow fans, one a Wal-Mart special window fan and the other a blower out of a forced air oil burner.  The fans were installed below the garage door and the rest of the door opening masked off with cardboard.  Hey, whatever works.

Here the engine is completely covered.

Above and to the right is one of the 1/4 panel armor plating mounted up with stainless steel hardware.  They will be painted with the Jeep.  They server two purposes, one to strengthen otherwise weak corners of the body and two, to cover some ugly body damage which was only partially patched to protect it from rust.  Prior to the paint job, the entire tub was primered with automotive gray primer, sanded with 400 grit and then coated with a sealer.  The primer was allowed to dry for a few days and just after sanding it was wiped down with a pre-paint solvent to dissolved any contaminates.  The sealer only require a short time to dry before the paint was applied.

To the right is my humble air intake to the garage.  It consists of the door and a bed sheet stapled to the door jam.  Again.... whatever works.  Below is the fans and below to the right is the bench where the paint was mixed.  I used a certified breathing mask designed to protect from this type of paint as well as protective clothing and goggles.

Additional parts that were painted around the same time.  Some parts to be painted later like the hood, windshield frame and front fenders.

So how'd it turn out?  Not bad.  Not bad at all.  The color was perfect.  If you're looking for a good yellow paint, take a look at '77 Corvette Yellow.  The paint job was... well... amateur.  I've only painted a a vehicle twice before over the years and this time, like the others, wasn't perfect.  I have a few runs but otherwise it's not bad.  I'll attempt to fix the runs in a few weeks after the paint has cured enough. At the same time I'll painted other parts like the tailgate and the dash panel.  I'll be playing hard in this Jeep so perfection was never a goal.  

The following weekend after the first attempt at giving the tub a paint job it got a second coat.  Much better than the first coat.  A few days prior to giving it a second coat, I sanded down a few ugly runs and gave the whole tub a scuff down with 400 grit.  Also on the advice of a friend named Don who had painted cars in the past I made a few adjustments to my method.  These tips included how I handled the paint gun and a few other things like grounding the tub and spraying a mist of water on the ground to help keep dust down.  All these adjustments paid off and the tubs new paint job looks great.

Next up is the disassembly of the gauge panel and the grill.  As of 10/16/2001 the grill has been cleaned of the rust and treated with Coroless and the gauge panel has been disassembled, cleaned and primed.  Plans are to prep them for a coat of paint this coming weekend, weather pending.

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Project CJ-7
The Tub Part Five