My Model A project is ready for paint & Im looking for advise, .... trying to do it right the first time, you know? Lets start with the chassis. The A is fenderless so the chassis will be seen. Im not totally against rattle cans if the product will hold up to road use? My concerns are: 1) Is there any special prep on springs (for the flexing)? 2) Should I be considering powder coat for the frame instead? 3) What type of primer (epoxy or laquer or self etching) should I be looking at? 4) Is the Eastwood or POR15 kits for do it yourselfers something I should consider? Or should I pay the $ cash & take it to a body shop? Please enlighten me!
For years we just painted everything, generally with epoxy primer and then Imron paint over it. But the older I get the more I have everything powder coated. The cost is actually less, by the time you factor in the primer and hardener, the top coat paint and hardener, the grinding and prep time, and all of that. With powder coating I drop off rust parts and they sandblast them and return them a week later all shiny and clean, ready to assemble. Here is my latest batch, the parts for my rpu project. Don The chassis on my 27 has been on the road for about 5 years now and still looks good, it was all powder coated.
I went round and round with this. I had my car on the road after I painted the chassis a nice satin black but wanted to change some things so I blew it apart. I decided to have the chassis, gas tank, steering and suspension parts powder coated in 80% gloss since it was already apart. For what they charged me to do the coating I can't believe I ever thought paint was a good idea. It was such a great deal I'll never paint a chassis again.
I prefer powder coat, be sure to have all your modifications done though. if i'm working with clean blasted steel, wipe it down with degreaser then shoot it with single stage enamel with hardener, semigloss.
With a gallon of Imron costing about $300 and the hardener at $120, then adding in grinding discs, sandpaper, and other stuff like lacquer thinner, powder coating is a bargain. The other thing is that catalyzed paint is nothing to mess around with, it can harden in your lungs, even with a good respirator. For weeks after I would paint a chassis or car I didn't feel great. To answer your other question, both paint and powder coating will not crack on springs. They do not flex enough to cause any damage. Don I don't remember the exact amount, but I think all the parts in this picture cost me $160 to have them blasted then primed then powder coated. I couldn't have painted them for that and I didn't have to get my hands dirty.
http://www.kbs-coatings.com/ I used this paint, hard, resists UV rays. I applied by brush layed down real nice and I used the cheap HF brushes, so a good brush would have been perfect. I did not do the full three step process, just wire brushed and paint.
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