Scratches, Bubbling/chipping/missing clear-coat. Advice?

Howdy, all. First of all, I bought my green 96 Taco last month for $250. (For those wanting to learn more on how I got this deal/what is wrong with the truck/what I plan to do with it, here's the link to my thread: http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1st-gen-tacomas/237252-bought-96-tacoma-doesnt-run-options.html) Aside from extensive mechanical work, Taco is also in bad need of some exterior work. He has numerous scratches, some of them deep enough to where when I run my fingernail on it, my nail catches. One or two are bad enough that they have rust forming in them. Most of the scratches are on the driver-side door. There are also patches on the body where the clear-coat is peeling/bubbling/missing altogether, which has lead to some rather nasty sun-fading in places.
Anyways, the point of this thread is that I want to seek some advice on cleaning this up:
Where can I get clear-coat and matching touch-up paint for a relatively cheap price? Is there anything specific in terms of prep-work that I need to do before applying either of these? On the larger scratches, is there really anything I can do to make them disappear? Also, is there any way to reverse the patches of sun-fade without having to completely repaint the whole truck? (If I do have to just repaint, then I think I'll go with my original idea of just painting him camo.)

Anyways, thanks for reading!
-Fenwick

Furthermore: The attached picture is rather crappy, because my phone sucks and I have no actual camera, but you can see four of the larger scratches near the mirror, and sort of see a large spot of peeling clear-coat under the back window.

 

You can begin by pooring gasoline on it and lighting a match....j/k
Really though, I think if you are going to put in any effort into restoring the paint, then you should just go ahead and redo the whole thing IMO. This all depends on the what kind of budget you dealing with of course.

 

Yup.

Peeling clear = repaint.

If it's only on a few panels, you could theoretically repaint only those panels, but it'll be hell to match the weathered panels and even with a good color match, the texture will still reveal "repaint"... and one or two repainted panels tell a potential buyer "Wrecked"... while a complete repaint is not always bad.

 

I'm sort of a cheapo, to be honest. I'm not as bad as my dad, who is famous for putting used brakepads on his Honda to get all of three day's use out of them, but I'm bad. I have a bit of money saved up- about $1,600. But that's my total truck fund- everything I have to do to this truck is coming out of that money. There is money incoming to that fund from work, but it's slow-going.

I plan on driving this thing until it's wheels fall off- meaning, I intend to be it's last owner. I'm just that sort of person- when I get a vehicle, I intend to keep it until it is completely and utterly dead and unsalvageable. It is also going to be a construction work truck and a scrap metal hauling truck, so maybe I shouldn't even worry about it... lol.
Unfortunately, the clear-coat problems are all over the truck. I think the only place where there isn't at least bubbling is the tailgate.

 

Couldn't agree more.

 

In that case?

Sand it down and shoot it with primer.
Hit the primer with a clear to prevent rust.

 

I might try that and leave it primer- or do some camo, like I was thinking about. Can never go wrong with camo.

 

Camo works too, but I would get a clear over it.
Primer does not seal from water, and actually holds water, which will promote rust.

 

bedline the whole thing..Never worry about paint again..Then again that will cost you about $4,000.

I bought a 4runner once for $40 ..Rebuilt the top end twice, did some backyard body work to it, got the rear window to work, spray painted it camoflauge, and I beat that for a year or so, and sold it for $1,000. I know your situation..

 

Yeah, I'd definitely clear-coat over it afterwards. Don't want to leave the truck defenseless.

Wow, never thought about that! Bedline the whole truck... I wonder how that would look. Probably look funny, but I bet it wouldn't rust, haha! Sounds too far out of my price range, though. Camo sure sounds good! Paint it myself, so it'd surely be cheaper than simply getting it repainted regular.
I think I'm going to worry about getting it running before I paint it, and whatever money is left over will dictate what sort of a paint job it gets.

 

Theres a few trucks on here coated in bedliner, looks badass. Theres a k5 blazer i see in my town now and then that is lined..looks awesome in person.

 

I've actually never seen one bedlined in person- I'll have to keep my eyes open, I reckon. Sure as heck wouldn't be worried about rust and scratching paint! xD