I picked up some replacement body parts for the wife's truck today...found a fresh truck from Oklahoma in a salvage yard in Covington, KY. Not a lick of rust on the doors or hood.

The problem is...the parts are red, and I need them to not be red...LOL

I'm fine having the entire truck in primer...painting it is not a priority. I would have no problem keeping it in grey primer, and touching it up as the years go on.

Here's my question...if the paint is good, just dull, can I clean it up and spray primer on and call it good, or do I really need to strip the old paint, then primer.

It will likely be a few years before I paint it back to it's original Ford Blue Regatta Metallic and White...it was a two tone.

The doors are power, and the original are manual...odd for an XLT Lariat package, but that's how it was built. What are the chances that Ford ran the wiring for power doors and just put manual doors on it??

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

on the wiring.slim to none.as for the paint i would at least strip or sand the clear off of it as it tends to flake off eventually

Don't strip the old paint, scuff it with a grit recommended on the primer can, clean it well, wear a mask and spray it. Leaving paint instead of just primer will offer better rust protection. Primer can be porous, not sealing well.

Have you considered getting rattle cans in the correct color for the doors and hood instead of primer?

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"Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" - Eric Hoffer

I've considered it, but pricing per rattle can is a bit high at $27 per can of the blue. I've considered fi ding a shade of blue Rustoleum, and sponge rolling it...something I've done before with decent results.

As for the old clear coat peeling, that only happens with the blues and grays of this era...the reds are fine.

Remember just primer is porous and will let moisture in and can rust or trap hidden moisture which will bubble your top coat down the road. If you can sand and keep the substrate intact then that’s your ideal solution

Scuff it ! .

Then clean it well before applying the Foo-Foo can paint .

Good quality aerosol paints can be found in a wild array of colors if you but look, skip the Auto Parts Stores....

Primer actively promotes rusting, avoid it at all costs .

NEVER strip to metal unless rust or old Bondo needs to be removed .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

If you surf the forums long enough, sometimes someone will find a commercially available (cheap) rattle can that closely matches the stock paint color. (I know of a VW Tornado red thats available by IforgetTheManuf)
-John

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2009 Kia Sedona
2009 Honda Odyssey EX-L
12006 Jetta Pumpe Duse
(insert Mercedes here)

Husband, Father, sometimes friend =)

The truck was originally a two tone blue...darker on the major, and lighter on the minor. I'm just going to wind up doing the Rustoleum sponge roller paint job, in a white major, and some sort of a blue minor, and call it good. It's an old truck, not a showroom show truck. This paint should last a good long time, according to all the write-ups I've seen, so long as I wet sand at the end, buff, then wax it to protect it, and keep it waxed. I know I won't match the right shades of blue, but what I'm planning will do me well enough.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

? Have you googled "$50 paint job " ? .

It's from the early internet days but still remains the best way to get a cheap yet good looking paint job on your beater .

Also, many RV'ers use commercial grade floor wax on their super huge rigs and converted school buses .

As always, the amount of prep work -you- do is far more important than the co$t of the paint job in the end .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

That's the system I'm working from...but it's going to be more along the lines of a $200 job, once I gather the paint, sponge rollers, and other things. Still, it's a hell of a lot cheaper than the $1500 everyone wants around here to spray. My total budget on the truck was $5000 in 2009 money. I'm knocking on that limit's door right now, since I dropped $250 in replacement panels. I've moved that limit up to $5500, and think I can come in at that price, and have set aside an additional $250, just in case.

Part of the fun on this has been working within a budget, and finding options to keep the prices low. I've traded off stuff I had in the basement that were useless to me for things I wanted or needed for the truck...like a Queen Anne style coffee and side tables for a set of steel rims with semi decent tires. Those tires have been replaced, but the steelies are still rolling great...better than the chewed up, dealer applied aftermarket aluminum rims that were far from balanced.

I'm setting up the garage today with drop cloths and horses to keep things easy to work on and the floor tidy. I've got some years of oxidation to try to remove before the first coat of color is applied...as well as layers of wax to get rid of.

I've got a guy in the Cincy area searching his collection of parts for the wiring harness I need to operate the power doors. These door shut on the old truck like a Mercedes' doors do...solid without rattle. I'd rather not take them apart, swap out the guts, and risk putting rattles back on the truck. I'll need to source new door cards, though...mine are blue, and these are red. If they were both manual doors, it wouldn't be an issue, but...

Anyway, time to get woke up enough to get at it.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

These are photos of the driver's door, right after pulling the door card, and before cleaning it. You can see the weep slots are still intact and without rust. Even the seams from the door skin have no rust. The only issues so far is a nudge on the skin, that I think I can tap out and smooth over. It took about an hour with the heat gun to remove the vinyl stripes, and a bit of rubbing with scotch brite and some adhesive remover I had left over. It's not going to be a perfect job, so I'm not looking for the most perfect metal...but I would almost have to go back 30 years to the Ford dealer to get doors as good as these. Heck, even the original speakers are in the door...completely unmolested. Not sure if they're going to work for me, but they're there.

Apparently my old photo hosting site is no longer working, so these links will take you to the photos in my Google account

https://photos.app.goo.gl/RZUkLC5jqPDLJy288

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Dq7RLsMSjK6JjgUS9

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Hard to believe those came from Ohio ! .

Looking very good there .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

finding rust free stuff in the midwest is like finding gold!

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

The truck came from Oklahoma to Covington, KY. They are as rust free as I'm ever going to find on this side of the Mississippi, and north of the Ohio. It was a heck of a lucky find.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

No kidding ! .

I'm an ex Farm boy and I learned in the early 1960's that those BIG old field trucks that never went to the salted roads in town, would use the same doors & hoods a pickups , usually there would be holes from big West Coaster mirrirs but those are weldable, the rust in the pinch welds at the bottom of the doors is a real nut buster .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better