There's just no two ways about it, the most beautiful insides a pickup bed can have is a perfect paintjob to match the rest of the truck. We've all seen them before, an old truck that has a flawless bed interior with a scratch-free paintjob that looks it just rolled off the showroom floor. Unfortunately though the reality is most folks have to use their customized classic as a real truck, and can't be having a heart attack every time something gets thrown in the bed. For the guys who like to do as much of their own work as possible on their pickup, Al's Liner has introduced a series of DIY kits that rival the spray-in bedliners one has to pay to have done by someone else. Beyond having more control over the end results, the beauty of doing a spray-in bedliner at home means a guy doesn't have to mess around with moving a truck that isn't to the running stage yet. For the truck owners who live out in the country we don't have to explain what having to haul their truck to the nearest shop in town that can do the work means, it sounds like a big hassle just thinking about it.
There are two types of processes when it comes to spray-in bedliners. The first is what is known as a hot process where the catalyzed ingredients are kept in two separate high temperature tanks, and then mixed at a Y-junction right before the spray-gun to complete the catalytic process. There's no arguing with the fact that the hot process works well, but because of the extreme investment required it's not very likely anyone will ever desire a unit for home use. The second type of spray-in bedliner is what is known as the cold process, interestingly it splits into two types. The first cold type consists of a single ingredient non-catalyzed component which is available to the retail consumer in either an aerosol spray or a can for use with either a roller or a brush. The second cold type is catalyzed and uses two or more components, and is applied with a special gun. Because the second cold type is catalyzed it cures into an extremely durable surface, which brings us to the captioned photos that describe how to prepare for and then apply Al's Liner.
Spraying in a bedliner into...
Spraying in a bedliner into a new truck is easy and requires a minimum amount of preparation. On the other hand, the mangy bed in our '88 C1500 is typical of what classic truck owner's with a steel floor and bedsides can expect.
The first thing to do was...
The first thing to do was to look for any existing holes that were no longer necessary.
Believe it or not, Al's Liner,...
Believe it or not, Al's Liner, with its rapid ability to build to a thick durable surface, all that was necessary to fill this hole was to cover it with a piece of duct tape after we performed the next step.
To wash the bed out we used...
To wash the bed out we used a garden hose combined with a good scrub brush and the '88 Chevy bed was on its way.
A single-edge razor blade...
A single-edge razor blade came in handy to scrape out anything we found in the bed like paint or tar that been spilled in the bed and then dried.
Because the '88 at some point...
Because the '88 at some point in its life was color-changed from its original Flame Red to Refrigerator White and wasn't properly sanded, the white topcoat easily flakes off. We used compressed-air to blow the white off in a blizzard of tiny paint flakes.
Another area of concern was...
Another area of concern was to scrape out the original caulking that had dried out and was breaking loose in strips. We re-caulked the bad areas before spraying the Al's Liner in.
We learned this trick while...
We learned this trick while doing a tech story at a Line-X shop. A die-grinder with a 4-inch abrasive wheel was used to cut random patterns all over the beds interior to ensure the Al's Liner would adhere properly.
Here's a more explicit example...
Here's a more explicit example of the cuts we made into the bed floor to ensure the Al's Liner would bond completely.
Areas in the bed that had...
Areas in the bed that had either high or low spots were repaired (metal worked) and then finished with the die-grinder. It's good to know that if one ever does dent their bed afterwards, all it takes is a hammer on the other side and the dent can be pounded back out, Al's Liner and all.
Here's everything that comes...
Here's everything that comes in the Al's Liner kit. The blue tarps were used to cover (mask) the truck.
Also available from Al's Liner...
Also available from Al's Liner is their special gun for spraying their product.
All that was needed to ready...
All that was needed to ready the Al's Liner spray-gun was to attach the hopper (cup) and screw on an air fitting (not included) to the handle of the gun.
Included with Al's Liner kit...
Included with Al's Liner kit there is a spray bottle full of primer to be sprayed on fifteen minutes before spraying in the Al's Liner. The test to see if the primer is ready is to touch it and see if it's tacky (not like a blonde with big red lips and fishnets).
To make one-gallon of Al's...
To make one-gallon of Al's Liner the one-gallon can marked A serves as the mixing can. We poured the black pigment in first.
Next was the B bottle which...
Next was the B bottle which was shaken thoroughly before pouring into the mix.
The final step before pouring...
The final step before pouring the Al's Liner into the gun was to mix it thoroughly with a mixer-bit that comes included in Al's kit ... Thanks, Al.
Al's Liner is available in...
Al's Liner is available in many colors, here's the Gray pigment for an upcoming article on undercoating a '53 Ford F-100.
We determined where we wanted...
We determined where we wanted the painted bed to stop and the Al's Liner to begin and then taped it off.
The best way to mask off a...
The best way to mask off a straight line such as the bedrails was to stick the masking tape at the front and then pull it tight all the way to the end and then tack it down.
Here's the blue tarp used...
Here's the blue tarp used to mask off the rear of the cab. Notice the area where the '88's Chartreuse has flaked off the white and red below. This means the last shop to paint the truck didn't sand down the white properly and now both colors are flaking off. This was a problem.
Since this was the first time...
Since this was the first time we used Al's Liner and we shot in the dark at 9 p.m. there was one area we missed. Also in the excitement notice the gray in the Al's Liner, this is where we accidently started to mix in the gray instead of the black. All in all, we were really impressed with how easy Al's Liner was to use, and look forward to using it on future projects.