With the cabover completely apart I'm faced with enormous piles of brackets and crossmembers and such that are waiting to go back in. I'd like to paint them before they do,and have that paint look decent and stick if possible. I'm going to use implement paint from TSC. What's my best procedure for this?
I use that stuff pretty regularly, make sure you give it plenty of time to dry since it doesn't seem to harden quite as quickly as Rustoleum and similar spray cans. My process is usually:
Based on what I read on Garage Journal, I'm planning to use Valspar implement pain for my trailer. People there recommend brushing or rolling on and mixing in some hardener.
However, the Rustoleum on my Saab subframe and front suspension still looks new after 2 salt-covered winters. Probably the prep is most important, as always.
In reply to XLR99 :
Rustoleum High Performance Enamel is pretty amazingly wear resistant- I've switched to using that on any parts of the rally car that regularly see contact with gravel, and use the TSC stuff for parts that are topside.
Id reccomend hardener and a brush if you are determined to use tractor supply paint.
What about dipping? It should coat all the crevices and provide a smoother finish than brush or roller.
The factories used to dip frames and suspension components. At least that was what I had read when looking into restoring a GTO (never did the resto because time, money, and space led to selling the project).
I haven’t tried it, but my understanding is that you use oil based paint and a trough large enough to submerge the part.
Fill the trough with water deep enough to cover the part, then pour a layer of oil based paint on top of the water. The part then gets lowered through the paint layer to coat the part.
The paint coats the part keeping the water from getting to the metal and the water avoid the needing enough paint to fill the trough.
Brush and hardener were the general plan. Thin the paint or full strength? Everything getting wire brushed, treated with rust converter in particularly nasty areas, wiped down a couple of times, and then painted. I have a respirator with volitile organics filters but is there a particular standard for using hardener? I know it's nasty.
I did all the suspension components on my Miata a few years ago. I got rid of the rust with electrolysis and then primed and painted with Rustoleum, largely because I had a part can already. It's lasting pretty well. My trailer was painted with TSC implement paint a decade ago, or more. No hardener, we just rolled and brushed it on. It does take some time to harden up, so I would consider using the hardener.
Dusterbd13 said:Id reccomend hardener and a brush if you are determined to use tractor supply paint.
My father sprayed his last car hauler (stinger w/headrack) using implement paint and hardener with good results.
He didn’t do the body, just the frame, and decks. The ramps were left bare aluminum. It came out good and held up well to the chains and several hundred thousand miles before he sold it.
Get yourself a proper mixing cup with the ratios labeled on it. 16:1 (the ratio for Valspar hardener) is not easy to eyeball.
I even have a spare you can have.
Edit: You should double check that 16:1 is correct. It's a half-pint per gallon, but I'm posting pre coffee.
Dude, cut up a metal coat hanger, bend it any direction needed to get the correct angles for painting. Hang from the garage door track (or similar area, maybe outdoors) and rattle can it. It’s so easy it’s not even funny. Only dip it in the water/paint trough if you want that psychedelic paint scheme.
I'm all about implement paint. For heavy duty brackets I don't use a wire brush, I use a needler. They're awesome. Then I use RCMP from g503.com which is just another rust converter. Most any rust converter is the same, Eastwood has a deal right now on theirs. From there, I'm a fan of hanging the part and spraying. For spraying, I will typically thin the implement paint a bit and then mix in hardner and use a sure shot to apply
Me and Valspar will never cross paths again.
Hard to go wrong with POR on anything but perfectly clean metal. Not UV resistant, but does it matter if it goes a bit dull over the years? You can paint over it if you care.
I like to epoxy primer coat anything that is going to be exposed to weather UNLESS it is going to get POR.
Have you considered that a powder coat system is not very expensive and might see a lot of use with your proclivities.
NOHOME said:Have you considered that a powder coat system is not very expensive and might see a lot of use with your proclivities.
Came in here to mention that. If you are doing just brackets I'd get a cheap oven from a REO (or roadside pickup if your area is like that) and powder coat them enmass. Cheap and generally quite durable.
When spraying Rustoleum, do you need a special automotive primer for frame/braketry things or can you just spray multiple coats of black?
POR-15 and a brush. Knock the dirt, grease, and rust scales off and go to town.
Thanks for all the advice. As much as I'd like a powder coating oven, it's probably a future project. The thing keeping me from POR15 is what I've read about how impossible it is to remove if you ever need to remove it. This whole thing has a high likelihood of coming back apart in the future for all sorts of shenanigans and fabrication. I may use it on the engine brackets, those should be a one time deal, but the frame brackets will get paint. I'll take this advice and experiment, see how it goes.
As to the implement paint and hardener, mix it up and spray with a hf air paint gun or electric power painter. All the best of spraying it on and the faster drying, harder paint without the streaking you normally get with rattle cans or the hassles of a brush.
jstand said:What about dipping? It should coat all the crevices and provide a smoother finish than brush or roller.
The factories used to dip frames and suspension components. At least that was what I had read when looking into restoring a GTO (never did the resto because time, money, and space led to selling the project).
I haven’t tried it, but my understanding is that you use oil based paint and a trough large enough to submerge the part.
Fill the trough with water deep enough to cover the part, then pour a layer of oil based paint on top of the water. The part then gets lowered through the paint layer to coat the part.
The paint coats the part keeping the water from getting to the metal and the water avoid the needing enough paint to fill the trough.
I always wanted to try that, it seems like a slick way to paint a lot of small parts without using much paint.
There have been several mentions of powder coating - while it would be a nice finish, the issue in this case is he'd have to completely strip all the parts with something like media blasting to get them ready, and I don't think that's in the cards.
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