Thanks for the confidence boost old_school. I think that may be the the go for the front and possibly do the rear off some big car stands on my back.
Hammer tone was the type of paint i was trying to think of(the paint shop told me) 2 pack.
Was this done just in a garage and did it turn out like you wanted? Also did you presure wash it before etch?

Bailz i wished i had a rotisserie but so would alot of people doing cars up lol? Eating all the #OOPS# that falls on me while preping aint going to be nice but i hope to do this once and right.

My dad did that with all his cars (the roll-over with mattress).

Easy way for my 1000 in PNG was a sand blast and air-less spray system spraying high build primer which laid a 0.25mm thickness in one sweep, the fan of the spray was about a foot and a half wide so it was very quick to do, the paint mix was richer with thinners to increase flash-off and reduce the re-coat window. I built it up with a few coats of epoxy paint and then coated with the stone guard stuff from memory.

I think the goal is to build a decent thickness. Sounds like you've got it planned out.

Could you make your own rotisserie?

Haha yer i know the mattress trick has been done before but i dont like how thin the pannels on the datos are already and the rear quarters are a big surface to dent in so il try other options first.
I dont realy want to use the stone guard/tar/sound stuff as it wont clean up to well (so im told) Il try and get the prep work spot on and maybe a couple of coats of etch then a couple of coats of 2pac hammer tone.
I dont realy have it planned but with the coments i have got here i have enough confidence to give it a shot myself :)
Make my own rotisserie???? hmmm i could give it a go but dont have a welder handy so i am finding out ways to get around it.
As the saying goes its all in the prep.
Any rotisseries not getting used?

im one for a roto.
thats how i did mine but mine has a car on it sorry budy. heres a pic to show how simple it made it.


:)
cheers
Dan

if a mattress can dent the car with only the weight of a bare shell pushing down on it then there is something wrong...like your car is made completely of taiwanese panels

No i dont have any taiwanese panels at all on..... that i know of anyways lol.
Engine stands look like an easy option. Thanks Dan. The underside of your car looks the goods thats for shore.

Here we are 3 years later. How did it turn out? How did you get access to the underside of your ute?

I am encountering the same problem. Access.

I have the entire shell on stands and I can get to the underside of the tray easy enough on stands but not to the underside of the cabin nor the front end.

I have thought of hoisting the front of the car up, but what prevents the back from sliding off the stands and killing yourself as the car swings into you?

I have also thought of building a frame out of SHS and bolting the shell to it so that I can hoist the entire car off the frame....but too $$$$ and I can't weld.

Thoughts? What have people done before?

car off the frame?

You can make brackets that bolt where the bumper brackets fit. Some have used two engine stands (with rotatable arms) -- but be sure to fit extra-wide wheel extensions for stability.

Rotisserie

Thanks for the reply DD. Can you make your pictures bigger?

I have thought of the two engine stand idea. Sounds like you would need to fabricate a few things to make it work though. I'm sure you would need to make an adaptor and a frame to go off the engine frame assembly.

It seems the easiest way is to find someone who has a Rotisserie or get it as high as you can on jack stands and paint underneath upside down.

I'm trying to do it with as little hassle as possible as I don't have alot of tools and no welding ability. If I have to go down the path of fabricating something it outweighs the cost savings of doing it myself when I can have a panelbeater do it for me for the same cost as building something myself.

The only other strategy I can think of is to paint the underside of the tray with the car on stands. Let it dry. Put the diff and wheels on the rear end. Then use an engine hoist to raise the front end up with the back wheels locked in place. Thing is that when you hoist it up you can only go so high before the ass end starts to touch the ground.