I purchased a 2001 Silverado 1500 Z71 from a buddy of mine for $500. It's been sitting for some years and does need some work to get back onto the road. Truck only has around 120K miles and has never been in a accident. Body is pretty straight from what I can see but there are a couple of rust spots that I'd like to take care of. One is around the 3rd brake light and the other is on top of the roof. I don't have much experience in paint and body but I wouldn't mind trying my hand on repairing these spots if I can.

My plans are to fix and flip this truck. The hood is completed faded as well. I'm undecided on what I should do after repairing the rust spots. Should I just have the hood and top of the cab painted or do a complete paint job on the whole truck. I would have to pay someone to do the paint work though.

Any of you fellas fix and flip vehicles? Any advice would be much appreciated. Here are some pics of the rust and the truck sitting at my buddies shop.

on the light area, remove the light and clean the rust as good as you can a wire wheel. a drill will work. if you can get some rust treatment use it, let the rust treatment work and dry. then brush some epoxy over it when dry fill it with some bondo. for the top i believe that seam cover will come off. BUT i have never done it MAYBE some one else on here can verify. anyway it needs to be removed. then do the same thing you did with the light area then replace the seam cover with a good one. for paint i would take it to Maaco paint place. you could have 1500.00 into, it detail it real good and sell for 2500.00 not to bad .
Jay D.

badsix wrote:on the light area, remove the light and clean the rust as good as you can a wire wheel. a drill will work. if you can get some rust treatment use it, let the rust treatment work and dry. then brush some epoxy over it when dry fill it with some bondo. for the top i believe that seam cover will come off. BUT i have never done it MAYBE some one else on here can verify. anyway it needs to be removed. then do the same thing you did with the light area then replace the seam cover with a good one. for paint i would take it to Maaco paint place. you could have 1500.00 into, it detail it real good and sell for 2500.00 not to bad .
Jay D.

Thanks. I don't think there is a seam cover on the top of the roof but I may be wrong. Thought about Maaco but isn't their cheap jobs using a single stage paint? How well do single stage paint jobs turn out when done? I know that our local Maaco does good work though, maybe I need to stop by and see some of their work.

as for looks, S/S can look just like B/C .
Jay D.

Thanks. I might try repairing the rust myself then disassemble the truck and see what maaco would charge me to do a B/C.

before ya get too carried away with body work, stick your head in the wheel wells and take a look at the inside lip of the fenders and quarters. all that plastic could be hiding a can of worms.

since its a flip, id do a thorough wash, clay bar, maybe a paint cleaner, wax, detail cab and underhood, sell it.

tomsteve wrote:before ya get too carried away with body work, stick your head in the wheel wells and take a look at the inside lip of the fenders and quarters. all that plastic could be hiding a can of worms.

since its a flip, id do a thorough wash, clay bar, maybe a paint cleaner, wax, detail cab and underhood, sell it.

I took a look at it yesterday, got up under it to check it all out and didn't see any rust. There is some surface rust on the frame, rear end, etc which is normal here but other than that it looked good.

I definitely plan on giving it a good cleaning prior to doing anything but feel like fixing the rust is important before selling it.

tomsteve wrote:before ya get too carried away with body work, stick your head in the wheel wells and take a look at the inside lip of the fenders and quarters. all that plastic could be hiding a can of worms.

I suspect this truck lives in one of the southwest states where the sun does the damage to the top side, and there is no salt to do damage to the bottom side.

Can I use some short strand fiberglass filler to patch up the holes? I took a look at the truck again yesterday and didn't see any other rust issues. Plans are to 'try" and repair these rust issues myself and then disassemble the truck as best as I can and have Maaco do a base/clear coat on it if the price is right. I want to debadge the truck, remove the fender flares and side moldings then have it painted solid black and stay away from the two tone. At this point I might end up keeping it for a while and use it as my daily driver for a while. Do you guys know if Maaco does a wetsanding and buff with their base/clear coat jobs or is that extra?

PearlWhiteGT wrote:Can I use some short strand fiberglass filler to patch up the holes?.....

On a $500 beater, that's what I'd do.
Not every vehicle warrants a concours restoration.

A base/clear job will cost more than single stage. As will the cut and buff.
Have it sprayed SS black and buff it out yourself, if needed.