Real paint over spray can primer?

[71fordkid]

Hey guys, I posted this on the facebook page as well.

I am trying to get my truck on the road in time for my wedding in august! this means no time for a good paint job. We both want to use it as out "get away" vehicle. Its currently a similar color to grabber blue. I have tried sanding the paint to get it off, and it just gums up the sand paper. I've found a chemical stripper that will (oddly enough) strip ALL the paint off, EXCEPT the factory red/grey primers.

Here's my question. Since its been painted multiple times, and wont all be a uniform color, Can i strip it down to factory primer, spray it with the grey rustoleum "high build" spray can primer, and later use a single stage urethane or a base coat/clear coat over the spray can primer without having to sand it all off?

Eventually it will be painted Swiss aqua or some color close to that, but i cant decide on flat or glossy either...



Another question, anyone have any resources on how to find the J-nuts for the fenders/grill etc?

[Heirloom]

You will have a heck of a time stripping down to just factory primer. Might as well shoot for bare metal at that point. DO NOT leave it unsealed with only high build on it, as hi build primers generally hold moisture and oils/road grime. You should use something like epoxy primer to seal the clean bare metal or POR-15/Eastwood rust encapsulator if you have areas of rust and can't get all the rust out. If you leave it with unsealed hi build expect to strip it again later when you want to paint.

J-nuts tend to cost more than I am willing to pay, so my solution is to raid the junk yards and keep a stash of various hardware, including the fender/grille nuts. I have 'lucky boxes' of specific hardware (SAE Ford, Metric Ford, Chevy SAE etc..) which holds those special pieces like J-Nuts, fender bolts, the looong alt bolt, small brackets etc. Get a small tumble cleaner/polisher from harbor freight to clean them up nice with out wire wheeling your finger tips into hamburger. If you want that factory black oxide coating (vs. painting them) you can get the black oxide coating kit from Eastwood.