Yet Another Food truck build!

Oh and as far as clear coat...
 
I tried it on the first one I did, can't remember what brand. It started to look dull after about 9 months.
 
I find that car wax is the best bet, keeps the aluminum shiny and pretty and easier to keep up with.
 
Go grab that awesome little variable speed buffer and wax on, wax off.

a.mckenna
Oh and as far as clear coat... I tried it on the first one I did, can't remember what brand. It started to look dull after about 9 months. I find that car wax is the best bet, keeps the aluminum shiny and pretty and easier to keep up with.
Go grab that awesome little variable speed buffer and wax on, wax off.

 
What did the wax/buffing do to signage or vinyl letters?

Dr of BBQ

a.mckenna
Oh and as far as clear coat... I tried it on the first one I did, can't remember what brand. It started to look dull after about 9 months. I find that car wax is the best bet, keeps the aluminum shiny and pretty and easier to keep up with.
Go grab that awesome little variable speed buffer and wax on, wax off.

What did the wax/buffing do to signage or vinyl letters?

 
Hi my truck is the one pictured above with the engine turning finish- I stripped the truck with POR-STRIPwhich blew every stripper ive ever used out of the water- i have been around aircraft for 15 years and the standard with aircraft and cars is "aircraft stripper" - it didnt even touch the paint on my truck- i actually polished a large portion of my truck with subsequent rubbing compounds , as this was my original plan for my truck- what i found was these points
-it was going to take more than 8 passes around my entire 24' of aluminum ( i was not into this)
- polishing aluminum makes a ridiculous mess
-it woud need to be polished /upkeep at least a few times a year - even at once a year that is alot! and i had the same fear as the DR of BBQ of the sinage /vinyl stickers
-it really did not get mirror- different grades of aluminum will polish differently, and i was not incredibly happy with the result
 
- so i started playing around with my "options" as a full or even partial wrap was not even close to my budget.- i also wanted to stand out ( so the "strange  looking truck " comment is a compliment to me!) . so it took three rolls of red brown scotch brite and two passes around the truck. i washed the truck with alumaprep/dryed and cleared/ The clear product I used is Glisten PC by Por-15 products- if you know Por 15 you know they are the bomb. Glisten Pc is made for clearcoating polished metals- they coat polished alum truck trailers with this stuff in AU.( i am  NOT a rep ) but check this stuff out- i figure if it sticks to polished alum - it will definately stick to alum that has been scratched with scotch brite!
 all in all i am very happy with the finish, it is rock hard and very glossy- i will say that this process is not easy, and will not be for everyone - it was over a month an a half everyday on the exterior- and about 700 in materials - but to me it was worth it
 
just figured id explain my process better- i wish i had the time to post all my pics but i am under a time crunch to get this thing MAKING MONEY- instead of EATING it! 

Dr of BBQ

a.mckenna
Oh and as far as clear coat... I tried it on the first one I did, can't remember what brand. It started to look dull after about 9 months. I find that car wax is the best bet, keeps the aluminum shiny and pretty and easier to keep up with.
Go grab that awesome little variable speed buffer and wax on, wax off.

What did the wax/buffing do to signage or vinyl letters?

 
Went right over it for the most part. If the vinyl was done right a buffer shouldn't damage it. If you are afraid of damaging said vinyl, go around it. Otherwise, go right over it. Most auto waxs have a UV protectant in them, and can thus make your vinyl stay pretty longer.

drvp

Dr of BBQ

a.mckenna
Oh and as far as clear coat... I tried it on the first one I did, can't remember what brand. It started to look dull after about 9 months. I find that car wax is the best bet, keeps the aluminum shiny and pretty and easier to keep up with.
Go grab that awesome little variable speed buffer and wax on, wax off.

What did the wax/buffing do to signage or vinyl letters?

Hi my truck is the one pictured above with the engine turning finish- I stripped the truck with POR-STRIPwhich blew every stripper ive ever used out of the water- i have been around aircraft for 15 years and the standard with aircraft and cars is "aircraft stripper" - it didnt even touch the paint on my truck- i actually polished a large portion of my truck with subsequent rubbing compounds , as this was my original plan for my truck- what i found was these points
-it was going to take more than 8 passes around my entire 24' of aluminum ( i was not into this)
- polishing aluminum makes a ridiculous mess
-it woud need to be polished /upkeep at least a few times a year - even at once a year that is alot! and i had the same fear as the DR of BBQ of the sinage /vinyl stickers
-it really did not get mirror- different grades of aluminum will polish differently, and i was not incredibly happy with the result

- so i started playing around with my "options" as a full or even partial wrap was not even close to my budget.- i also wanted to stand out ( so the "strange  looking truck " comment is a compliment to me!) . so it took three rolls of red brown scotch brite and two passes around the truck. i washed the truck with alumaprep/dryed and cleared/ The clear product I used is Glisten PC by Por-15 products- if you know Por 15 you know they are the bomb. Glisten Pc is made for clearcoating polished metals- they coat polished alum truck trailers with this stuff in AU.( i am  NOT a rep ) but check this stuff out- i figure if it sticks to polished alum - it will definately stick to alum that has been scratched with scotch brite!
all in all i am very happy with the finish, it is rock hard and very glossy- i will say that this process is not easy, and will not be for everyone - it was over a month an a half everyday on the exterior- and about 700 in materials - but to me it was worth it

just figured id explain my process better- i wish i had the time to post all my pics but i am under a time crunch to get this thing MAKING MONEY- instead of EATING it! 

Great Post thanks.

Thanks so much guys for all of the answers!  I've ordered some POR-STRIP and will give it a go.  I figure if I f**k it up, I can always go back to the plan of getting a professional paint job.  I will continue to try to learn from the vast amount of information posted on this site and will eventually post some pics.  Right now, there isn't much to see other than an empty step van and you guys all know what those look like
Appreciate your posts!
grace

Not a problem! One hint about the the por strip. Use heavy duty rubber gloves and dont spray it on use a cheap brush and paint it on cause this stuff burns!!! U dont want this stuff in ur lungs!

Wear a face shield get some on your face or eyes and you wish you did!And chem rubber gloves (home depot/lowes/menard's),those dish washing rubber gloves won't cut it.

Yea, make sure you get the ones designed for working with chemicals. It will melt pretty much any other glove. If you paint it on, use a metal cup to pour it in as again it will melt anything plastic. I don't use gloves as they get in my way, but I have very little feeling in my hands from years of working with chemicals. Even still I have seen my skin bubble up from a glob of stripper landing on it. Cool to watch, probably not so cool if you have feeling in your hands.

il put in my two cents- mainly to get my post quota!
 
i used cheap Harbour frieght brushes and a plastic cutting brush pail (which must have been chem resistant) and did about four foot sections at a time- sounds crazy but i used a 2inch STIFF i emphasize STIFF plastic scraper on the entire truck! but i found it worked the best i put plastic  sheeting on the ground and scraped- I did a whole side a day took four days - after i was done scaping a side  i brushed it off with a hand broom and took it outside to preasure wash this gets little pieces off but also neutralizes the chemicals - hint if you do get it on your skin - wash quick as water neutralizes it- the cool thing about porstrip is that it can get on rubber too unlike almost everyother type - i did tape off my glass and rubber but left a bit of weather stripping shown to get the paint off form the bad paint masking job the painter did 25 years ago --
 
Hints/tips-
- my first side had to be done over again- what i found is that i was not noticing the grey primer ( looked like alum ) i must have gotten better at the process cuz the other sides were completely off
 
- it HAS to be warm - it got real cold here and the stripper didnt budge the paint one day - heated the shop up and presto! its says it on the can for those of you that read.
 
- ditto the good gloves and get fresh air from time to time or you will end up like a.meckenna and I!

Amazing thread!!  Thank you! 
We have a 1984 P30 Step Van...totally psyched to get started.
I'm glad we were able to find this forum, looks like a great bunch of individuals helping each other out.

For the sake of all things educational, go look up my business page on facebook. Search for Tanuki Food Truck. Located in Seattle.
 
I post regular build pictures on there and am about to dump a pile of pictures of the stripping process tomorrow. Got one side nearly complete today, took about 7 hours total labor to strip the side of a 10ft truck from 1981 down to shiny new looking aluminum.

Thanks again everyone for all of the helpful info!
I got the POR-Strip in and tried it out.  It's good stuff!  I had tried a little patch with some heavy duty stripper I got from the hardware store while I was waiting for the POR-strip and it hardly touched the paint.  The Por-S however, works great.  Definitely worth ordering online.  It seems that last "grey primer" coat that drvp was describing will be the hardest to strip - I used the steel wool/P-S/water combo on it and am going to try the scotch pads tomorrow.  I'm also using the plastic scraper and my arm is already quite sore!  But that patch of bare aluminum sure looks sweet, so I'm going to keep at it

Glad it worked out for u! It is amazing stuff worth the price. Gets the job done and fast.

good to hear - are you finding a "mill" finish underneath or did some take a DA sander to it randomly? i hope its warmer in TN than it is up here in Boise! im freezing my @$$ off 

Hello guys , anybody building a food truck lately? I am new here, and I have been reading a whole lot of tips so i can get started in april.
 
 

Yup there are tons of people buliding including myself. I just dont post all the time cause once u start building u dont want to stop. Lol is there any question u have?