I'm doing the frame for my '35 Ford coupe project right now. It's never going to be a perfect high dollar car, just something cool to drive in the summer. I've got 2 small kids and a wife in grad school so funds are pretty limited and don't want to stall the project out saving for powder coated perfection. I was recently under an off topic Javelin that an older friend of mine re-did in the early 80's and other than dirt, it looked really good. This car sat in a dirt floored horse shelter with no door for 20 years after his ex-wife took it in a divorce. I asked him what he did when he painted the chassis and he told me that he wire wheeled it with a drill (he didn't own a grinder), got the corners with a wire brush, and bought the cheapest flat black Kmart had to offer. It has held up well and it got me thinking. Another older friend just went through a '36 P/U. Its basically a old patina covered farm truck with juice brakes and a hot little flathead. He put cosmoline on the frame and called it good. Freshly blasted metal is really nice, powder coating and perfect chassis paint are wonderful. Obviously you want to protect the metal from decay and make it easier to work on, but for a car that's going to get kicked around a little bit, how good is good enough?
Kmart flat black is good chassis paint. If your chassis is going to show maybe a semi gloss or even body color may be a good choice depends on the type of car you are building I guess. I have also had good luck with duplicolor. there are s also some pretty good rattle can urethanes out there these days. But that is just good enough for me the real question becomes what is good enough for you.
They only had paint on from new. They went in all kinds of weather for the first 20 years of their life. If you are not looking to win a major award all you need to do is wite brush it off and paint. It is easy to touch it up later. Remember you want to do the best you can when it is off the frame. It will kind of suck to take it apart the second time. For me.. the best I ever do is sandblast, prime and paint. Most times it is clean it up and flat black.
lewk, I don't know if there is an answer to your question. I have seen guy's actually rub out their chassis, some guy's powder coat and other guy's use brush on paint. It depends how you are going to use your car. If I'm reading your post correctly, funds are tight and with a wife and two kids, you want to use your car and have fun with it, so I would wire wheel it and use a good primer and top coat it with gloss black or satin black and call it a day. No special equipment needed. I used brush on enamel Rust Olium on every inch of my "Woodie" chassis and after 40K it still looks great. I just wipe it down now and then and it's good to go!
If you wire wheel it, brush on some tractor paint and don't drive on salty roads, the paint job will outlast you. Spend your money on more important shit. But I'm just a dumb 'ol farmer who painted a lotta equipment that way, what would I know?
sandblasted, primed and painted frame with a brush using that Master Series bridge paint made by a company out of Connecticut, I believe. Here's the link to it: http://www.masterseriescoatings.com/index/ Good Chitt, Mahn..
I found it was actually cheaper to take my race car frames (dirt late model and dirt modified) to the powder coater. They blasted, cleaned, powdered, baked and I got a beautiful frame back for way less than the cost of buying just the paint. I got completely out of the prep stage. Once I made my repairs or modifications to the frame I just dropped it off a and a few days later picked up nice frame in any finish I wanted. Have several friends that own body shops and none could get me the basic paint for wha I was getting everything done. Check out these prices for an idea. http://www.powdercoatplus.info/Pricing.html SPark
Have you thought about POR-15? I used it in the underside of my now gone 57 Ford and it worked out pretty cool. I striped all the road grime and stuff off wire wheeled it and painted. Held up really well.
Most chassis and undercarriages done today are done far most extensively then they ever were originally. Nothing wrong with a good clean and prep for paint job. I would go with a semi gloss versus gloss sheen it will be more consistent if wire brush prepping.
In terms of what's good enough for me, I can be an anal retentive pain in the ass. I've got a stalled '63 Impala project that needs to be perfect, so nothing is happening. The freshly powder coated frame is on a shelf. I've also got a '62 Impala that's so original that I can't stand to take it out. I'm deliberately trying to back away from that mind set and build a car that I'll actually finish and can leave in a parking lot. I'm looking for a chassis that stays black and doesn't rust for a few decades for cheap. Cost is a huge issue for me as well. If brushing on equipment paint, or bridge paint, or rustoleum over wire brushing and primer is holding up for people, I sounds like I've got an answer. You guys are awesome.
rustoleum in a gallon can, thin it down and spray it out of a gun. That's easy quick and cheap. lasts and looks good too.
Just so's you know, powder coating won't work on top of a skimcoat or filler primer. They'll media blast it, prime and powdercoat so most original frames aren't good candidates for powdercoating because all the imperfections will look like hell. Chassis you see powdercoated are mostly aftermarket and pristine perfect metal.
In the past on stuff I'd wire brush, paint with Rustoleum rusty metal primer, then topcoat with Rustoleum.
LOL the last frame I painted was rattle canned I think I had two cans of primer on it and two cans of paint I on it. That comes out to about 30 dollars give or take. I wish I could find a powder coater that would powder coat my chassis for that.
I find shiny paint cleans up a little easier than flat does. POR15 works well for a frame. Spend some time cleaning, scraping, wire weeling and get to it.
I'll just never understand why anyone would powder coat any chassis parts, lawn furnature sure, but pitted chassis parts no. Sandblast, skim coat over pitted areas you may see on the FINISHED chassis, prime and paint. Lost time and money is spent on making the chassis look good while it is sitting in a shop, areas the body covers don't need to look as new IMO. Bob
I agree with Beaner. Did I just write that? I checked those powder coat prices and by the time the frame, running gear, etc is coated it's gonna cost way more than a gallon or two of Rustolium primer and top coat. I've used Rustolium and common spray bombs on many frames and suspension parts. If you are not gonna chrome it any decent paint will do. Sounds like you've already got way too much tied up in hotrods. It's time you build a driver.
I've had 'em show quality pristine and I've had 'em rattle can black. From 50 feet away and at a hunnert miles and hour ya' just can't tell the difference...
The anal retentive thing is a giant pain in the ass. Think about it like this -- if you don't use what you have either as a finished car or stalled project all you are doing is saving a very nice car or nice project for some other guy that will use it up and enjoy the hell out of it. I continue to learn daily myself life is way too short to sweat every small detail.
nothing wrong with sandblasting, filling, priming and painting a frame to perfection......but a car that is not driven daily through mud and snow will stay very nice with the wire brush treatment. i have wire/cup brushed a bunch of undersides of cars and they have held up well. i did my ot plow truck that is driven in all weather and terrain and it has kept it from rotting away.
Me too. I painted my newly built chassis first, then was unhappy with the car so I blew it apart and started over. Next time around I had it powdercoated. It was so cheap and easy I dont think I will ever paint one again. I say if it's under the fenders paint it cheap. If it's a fenderless car paint it right or coat it.
On my 66 I wire brushed the frame and brush painted it with zero rust, the truck has been on the road for 5 years or more...sits outside during our nasty winters, and it has held up great and still has a semi gloss finish. On my channeled model A rpu the frame was partially exposed, so I mudded the sides, engine bay, and all the welds, blocked it, primed it, blocked it again and sprayed it with dupont single stage gloss black. It came out really nice, but then I wished that i had bodyworked the inside as well. In my opinion if your going the fancy route, make sure you do all your brake/fuel lines/wiring exaust/ect before bodyworking and painting the frame, that way all the holes are there and you can run things nice and neat. I did not do that and so now I have a piece of shit car with a nice painted frame and ugly brake lines and wiring, plus I was having trouble bleeding my clutch and ended up spilling brake fluid on the inside rail and didnt notice it until a nice patch of paint had lifted....right down to bare metal. When I build my 29 roadster its getting a fully body worked shiney frame with all the lines and stuff planned out beforehand... Shiney frames are a waste of time but I am a picky asshole and will never be happy with my work.
Lm14 speaks the truth, Price the powder coat at least, & figure your prep time savings. You can't use regular filler, but there are fillers to use for powder coat on the limited areas that will show. It's the nooks and crannies where blasting shines. The flat out side parts are easy to get with a wire brush. No matter what paint goes on, the metal needs to be free of grease and oil and scale and loose rust. Depending on the paint it can tolerant to some rust. Getting that junk off does take up your time, Rustoleum paint is a pretty tough coating on chassis parts. It's very easy to touch up too.
Exactly what I did on the Ranch Wagon,the car was built to be a driver not a show car. I sandblasted,primed with rustoleum primer and brush painted,,yeah brushed on the semi=gloss black. HRP
I did the same prep as 31pickup and sprayed gloss Rustolium, that's good enough for the girl I go with. It's my wifes Studibaker.
numerous times i have wire brushed frame and suspension, 'super' thinned RUSTY METAL PRIMER RUSTOLEUM w/K1 kerosene to allow brushing into the rusty surface, allow it to dry for several days, then recoat with 'lightly-thinned' BLACK RUSTOLEUM. never been disappointed with longevity or price of materials. (before Zeibart,Tuffkote Dinol and Texaco got into automobile undercoating, red oxide bridge paint was a dealer undercoating option around motown, seems like it was $100 w/ a recoat option, rarely was the 'option used'. dealership i worked at as a teen had 4 to 6 55 gallons drums 'going all the time', a barrel of mineral spirits, tarped-up stall, thru-the-wall exhaust fan. oh, dear what would the 'tree-huggers' do these days with all those VOC's?)
It's all according. For a street driven car, something like Rustoleum or tractor paint makes sense. It will protect the frame from rust, look halfway decent and not cost much. Brush or spray, your choice. From there you can get into powder coating, filling and sanding, using the most expensive paint etc. In the old says some show cars had fully chromed frames.
Saw a TVR rebuild on TV show were the factory powder coated chassis rotted away to the point a new chassis had to be made, has any auto maker in the USA produced a vehicle with powder coated chassis parts? Bob
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