Thanks, fellas. I do hope he likes it and wears it hard. That's a secondhand Dickies... must say something when it's almost impossible to find a boy's work coat...
Getting back to productive jalopy work at my job. With no garage, you gotta make opportunities to paint in December cold…
I've got to paint a bunch of my stuff pretty soon. Mind explaining the paint you're using and the process? Thanks!!
Reston - the biggest issue for me this time of year is finding somewhere to actually apply paint. As a strictly shade-tree (snowdrift?) wrench in Pennsylvania, in December... Well getting a place indoors was my biggest priority. Remember... "Achievable". That's my touchstone. Find a way to get through less than perfect conditions and get it done. So... That said... This is rattle can VHT Chassis paint in satin black. It's my first experience with VHT and it sprays nice, if a bit excessive in volume. Says you can spray bare metal, has a higher temp rating, and is meant to deal with the abuse that chassis components experience. We're gonna test that. Prep? I stripped the spindles and king pins to bare metal and got them really clean. Soaks in purple stuff and brake cleaner. '32 axle was already primed. Wishbone I degreased and knocked any loose paint off and then wire brushed (like... a hand brush...) the bare metal a bit. Then sprayed a few light coats of paint. Note, I do plan to paint the whole front assembly again when it's together and ready to go under the car. This was mostly to get paint on some of the bits that may be challenging to hit once everything is bolted up. Good question and good luck.
I've had really good luck with the VHT Chassis paint as well. Found out about it when I looked to see who made the chassis paint for PJ1 (motorcycle chemicals). The PJ1 is good for motorcycle chassis, so VHT ought to be just as good for auto applications, right?!?!
The VHT is a one part epoxy paint thus no need for a primer as it will stick to just about anything. I like it too and think its good stuff, I like the gloss and buy it when I can find it. Only negative is that it can take a long time to cure. There are two type of one part epoxy paints; moisture cure and UV cure. I am not sure which this is but I'm guessing UV as it is pretty humid here in the south and still takes a week to fully harden when kept indoors in the garage.
Well that’s great info! Thanks for the insight. Right now my ‘78 Suburban is the ‘curing booth’. So far I’m pretty impressed with the stuff. Adhesion seems to be excellent, and being a one-part epoxy, that makes sense. Hopefully results are good for the long term.
Thanks, man. There’s a box about that size under the Christmas tree. Hope there’s a cleaner in it. I got grungy parts I’m working with!
You should post this, or one of your black and whites over at the Friday art show, or maybe you did snd I missed it. Hoping you and Spencer and the rest of the support crew had a good Christmas.
He's a couple tattoos and a pack of cigarettes away from dropping out of school and leading a pack of hoodlums...
Friday art show? I’ll need to search that out. And thanks for the good wishes. Hope you and yours had a good Christmas too! Starting to warm up in the garage. We had -28F windchills for a few days. We’re up to 19 with a windchill of 10 above!
Man, I love your project! Just an FYI and certainly just a matter of opinion but, after restoring and working on all kinds of projects over my lifetime, I have reverted or come full circle to using Rustoleum qt cans and brushing it on for chassis parts of this type and others. It's a tough finish and easy to do with a chip brush. It lays down nice and flat and is era correct. Quickly thinned with basic mineral spirits. So, may be more viable in a colder environment. You can still spray it if you want with a sprayval. I haven't done a cost analysis cause I'm not that smart but it feels right. If Rustoleum doesn't sound right, simple quarts of chassis black at O'reily auto may be better. Brush it on.
Hey, man. Thanks for the feedback. This car is going to be almost entirely brush painted… and I do like Rustoleum products. This was a quick spray job to get paint on parts before assembly in challenging circumstances, but I gotta say… I’m so far impressed with the VHT. Most everything here on out will be brushed because of my shop circumstances, control, and Spence does a bit better with a brush than a rattle can. The BIG question is gonna be… what color to paint the body.
OK, understood! I was going to suggest that Spence would be good with a brush. So, does it make any better or great difference in colder conditions? I usually try to read and follow directions but often push the envelope.
I think brushing should be better. We do get some warm days. Next weekend should be near 50. I’m also dealing with daylight… I leave the house at 5:00a and get home after dark. I’d trust myself to brush in poor light compared to spray.
So… back to the ‘building’ part of this. When I get home from holiday travels, I’ll be swapping the ‘32 front under the hood chassis. I should have 3 days of decent temps, though Saturday looks soggy. Also need to fix the choke on my ‘78 Suburban so I can go to work on Tuesday… but whatever. I need to decide on an initial drop for the front. Get bushings pressed into the perch pins. Put it all together and under. Then we’re on to brakes… pull off the Phaeton chassis and rebuild on the good frame. THEN… put the body on the good chassis. At that point I can set the rear drop… and we’ll basically have a car. Shooting for end of January. I need to find ‘28/‘29 aprons. And fenders, but aprons to start. That will help me get the stance where I want it. Starting to feel achievable.
As I’m getting ready to set the suspension, I’ve been deep into research. Primary prewar sources when possible, modern builds if they seem to have held to prewar styling. Stock. California lakes. California street. Midwestern ’performance’… which seems basically stock. A modern roadster built that seems to sit ‘right’. And two Phaetons that seem to have it…
Hey, Ryan; Any of the examples you found will work. Good pics. What time-period are you after? Even a few yrs could make a difference. Me, I'm all about the "xx-yr car that got kept & modified little later, yr-xx" That way, not *everything* has to be exactly time-capsule perfect. Although the parts n stuff should reflect correctly on the era for the mods. Esp since that daily-drivers, like race cars, almost nothing was time-capsuled. It was used up, worn out, fixed, or modified as needed. 'Bout the only way any of this stuff was time-capsuled(& *not* on purpose), was if a guy went to war & didn't come back - & then only if the family/relations either had to keep it as a sort-of-memorial, or just plain forgot about it. Or maybe started a business & he still was able to mothball the car, but usually not if it was worth anything at all. You're correct about a lot of the late 20-s->mid 30's stuff looks. A lot of it looked stock, folks got what performance they could out of what they had - or could get. Speed equipment actually *wasn't* just laying around as door-stops &/or paperweights, opinions/characterizations/claims in Calif nothwithstanding... . You're on the right track. . Marcus...
Thanks for the thoughtful post, Marcus. Much appreciated. I think I’m shooting for near ‘38. That would make the Phaeton about 10-years-old. I think mods are basically going to be kept to a slightly lowered suspension, shortened windshield, and engine hop ups. Splash aprons on. Fenders if I can find a decent affordable set. Maybe 18”/17” wheels. Basically stock with some improvement for performance. We’ll see how it goes! Trying to sort out what I need to do with shackles running ‘32-‘34 perches with an A spring… my friend Hitchhiker sent me ‘32-‘34 shackles since the A bushings are loose in the perches but there are some other challenges there. May go hunting a different bushing to make the A shackles work…
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