Hey, it’s Tony. Thank you for watching the video and checking out the blog. Today’s title is Daihatsu Hijet Mini Truck Project and DIY Auto Body And Paint Q&A!
Mayah’s going to show you how the bed of the Daihatsu Hijet works. Even an 8-year old can do this! Pretty cool, huh? It’s a basic pick-up and can be turned into a flat bed. It holds up to 1500 pounds! It’s awesome.
I paid $2500 for the truck, $1500 for shipping to Galveston, TX and $200 for customs clearance. I had to hire a customs agent, then another $200 for storage fees because I couldn’t get it right away. I’m in it about $4600.
These trucks are sold locally at around $8000 to $10,000 at a higher mileage of 30,000 to 50,000 kilometers. My truck has a low mileage of 9500 kilometers which is 6000 miles.
For the amount I paid for, I get a nice little classic truck. It’s something different and I’m sure that I can get it registered on the road. Since it’s 25 years old, it doesn’t have to DOT approved.
I need to get it insured and registered. It’s not meant for the highways. You can’t go 80 miles on a highway with it. If you do and crash, you’ll be dead! But, it’s good for “around the corner” use.
We’ll do a build on it and make it look awesome, get some bigger tires on it and put a cool custom paint on it. It’s probably a two-tone or three-tone color scheme graphic.
The bed is 6 ½ feet by 4 ½ feet wide while the entire length of the vehicle is about 10 feet and 4 inches. It’s a short truck.
Question: If I buy a car with no paint chipping on it, will it be easy to sand it all down and prep it for professional DIY paint job? [4:35]
Absolutely! Hit it with 400-grit, mask it up then paint it.
Question: What advise can you give when painting with single stage? [4:47]
You can paint right over single stage with base coat clear coat or with another single stage paint. You’re not going to get any reactions.
Question: Should a Seams sealer be done before all of you do your doing body work? [4:57]
If you’re talking about bonding seams together on body panels, yes. Then, you get an epoxy primer over that. The first thing you want to do is pull the dents out and get it as even and pulled out as much as possible.
Cut where its clean and not damaged too much. Then go from there and do your bondo. If you’re using a good primer filler, that is a good enough foundation base to put your base coat clear coat on.
You can also use a primer sealer as a base as well. Any sort of 25K or thick primer is a good base coat to put brand new base coat clear coat on top of, or single-stage paint.
Question: What can you do about peeling clear coat? [6:47]
You can sand it out with a 280-grit to 360-grit, depending on how bad it is. Then, prime it and get everything flat before you hit it with 400-grit. You can water sand or dry sand. But, I like to finish off with watersanding because I feel like I get a nicer, cleaner cut. But, that’s my preference on how I end my prep.
I might do a 400-grit dry sand with a machine to cut it quickly, but I’ll wash it with 400-grit using my hand. Then, paint your base coat clear coat right on top of that.
Question: Painting with black always makes me get runs. How can I stop that even if I use a low amount of paint? [9:19]
You get runs because you don’t have your flow correct. When you’re painting a car, you need to make sure that you’re away from the car, at a certain distance, and moving at the same speed all the time. Otherwise, if you slowed down in one area, that’s where you’ll get a run.
If you’re a newbie, I’d recommend taking off parts instead of taping them up when painting because you’re not capable of going around those parts yet. You’ll most likely get runs in those areas. That’s common for newbies. Take off your parts so you can just paint across the panel.
You have to be 4-6 inches away from your panel and keep a smooth constant spray across your panels, especially when doing your clear coat. Also make sure to watch the light and that it’s laying on glossy.
Question: What are your thoughts on waterbased paints? [12:21]
I’ve done a couple of small projects with waterbased paints. It’s not really big in this area here in Texas. You’ll still do the same process as solvent-based painting basically.
It’s Tony from LearnAutoBodyAndPaint. Join me every Thursday at 9pm Eastern on my weekly live streams and let’s talk about your most burning questions on auto body!
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Tony
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