Hi, I have read the many threads about painting chassis. I believe that the many specialist paints, I.e. POR15 are fab Providing the chassis is properly prepared.

However, my chassis is covered with a mix of rust, primer and weld through primer as it has been a number of years in the making! I don't want to get it blasted for a variety of reasons, so my question is this: I want to paint the chassis silver or anthracite. Given the imperfect preparation, I plan to use a proprietary paint that can be applied over 'normal' primer. What have people used and can recommend ? Are the branded paints (ie Crown metal gloss) better than the cheapy makes? Has anyone used QD90?

I will be applying this myself in my garage and have no access to spray equipment etc.

Thanks

James

I don't know what's available over there, but tractor paint is extremely durable and easy to apply.

For instance John Deere paint comes in a variety of colors.

I can't for the life of me remember what it's called at the moment (but don't worry, someone else will in a few minutes) but the stuff that's used for earth moving plant comes in a variety of colours not just JCB yellow. That stands up to some serious abuse.

Which paint you choose will be irrelevant if the metal isn't well prepped.

Why not have blasted and at least primed. It's very costeffwctive especially considering the chassis is the main component of the car.

Try this
http://www.smithandallan.com/prodpage.aspx?id=1502
Regards
Hugh

there are a number of paint options and for a lincolnshire lad the agri paints should be easy to get hold of,... however it may well be worth thinking along the lines of the anti-chip paint, especially as with an exo it will be subject to all sorts of flying stones etc,..

just a thought

_Any_ paint job is only as good as the prep. There is no way around this! Some marine paints might be worth looking at but I suspect you want a good looking finish.

On our car we used an etch primer (ACID #8 nasty stuff by the way read the H&S stuff!) before the chassis started to have surface rust; cleaned chassis down with cellulose thinners, on with one rag then off with a clean one... This has worked well. We top coated a chassis black type paint using a roller.. Has worked well, the etch primer really sticks even with out blasting... Our choice of top coat is not so good it chips; I would take time to figure out what is best as a top coat...

The best I have used to date was wicks own brand external gloss undercoat and top coat stays flexible (all on top off the etch primer) and tends not to chip and is cheap; also simple to touch up.. Tractol is also a good option; limited colors (probably enough!)...

You can't get around the long job ahead I'm afraid; unless you pay to get it blasted and even then in principle you should remove all sharp edges before blasting... Sharp edges are where the paint will be thin and fail latter... Also I suspect acid #8 would react with the existing under coat (you would have to try a few patches to find out!...

Dan

Thanks all. The problem with blasting is twofold: firstly I have no transport to get it to a blasters at the moment and secondly, I have already bonded and riveted the floor in place and don't want to get this damaged! I am also trying to be a little lowcost about it!!! The wicked own brand sounds like a good recommend though!

If you do the above, with a brush practice!

It's possible to get a very smooth finish with a brush (not as good as spraying but not bad); you need enough paint to flow but not to much that it drips... Quality of the brush matters as well. Put on in one direction with the brush then run the brush at 90 degrees to smooth out the paint but don't over do it; you millage may vary!

You might also have a better time with the small rollers.. But don't do what I did and get air bubbles in the paint during mixing you end up with air bubbles in the paint finish!..

Patience and practice if you want the locost approach..

Dan

If as said above, you are going to have a go at a brush finish, get either good quality professional brushes or funnily enough I have had great results with these new synthetic bristle brushes (the ones where the tip of the bristle is much lighter that the rest). Either way get a brush with loooong bristles to avoid drag marks.

I found using good quality mini-rollers (gloss sleeves) produced a much better finish than brushing and was easily 5 times quicker when doing a spaceframe.

For prep (I was using POR15) so I used their other products. "Marine clean" to degrease and "metal ready" to etch before using POR15 as the undercoat, then used alkyd resin based paint (same a Tractor paint iirc) as a top coat. Seriously strong but very expensive. POR15 is a little fussy to apply as even a drop of sweat dropping in the tin is supposed to spoil the rest, it's also seriously hard to get off skin, you wear any splats for 2-3 days before it starts to come off.

Next time it will be degrease and etch (still have loads of marine clean and metal ready) followed by a good quality red lead primer followed by tractor enamel. Should be nearly as good and much cheaper and less fussy to apply.

You will regret not doing it properly me thinks.

I hope it turns out ok. I painted my last locost with hammerite and it looked crap and due to the old paint and rust I had it came off in no time.

Wish I had stripped it all and got it stripped and dipped.

I'm sure if you strip it someone will help you get it to the shop.

I have seen people put them on a roof rack before.