This posting is one in a series. If you have not yet read the earlier postings in the series, you’ll need to, as this posting won’t make much sense without having done so! Just do a search using the word “SLURP”.
In my last posting, I casually mentioned that we “bagged” the new engine under protective plastic wrap, because we knew some messy chassis reconditioning and refinishing was coming next. That turned out to be an understatement.
I’m not sure who really won here – me, or the 53 years of accumulated grit, grease, and rust working in unison with its devious partner, the paint. Technically, I won, because the frame, front axle assembly, rear axle assembly, and a host of smaller parts and subassemblies are all clean, protected against corrosion, and far prettier than they were.
But, here’s what my pants looked like today:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/JimGnitecki/ChassisandJimGbothpainted004artifac.jpgAnd here are some of the other artifacts from about one week of dirty fun:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/JimGnitecki/ChassisandJimGbothpainted003artifac.jpgI actually forgot to put the respirator mask into the photo. It went from white to black in the course of the week. You can see that the sample wire brushes look “worked”. The putty knife gave up its edge for the good of the mission. The cellphone has new “permanent” black trim (that paint did NOT respond to mineral spirits). The rubber gloves in the photo started out as blue. You can see that blue is no longer the dominant color. Furthermore, it took considerable effort to separate the two gloves after I accidentally placed them touching each other, with the black paint not yet quite fossilized.
I say “fossilized” because POR (Paint over Rust) paint bear about as much resemblance to normal paint as Barry Bonds does to a “natural” baseball player. That stuff plays for keeps. When they say it “dries” in 2 to 5 hours, that’s a little modest. “Crystalizes” would be more like it. After just a few MINUTES, mineral spirits has zero ability to remove it. Ask my hands (see the photo – that photo was taken AFTER the solvent hand cleaning session, AFTER the paint removal attempt with strong handsoap, and AFTER the bath (during which the bath water turned black, and after which I had to spend a while getting the black stains off the tub surface).
One other thing – don’t get POR in your hair. You’ll be sorry if you do. While I had the frame elevated on the lift, I felt two separate drips hit my head (the paint leaking out of crevices that I had purposely flooded to make sure I missed NOTHING). I felt them, but couldn’t fo a darn thing about them at the time, as I was too busy keeping the two gloves from welding together via the paint, and trying to get the newspapers off the soles of my shoes (a newspaper coated with POR spillage glues to shoes like papparazi to a rock star). I KNEW I was going to regret not being able to do something about those two drips right away, but then again, would I really want to wash them out of my hair with mineral spirits? After the bath, I CUT the two drips out of my hair (nothing else would work).
After spending 5 hours today walking across newspapers peppered with POR spillage, I have brand new indestructible POR finished soles with newspaper filler. Very stylish. They flap when I walk.
But, the job got done.
Over the course of a week of heavy part-time work (usually 3 hour sessions at a time), the chassis, the front axle assembly, the rear axle assembly, and a bunch of various related separate parts all got:
- The scraping (to remove 53 years of grunge)
- The wire brushing (to remove the REALLY persistent grunge and the loose rust)
- The vacuuming (to remove the loosened junk before we accidentally dissolve it with Brakleen and spread it where it wasn’t even before)
- The Brakleen cleaning (to remove all impurities that would interfere with a good paint bond, and to ensure we leave no chemical residues on the surfaces or in crevices)
- The (futile) masking (to control spillage and overspray) (the darn overspray got EVERYWHERE anyway)
- The POR treatment to convert the rust to magnetite and to seal the surface against any future moisture. I used a brush for this step, as it allowed me to better “flood” crevices and boxed sections that spray would not reach, and because POR overspray is VERY TOXIC.
Note that POR must be itself coated via another layer of conventional paint, as it will otherwise degrade due to ultraviolet rays. So . . .
- One spray coat of primer to promote adhesion between the POR and the paint that covers it. The primer is applied when the POR is “tacky” – not “wet” but not yet “dry” (fozzilized
). If you wait too long, you must then SAND the POR to give it “tooth” to hold the paint, so timing is of the essence. I sprayed the primer because I was trying to reduce the “brushed” effect of the POR, which was actually quite smooth, but not as smooth as spray of course. I used a dark gray primer so that I could clearly see where I had primer coverage and where I still needed more.
- Multiple thin spray coats of black automotive chassis paint. Again, the difference in color ensured that I could see where I had good coverage and where I still needed more. I tried to control the spray distance and coat thickness to produce a modest gloss versus a high gloss or a matt surface.
The cleanup was a fiasco, as the newspapers put down to control overspray were sticking to each other, my shoes, and my gloves, and choice words were evoked.
If you use POR, forget about ever using that paintbrush again. Buy a good one, rather than a cheap one, to get a nice finish and to make the work easier, but don’t even THINK about actually cleaning it and reusing it ever again. You can actually FEEL the drag on the brush increase over a couple of hours of constant painting, as the POR does its best to crystallize while you try to insist “No, not yet, stupid! We have half a chassis still to paint. Stay soft, darn it!” The reason the paintbrush is not in the photo above is because it fossilized to the newspaper I laid it down onto, and there was no way I was going to try to handle THAT mess and get yet MORE paint onto my hands!
But, the outcome looks decent and will hopefully provide protection for the NEXT half century of Red’s life. Here’s what the chassis looks like now:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/JimGnitecki/ChassisandJimGbothpainted001chassis.jpgAnd here is what the rear axle looks like (note the now reflective versus rusty surface!!):
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/JimGnitecki/ChassisandJimGbothpainted002rearaxl.jpgIf the POR sticks to metal like it sticks to newspaper, rubber gloves, paintbrushes, cellphones, and hands, I dare say I now have a “permanent” chassis . . .
Those of you considering a ratrod, forget about welding and primer – just coat everything with POR, stick the parts together, and you’ll probably NEVER see it fall apart. The space shuttle people should be using this stuff for those troublesome tiles . . .
Was the agony worth it? Well, I guess we’ll see as the weeks and months unfold, and we see how durably the multicoat finish actually stays intact in the real world.
I sort of feel like I’ve given it my best shot.
I also have a LOT of respect now for what people like David Horner at Restoration Specialties have to do. I had heard how difficult and messy paint prep work on a classic vehicle can be, but until I actually did it these past few days, I really didn’t understand exactly what that meant. I do now.
Greg Ducato: See that cardboard box in many of the recent photos? That’s the tranny you sent me. After this past week, I am SO glad that you packed it SO well and have that plastic cover on the tranny inside the box - it kept that beautiful tranny CLEAN and protected! The box also makes, as you can see, a great workbench . . .
Jim G
