2021 Ram 1500 Classic Regular Cab 2WD 5.7 Colorshift paint build

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Froddoyo

Froddoyo

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Ram Year
2021 Classic
Engine
5.7 Hemi
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Blocked the antenna shave down until I burnt through, kept blocking a bit more to get it as straight as possible.

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Reprimed with a UV cured primer.

I then blocked it with 400 grit, then 500 and finished with 800
 
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Froddoyo

Froddoyo

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The cab, doors and fenders.

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This is probably the most disassembled this truck will be throughout this build.

I blocked every large area with 800. Then hand sanded the rest with 800, grey scotchbrite pad to touch up edges and stuff.


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I spent alot of time perfecting the masking job on this. especially the door jambs. took me about 3.5 hours
 
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Froddoyo

Froddoyo

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I blended the original PXJ black basecoat over the antenna shave area. and also touched up a few edges where I burned through a little during sanding.
black is required to be underneath this chameleon paint, just another reason for buying the truck in black.

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5 coats of chameleon basecoat. 6 coats right along the edge where the fenders meet up to the hood. I'm pretty sure I actually did 6 coats on the sides of the hood.

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3 coats of 550 PPG envirobase clear. not gonna lie it got a bit sketchy. the clearcoat was pretty close to running in many spots. you can see the clear was on the urge of taking off.
it caused some minor waves but I do plan on cutting and polishing the truck so I should be able to address any of that.
 
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Froddoyo

Froddoyo

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Inner Panel Rustproofer LV, good stuff! we use this alot, especially after welding sections and boxsides on. I will be putting this stuff inside the rockers (both the inner and outer layer of the rocker, its triple layered)
I also did the doors, and also gave the inside lip of the fenders a coat. Its basically just super runny wax, that seeps into all the nooks n crannies.
feels great doing this on a factory fresh truck.


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Froddoyo

Froddoyo

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Started putting some things back together on the front.
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line up the hood to the original markings of the old hood. It fits, but needs to be moved to the passenger side a millimeter or two.

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headlights in. they are not plugged in as of now (I need an adapter for a halogen to projector conversion)

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morning sun, sun is over camera angles left shoulder

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late afternoon. shadows pretty much show where the sun is coming from.
 
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Froddoyo

Froddoyo

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Get the bed on yet?
Yes but its not painted. truck is parked for the winter. throughout the winter I will be doing the mirrors, door handles and tailgate. will be doing the bed in the spring.

edit: Ive done a bunch of stuff for the center console swap but not ready to post, waiting for parts.
 
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Froddoyo

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Howdy friends! its been a hot minute since ive posted. Don't worry, I have not abandoned this forum :p
I have been working on the truck a little bit here and there, just not enough to post pictures. but today I'm happy to say I got some pics for yea guys!

Painted / color matched mirrors

Alright so with the mirrors I am taking a detextured, high quality approach.
These things are right in the line of sight when walking around, entering/exiting and driving the truck, so these HAVE to look perfect.

Alright so first things first lets take these apart.
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OK READ THIS FIRST IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN LEARNING HOW TO DISSASEMBLE THIS. FOLD THE MIRROR BEFORE YOU TAKE ANYTHING APART (better yet before you even take it off the truck)
you'll understand why later. folding these mirrors while they are off the truck can be tricky. not super hard. but when everything is half taken apart its sketchy. SO FOLD THEM FIRST

AFTER FOLDING THE MIRROR (which i didnt but would in the future) I removed the lens
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picture of the backside of the lens. not sure why I took the picture at this dumb angle.
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So there is one more screw that needs to come out. silly me did not take a picture of it. but it requires you to fold the mirror. WHICH I SHOULD HAVE DONE BEFORE REMOVING THE LENS AND THE TORX SCREWS.
I didnt break anything, it was just scary, thats all.
so when the mirror is folded. there is another screw where the fold is. you really can't miss it. its one torx size smaller than the other three I believe

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Alright so heres where things got tricky. I wanted to take these mirrors apart further. like. completely apart. but you see this really dangerous and scary looking spring sitting in that pivot point?
yea I said nope. I was worried if I took that apart I would never get these mirrors back together. maybe if I knew exactly how the factory did it I would take a bite at it, but.. yeaaa... the arm is staying on during the paint.
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Froddoyo

Froddoyo

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Alright so I repeated the process for the other mirror
Wet sanded down all the pieces with 320 grit on a orbital sander and the tight spots with 400 grit, followed with a red scotch brite pad for good measure
wet sanding is VERY important for sanding bare plastic. if you don't wet sand, you will end up with these little hairy bits sticking out of the primer.

So for the primer I decided to use a black PPG DPLV epoxy primer.
heres why: the PPG Black epoxy has a very dark finish. meaning any tight areas will be coated dark. this is very important when doing things like mirrors, door handles or any part that has small tight areas in it.
this only really applies for painting vehicles Black, Red, Blue, Green, Charcoal. pretty much any "color" or dark shade.
A white vehicle I would use white epoxy
a silver vehicle I would use grey epoxy.

Cleaned parts with a anti static cleaner and adhesion promoted. (yes those are door handles in the background, I will post about those at a later date)
2 medium wet coats of the black epoxy. its very important not to get any runs with this primer. it will generate pinholes if you run it.
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Froddoyo

Froddoyo

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Alright fast forward a couple weeks. slowly got these mirrors sanded. I just sanded them during coffee/lunch breaks at work. widdled away at them.

Sanded them with 800 grit by hand, followed up with a grey scotch brite pad.
We will not be using a sealer on this. just basecoat/clearcoat right over the sanded epoxy
this way the final finish will be very smooth, just like the rest of the truck.

I sprayed 1 light coat of PXJ black, followed with 5 coats of the chameleon pearl mix.
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oh yea. this this little guy here. hehe its so cute look at it. This is the access panel for the ambient temperature sensor. located in the bottom of driver side mirror.
I was confused at why my truck said it was -38 degrees C outside when it really wasnt. well. now I know why.
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Alright so basecoat went well. now 2 coats of 550 clear. NOT doing 3 coats of clear on these. these are the types of parts you don't want to risk getting a run in.
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they turned out reaaaaally good. I'm so happy.

putting them together was pretty easy. just took my sweet time, didnt rush.
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ahh yes so lets talk about how I wanted to be taking these mirrors completely apart, so heres what the mirror looks like folded, doesnt look the greatest.
however thats where the epoxy was nice. If I had used a grey primer or even a dark grey primer (ppg does not have a black primer. only a dark grey primer/sealer, only their epoxy is a "black black")
you would have seen a bunch of grey overspray in this area. they don't look super cleanly done when folded. but they don't look awful. I could maybe touch up the over spray by lightly brushing some black on it
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video of the mirror parts right after painting.
 
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Froddoyo

Froddoyo

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When shaving the tail gate are you going to Bondo glass the ram badge or cut out square and weld in new metal?
Great timing on this question. I will be posting tailgate pictures soon. I am using panel bonding adhesive and a metal plate. I am attaching a file here for a sneak peek on whats happening. Disclaimer here: my tailgate is a guinea pig for a new method i am trying.
 

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Hello! got the door handles done. Not too much to say here, I did these the exact same way I did the mirrors.

Bare Plastic
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Black Epoxy primer
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sanded down to 800 grit and grey scotchbrite
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1 coat of black pxj basecoat. 5 coats of chameleon basecoat.
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2 coats of PPG 550 clear
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Froddoyo

Froddoyo

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Rear Bumper
Ok so plans have changed with the rollpan. I'm sticking with the bumper. after some thought I don't mind the look of the bumper so I'm keeping it.
I could switch to a rollpan in the future. only down side of that is I would be respraying the entire box.
I'm sure the bumper will still look real nice.


Alright here she is. Just a ordinary dual exhaust rear bumper.
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All torn apart. Decided to leave the brackets in. Bolts will get a bit of paint protection too.
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Found something interesting. I'm pretty sure the factory painted this bumper red first, then black for some reason.
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see this red color under the black? I've seen tons of the primer under these bumpers. it aint oxide red under there. usually grey/black
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also there is new stickers placed over top old stickers? weird. Anyways I hope they did a good job respraying the bumper.
Even if I do a good job painting this, my paint will only be as strong as theirs.

Alright so Ive seen a ton of these bumpers. new. old. ancient. completely rotten. these things get pummeled pretty hard with rocks. I'm gonna put a bit of protection in here. might as well.
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Didnt really care about appearance in here.
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Heres what I used- and yes I know this stuff can be bad in long run and hold moisture in but I think in this use scenario it'll be beneficial to use.

All prepped out. 800 grit and grey scotchbrite.
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5 coats of chameleon basecoat.
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3 coats of PPG 550 clear.
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Also- enjoy this Visual ASMR video I am working on (WIP)
 
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