Primer paint for a long project

[SteveW]

Hi Guys,

Having had a very frustrating summer last year with my TC restoration, I am hoping to make much more progress this year - updates will be posted in due course.

This year, I am likely to end up with several bare metal panels as I move on from the wood frame to restoring the doors and putting the quarter panels on the wood. If I leave these as bare metal they will end up covered in surface rust whilst waiting years until I'm ready to properly paint it, so my question is - what is the best way of protecting them?

I've been researching paints and it looks like the best thing for me to do is to use a 1K or 2K epoxy primer because 'normal' primers are porous and would not keep moisture out. I don't have a spray gun so I will be using rattle cans even though its more expensive

My questions are. I) is this the right way forward or is their a better way, and ii) if epoxy is the right way forward, is it worth the extra expense to use 2K instead of 1K?

By the way, I had a disastrous summer last year with one of my doors. I gave it to a so-called expert who kept it for the whole summer and made a total mess of welding a repair into it whist charging a lot of money. This prevented me from finishing the frame as I needed the door to position the front door pillar. He didn't even get the profile right. My first job this year is undoing what he did and doing it properly myself.

[frenchblatter]

Steve,

I was wondering how you were getting on. We keep meaning to pop down for an open day, but we've always got something else on.

Why not cover the bare metal with an oil or grease to keep the water away then clean off with Acetate (or is it Acetone (I can never remember which is which) when you're ready to paint.

I painted the insides and undersides with POR15 as I did with the chassis and axles. I then put a couple of coats of Eastwood chassis black on top to get the correct finish.

I had the body painted in cellulose just to keep it original.

[stephen stierman]

I don't know what you have available over there, but typically real epoxy primer is a two part concoction, paint with activator and this requires a spray gun. Rattle can primer is likely not real epoxy. A lot depends upon what type of color coat you are going to use when you paint the car. If you are going to use some sort of two pack urethane you would want primer that would be compatible. In reality if these panels are not sitting out in the rain or a leaky shed you could shoot a couple of coats of acrylic lacquer (cellulose) primer and that would be fine. When you decide what your finish coats would be, lacquer is easily sanded off and you could start over.

[SteveW]

I don't know what you have available over there, but typically real epoxy primer is a two part concoction, paint with activator and this requires a spray gun.

It's not the lowest cost approach, but it is possible to buy genuine 2K epoxy primer in a rattle can in the UK. The cans have two chambers and you press a plunger to break the seal between the two and then use it as a normal spray can. Obviously, the down side is that you have to use the whole can in a day or so as it sets solid.

As I understand it 2K epoxy is compatible with most top coats. Even thought its expensive, I'm only really thinking about the tub at this stage, which is not a huge surface area. Maybe a better option than an inferior 1K?

[SteveW]

Steve,

I was wondering how you were getting on. We keep meaning to pop down for an open day, but we've always got something else on. Why not cover the bare metal with an oil or grease to keep the water away then clean off with Acetate (or is it Acetone (I can never remember which is which) when you're ready to paint. I painted the insides and undersides with POR15 as I did with the chassis and axles. I then put a couple of coats of Eastwood chassis black on top to get the correct finish. I had the body painted in cellulose just to keep it original.

Hi Norman,
I've not really worked on the TC for the last 5 months as autumn/winter is astronomy time, but I'm looking forward to getting back to it again. The astronomy open evenings don't start again until September, but we have a couple of summer open days at the observatory, which are more relaxed but only really work if the sun is out (so we can use the solar scopes). Maybe we will see you at one of those, I'll let you know the dates in due course.

I've used POR15 and Eastwood chassis black as well. I'm not keen on oil as a protective surface as I'm not sure that I could get it all out of the pores again, even with acetone. Internet advice on protecting bare metal surfaces is variable and contradictory, hence my confusion.

[stephen stierman]

You know this might be justification to pick up a low cost spray gun and small compressor based on the price of the rattle can epoxy two pack you are considering. They are just invaluable for any type of restoration.

[antijam]

I had a similar problem, needing to protect bare metal panels during initial 'dry' assembly before disassembling and storing prior to professional re-finishing.

My solution was to coat all bare surfaces with Davids Zinc 182, partly sprayed since I have a compressor, but also crudely brushed in areas difficult to access with spray.

There was no intention of using this primer as a base for re-finishing; as preparation for painting all the Zinc 182 was removed and the panels professionally sprayed with epoxy primer. After any filling and/or re-profiling the parts were resprayed with epoxy before applying and flatting high build primer prior to painting with Two-pack Acrylic. The Zinc 180 kept the rust at bay for almost a year.

Now in the stages of final assembly the finished panels are protected where necessary with low-tack protection tape.

[SteveW]

Thanks for the advice, I was wondering about using zinc 182 myself. Your car is looking good, I'm particularly envious of the shut lines on your doors as I'm building the front end of my frame now and have just trial mounted the doors in order to position the front posts. I feel like I need about 3 pairs of hand to adjust all of the various components simultaneously in order to get a good fit. More on that later when I get around to taking a couple of pictures and starting another thread.

Steve

[Eric Worpe]

If you wish to protect bare metal panels whilst manhandling them, then consider a rust convertor called Fertan. Although your panels may not be rusty, Fertan will still apply a zinc phosphate layer that protects the panel for many months. When you come to prime the panel, the Fertan film can be easily abraded away to give a keyed surface ready for painting. I've also used Fertan as a primer on slightly rusty surfaces, having abraded the surface to remove loose rust and again provide a key.
I would also endorse the use of 2 pack epoxy resin primer, which provides good adhesion. I have quarms about using Zinc 182 as a primer, it's certainly excellent at preventing rust but it's adhesion is not great. It would be ok to use in areas that are not exposed or as a temporary protection film whilst working on the panels.

[Don Walker]

Antijam, what size tyres are on your TC? I have 16" on my TC but would like to know the tyre width you are using. Looks good.