couple auto body work questions on an old pickup.

Good evening folks,i have a couple questions for those of you who know about auto body work.first question,is how much would it cost (approximately of course) to repair a couple dents in bed, basic rust on an old 2 door long bed 1987 f250 and get a nice paint job,and when i say basic rust i mean bottom of door panels,around rear fenders and rocker panels.i thought about doing it myself,but paint was never my specialty,and i want to get this done right,but if the cost is outrageous,i might have to......second question,what is the best way to stop rust under the truck,i have been thinking of oiling it every winter since the undercoating are expensive and only last a year.what do those of you in the northern regions do about existing rust...i appreciate any and all help,thanks

Rock

I've been through this with a couple old vehicles when I had stars in my eyes and thought how wonderful life would be if only my old truck....

Sorry to pour cold water on your dreams but cost usually far exceeds the value of the vehicle. Others may have their opinions, this is mine.

Gerrit

95% of the body shops will not touch it. They do not get the sure thing of fixing bent parts and insurance money. Those that will reluctantly do Rust and cleanup on a older vehicle, reserve their efforts to classic cars and exotics that have high value and charge for it. Good luck finding one, and if you agree on a price, get it in writing, and make sure you are aware of the lack of guarantee. SO my wife wanted to have my 51 GMC painted as a surprise. it needs no body work, no rust at all, and would need only paint prep and painting. About $12,000 was quoted, and that was least from 4 shops that would even discuss it. Jim

Just the tip of the iceberg, had a rear wheel arch on one side of the box repaired, and that side of the box painted on my ‘08 F250. No blending or special treatment. $1000.

Will cost way more than truck worth.

I took some auto body classes at a tech school, they would take vehicles like that to learn rust repair on and only charge for supplies. Might take an entire semester, but instructors made sure it was done right. That could be an option if one is close. Sounds like yours may have some sentimental value, I know how that is. Hope you find someone/place

If you were talking about a Chevy, I could give you a lot of advice. With a Ford, I have to agree with those who said it would cost 'way more than the truck is worth.

Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, I made good money rebuilding rusty Chevy and GMC pickups. I wouldn't touch Fords because they were too hard to work on.

On Chevys, there were ample aftermarket fenders, door shells, box sides reasonably priced. Parts always seemed to be higher for Fords. Plus Fords were far more labor intensive. Case in point: to do cab corners properly the box needs to be taken loose and either raised or moved back. Chevys had through bolts holding the box, and if they were rusted you could just torch them off. Fords had bolts that bolted "blind" from underneath, and would either twist off or the blind nut would turn in the box. Either situation increased labor exponentially.

Then, Chevy boxes were bolted together, and complete new box sides were only a couple hundred bucks each, even OEM, so if the box side was bad enough you simply bolted on a new one. Ford boxes were welded together, again increasing labor enormously.

On a Chevy, with new aftermarket fenders at $50 each and door shells less than $100, you almost automatically just pitched the old ones and went with new. Again, Ford parts weren't that cheap and were more labor intensive.

I counted once and found I'd done about 67 Chevy and GMC pickups and full sized Blazers over the years. Some customer owned, some I bought, rebuilt, and resold. I did one Ford for a friend.

(quoted from post at 20:48:27 07/20/20) Good evening folks,i have a couple questions for those of you who know about auto body work.first question,is how much would it cost (approximately of course) to repair a couple dents in bed, basic rust on an old 2 door long bed 1987 f250 and get a nice paint job,and when i say basic rust i mean bottom of door panels,around rear fenders and rocker panels.i thought about doing it myself,but paint was never my specialty,and i want to get this done right,but if the cost is outrageous,i might have to......second question,what is the best way to stop rust under the truck,i have been thinking of oiling it every winter since the undercoating are expensive and only last a year.what do those of you in the northern regions do about existing rust...i appreciate any and all help,thanks

Rock

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ody shops thrive on insurance claims. That puts the cost per hour over $100. Your best bet would be to find someone that will work on your truck as a side gig. Maybe a body guy that works out of his personal garage evenings or a student that is learning the trade.

Rust repair and repaint is hard work and takes more time then most people realize. Its always worse than it looks and the materials are not cheap. Those 80s blazers sure are pretty when done right, maybe add a soft top. I had a 76 3/4 ton 4 wheel drive pickup that I used to tow with when I raced that a guy had redone. I never owned anything that people tried to buy like that truck.

I agree with the others that to hire it done would be prohibitively expensive. I repaired the rust myself on my '67 Datsun roadster. They were known when new to rust badly, and five years was a long life for one. I spent many hours cutting out rusted areas and butt welding in new metal, but it was worth it. I also made use of phosphoric rust converter to penetrate and kill rust that could be hiding down in rust pits or in enclosed spaces. You will be able to access repair panels, and the body shops don't weld them on, they glue them on with special two part adhesive. You don't need to do the final painting yourself. I did all of the rust repair, the metal straightening, the prepping, the filling, the priming, the sanding and more filling and block sanding, and high build primer and more block sanding. I painted the interior, engine compartment, trunk, and interior sides of the doors myself, and took it to the body shop down the street to get the exterior sprayed, then brought it back and did the sanding and buffing. I made a lot of mistakes that cost me a lot of time, but I would do it again.

Now, slowing the rust. When my '06 F-350 was four years old I noticed that it was getting rusty underneath, so I stopped it. Here is how. I pulled the rubber strip at the bottom of the doors away a little and dragged a big screwdriver along the edge of the outer skin where it laps up and over the inner skin. I cleaned off rust and loosened paint and paint that had rust creeping under it. I then sprayed the seam with WD-40 to penetrate and displace moisture. I gave it 24 hours, then sprayed it with aerosol chain lube, which comes out watery thin and then sets up as a very sticky grease. I have renewed it usually twice a year since then, getting into the rocker panels, the rear bottom corners, and the body cross members. These Ford bodies tend to rust badly over the rear wheels. Lying underneath you can look back and up between the inner and outer fenders, and you can spray WD-40 up in there to run down into the pockets where moisture runs to and dust retains it. Then after giving it penetrating time spray with the chain lube or whatever you like. Fluid Film is supposed to work well too. The truck is now nearly 15 years old and I can't find where the rust has advanced.









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Here are pics of butt welding, clear coat sanding, and a year ago when it was nearly done and on the road.

Thank you for the replies..i had never thought it could be such a hassle to paint a truck,but i learn something new every day..i will look into getting someone to do it as a side job,like a couple of you suggested.thanks again.

Simple answer: 100-200 hours(depending on work required this could be low) at 60-100 per hour.

I doubt if any estimates will be under $20K Doubt if anyone will want to do it. And in the end you will still have a Ford!

This guy had the truck painted at Maaco . I just sprayed the Ford letters red. Not bad for Maaco .

Here are pics of butt welding, clear coat sanding, and a year ago when it was nearly done and on the road.[/quote]

Beautiful car, great paint job. Is that the same as the Datsun 2000?

(Really need to photograph it out of range of that gooseneck trailer. Looks like it's part of the car Gerrit

A local body shop owner, now deceased, restored a 4wd square body Chevy pickup and painted it lavender.

He told me whenever he did a pickup up nice planning on keeping it for himself someone would offer him a price he couldn't resist. He figured if he painted a pickup lavender no one would want it. Apparently he was right.

He passed away a couple of years ago and two of his employees bought the business. That lavender pickup is still sitting by the shop. I've been trying to buy it for over a year, but they haven't decided if they want to sell it.

I redid my 2000 F250 a couple years ago. New inner and outer rockers, cab corners on both sides. New Texas rust free box. Had the cab painted to match the two tone box. New hood. Repaired door bottoms, and tail gate. Including the $3000 box it cost around $6000 to get it done. I did the rockers and cab corners myself. My F250 has the 7.3 with a 6 speed manual. It was worth saving. I cleaned the frame too and under later it.

should have read under coated it too

1994 F150; Ford White; automatic.....I just had my F150 painted at MAACO a couple of months ago and it cost me right at $650. Prices from other shops ranged from 'Not interested' to $2500. They did no body work, no repairs of any kind. They did take off the F150XL plastic model numbers off both sides and gave them back to me to put back on myself. I'm just north of Atlanta so we have very little road rust here, body is sound all over. The job I got was between their medium and high paint job. Ford white with a clear coat. You can get their cheaper enamel paint job for around $500 but, of course, they want to go for the higher end paints. I plan to keep the truck until it falls apart so opted for the slightly higher cost paint job. Probably 30 years ago I had Earl Sheibe paint my 1980 F150 and they charged me $149.99. They had a pickup special going on. I am totally happy with the new MAACO paint job even with the very minor dings they painted over.

(quoted from post at 07:04:58 07/21/20) Here are pics of butt welding, clear coat sanding, and a year ago when it was nearly done and on the road.

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Beautiful car, great paint job. Is that the same as the Datsun 2000?

(Really need to photograph it out of range of that gooseneck trailer. Looks like it's part of the car Gerrit[/quote]ttps://forumphotos.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/mvphoto58838.jpg[/img]

I just took this one as I sit on the porch having lunch

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Thanks Gerrit, the 1600 followed the 1500 in 1965 and in 1967 they came out with the 2000 and they were both sold concurrently through 1972. I was thinking as I was posting that I need some better and updated pics.





I just took this one as I sit on the porch having lunch[/quote]

It has an understated classic look that I like. Nice choice of wheels, too. I think for styling it holds its own with an Aston Martin of that era. My old British rides were an MGB but a 1980 and not as personable as the early models. And early on a '69 Triumph Spitfire I bought with a broken engine and made into a driver. One of them had the center hub knock-off wire wheels. I've heard of people losing their wheels on the road but mine stayed on. You've got the whole package in that car--great looks and a wonderful driver. Gerrit