I have a dilemma that I could use some expert help with. I am at the threshold of having to liquidate my car collection thanks to being out of work for a year. One of the cars is a '55 Ford Victoria that has been a dormant project car since the late '80s, with lacquer primer on it now. I had set aside some quarts of PPG DAR- Delstar acrylic enamel that I got in the early-mid '80s to use on the thing - two quarts of Ford's "Lipstick Red" from '76-'78 and two quarts of Ford Bright Red from the mid-'80s, unopened - that I would love to try and use up in order to keep expenses down, if not mix together in order to have enough material to shoot the roof and lower half of the body. I've gone through the various past postings (yes, Search is my friend) but, before I go to my local PPG jobber and make an ass of myself, I want to find out what's the current-for-2014 recommendation for a reducer, as well as a hardener to take the place of the DX-80? I'm planning on shooting Shop-Line epoxy primer/sealer over the lacquer primer and finish body work before shooting the Delstar (and yes I'll try some test panels first to see if there's any chunks that come out). I really want to put the car in color before I send it bye-bye to get better money for it, especially since I've potentially got the paint, plenty of time on my hands and it's almost to the point where it can be sprayed.
Assuming PPG reducers/hardeners are no longer available I would use reducers and hardener for Axalta (was Dupont) Centari Acrylic Enamel. Shake both colors, intermix, shake and strain. Mix in reducer/hardener, strain again. Spray a test panel. Spray color over red sealer to aid in hiding because 1 gallon of color/reducer/hardener may not be enough for 3 coats on the car. 2 coats may be enough however. There will be a lot of criticism for suggesting a mix of companies products. I would be comfortable with this process.
I know my auto body supply has "universal" hardener for acrylic enamel. They sent it to me by mistake a while ago, and I did use it on some undercarriage parts, with Centari. It seemed to harden up just as fast as Dupont hardener, and still looks good, so I'd recommend using it if the proper brand stuff is not available. Oh..and "back in the day" we even used to use lacquer thinner to reduce Centari when shooting it outside, for a faster dry time, with or without the hardener.
I live in central Illinois. A couple of years ago I had some left over Delstar I wanted to use to paint a trailer. My local PPG jobber had the hardener and reducer in stock BUT it was pretty expensive as I recall.
Why color it up if you're selling it. Can't you leave it in epoxy primer and offer it to people who have their own color choice in mind. Maybe the next person wants to recreate his high school ride of yellow and black or maybe a person wants all white. Give them a blank canvas in primer. Maybe you can sell the paint to a HAMB member who has to have that color.
Sure, I could leave it in lacquer primer as it sits right now, or throw epoxy over it and have a base for someone else to work with, but there's still hope that I could be gainfully employed again before I get to the point of prepping for topcoat and still get to keep the car - after 33 years in my possession I still want to get some enjoyment out of having it presentable before it moves on, and that translates into motivation for me to finally get it done. Besides, what's not to like about a white and resale-red car if the paint job can add a few thousand to the car's sale value since it's already been shot in the jambs/trunk/underhood and I have the time to do it? It's not that far from being a decent cruiser - paint, carpet, headliner and some underbody mount repair - and the only real major expenditures I still have for parts include carpet and the mount patches, plus the epoxy primer and other consumables that I don't already have stockpiled. It all depends on what happens over the course of the next 30 days or so.
Yutan Flash, I agree, paint it with that "special red mix" and if you do have to sell it, the potential sales price should be higher if you do a good job of it. Myself, I'm extremely wary of a car for sale in primer, as that dull, flat finish can hide a helluva lot of sins in the bodywork.
I personally would be concerned with the shelf life of the paint. You stated that you've had it since the mid 80's. I think 30 years might be stretching it a bit. Check with paint rep to be sure. It will be more work to strip it and repaint if it fails for some reason.
Use the hardener & thinner from TCP Global or Smart shoppers & mix thoroughly, spray away. I wouldn't worry about the old unopened paint, it will be fine. I also used lacquer thinner with acrylic enamel for smaller jobs.
i just sprayed some ditzler acrylic enamel that a fellow hamber gave to me. the can was rusty on the outside and had been opened. i used a universal hardener [transtar] and ppg acrylic enamel reducer. it sprayed and dried perfect and looks great.
posting for reference on using old delstar. I recently shot paint in a car trunk, wanted to do a spatter paint. A schutz gun for undercoating will shoot spatter if you play with the air settings (20-30 lb, test it first) Primed, first topcoat was a medium gray "ascot" PPG shop line enamel JE, reduced with shopline reducer. Shot Delstar DAR black enamel right over wet on wet in spatter paint pattern, reduced with Delstar reducer. Wanted to add another spatter paint layer - mixed the reduced Delstar DAR with reduced Shopline JE, they were both reduced with matching reducer prior to mixing, let the 2 mixed paints sit for a few minutes, and shot a flat test panel. No issues, sprayed as another layer of spatter. The Shopline was new product, the Delstar was 18 years old. Both mixed at 4:1 with recommended reducer. I don't know if I'd shoot an entire car with paint that old, but for what I was doing, it worked well. If I did not have Delstar reducer or hardener, I would try substituting shopline enamel reducers in small qty and spray it out.
I have shot hundreds of gallons of paint and many different brands over the years and most brands mixed fine BUT ! DuPont never mixed with any other brand. As a side note, I have shot every thing from lacquer to polyurethane and PPG acrylic enamel is my favorite paint to work with of any brand or type.
Because Centari Acrylic Enamel is NLA, I'm using up my remaining Dupont Acrylic Enamel Reducer in Omni Acrylic Enamel without issues. John
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