Any one know what color/finish the fresh air heater should be in a '51 3100? I've seen images of some in blueish gray, some in a light brown and some a pearl beige that matches the interior metal.
Look under the gasket where the motor attaches to the heater case. You may find the original untouched/unfaded color and sheen. Here is the original color of my '54 FreshAir heater found under the motor gasket. The new Hammerite paint surrounds it. > CLICK - Original paint under motor gasket
I used Hammerite Bronze rattle can #HAM-41185 on my '54 AirFlow heater. I don't think that it is the right color for your heater. And the "bumps" in the hammertone are too large.
Other Bolters have done excellant jobs refinishing their 1951 heaters. I'm sure that they can give the best match paint brand and color.
- Lonnie My '54 3104 Photos that I have shared on Stovebolt via PhotoBucket are no longer available. Please contact me if you want a photo from an old post. lonniecook [at] aol [dot] com. I sold my '54 3104 12/12/2017, but I still visit Stovebolt.
OLD STUFF ... houses, furniture, cars, wine ... I love it all
Thanks, Lonnie! Mine was rebuilt and repainted silver at some point tho so there's no original finish left. ...I bought it that way from baldeagle, my truck actually had a recirculating heater that had an original dark bluish almost black textured finish on it. Decided to go fresh air when the opportunity presented itself.
I was thinking it should be a lightly textured bronze/tan color, slightly darker than the pearl beige dash paint. Doesn't need to be 100% accurate but I'd like it close to original looking.
Thanks Brad! I will probably end up restoring my recirculating heater as well since it was original to my truck. My recirc heater looks similar to yours but the color is much darker and the decal is similar but the raised area is square with rounded corners.
A search on Stovebolt may give you additional color info.
- Lonnie My '54 3104 Photos that I have shared on Stovebolt via PhotoBucket are no longer available. Please contact me if you want a photo from an old post. lonniecook [at] aol [dot] com. I sold my '54 3104 12/12/2017, but I still visit Stovebolt.
OLD STUFF ... houses, furniture, cars, wine ... I love it all
Thanks again Lonnie! Yours came out super nice. Looks like I'll have to order the paint online. No one stocks the spray version in my area.
Brad, my recirculated heater looks like the second one "mid-51 through 55 Series 1" but like I said, the paint is a dark color and it's got a Chev decal on it. I'll snap and post a pic of it this evening. [edit] Mine looks a lot like this one but the case is tacked rather than held together with screws and I'm almost positive it is a darker color. http://www.flickr.com/photos/advance-design_parts_co/8129370166/in/set-72157631868452754
If the case is tacked it was most liklely rebuilt or modified by a previous owner who may have also done a color change. I have never seen a factory heater assembled that way.
On the recirculating that is the color of the Canadian truck heaters I have seen. The dark color is interesting to me I hope someone else can chime in with more information.
Interesting. To my knowledge this truck has been in St. Louis, MO it's entire existence. Rolled off the St.L line in Dec of '51. ...it could have been added later tho I guess.
Did not find the Hammerite locally over the weekend so I went to buy it online ... couldn't bring myself to pay $30 to ship three cans of $7 spray paint. Back to Lowes and bought the Rustoleum Hammered Bronze then headed over to a buddy's house disassembled the heater and blasted the parts.
After blasting, I decided to give powder coating a try in his homemade set up so I coated the blower fan and cooked it. Came out pretty nice if you ask me.
Gotta try powder coating at home sometime. Looks good. Rustoleum should be fine. A lot of colors to choose from. FYI - a local paint store ordered Hammerite for me with no shipping costs.
- Lonnie My '54 3104 Photos that I have shared on Stovebolt via PhotoBucket are no longer available. Please contact me if you want a photo from an old post. lonniecook [at] aol [dot] com. I sold my '54 3104 12/12/2017, but I still visit Stovebolt.
OLD STUFF ... houses, furniture, cars, wine ... I love it all
Powder coating is amazingly easy. We are limited to what fits in an electric oven he had leftover from his old house.
The bronze hammered Rustoleum looks pretty close in color to what I've seen of the bronze Hammerite. If I was doing suspension parts or anything exposed to the elements, I'd worry about the difference in durability but for the heater it should work just fine.
I also lightly blasted the end caps of the core and left it to soak in kerosene. I'll shoot it in high temp black after flushing it out.
The Rustoleum Hammered Bronze came out nice! Looks real close to the Hammerite bronze. I think I'll lay it on a little thicker when I finish up the exterior. The trick is to build it up by dusting. It dries quick so waiting between coats leaves it looking sandy and blasting it on too thick gives you that webbed faux textured look.
I'm pulling my heater this week to fix a leak. Don't think that I will need to blast off the old paint, but looking at your smooth finish temps me to do so.
- Lonnie My '54 3104 Photos that I have shared on Stovebolt via PhotoBucket are no longer available. Please contact me if you want a photo from an old post. lonniecook [at] aol [dot] com. I sold my '54 3104 12/12/2017, but I still visit Stovebolt.
OLD STUFF ... houses, furniture, cars, wine ... I love it all
I started with the interior so I could see how the paint went on. It is not 100% smooth and honestly looks a bit more like orange peel than I care for. However, I noticed that if you shoot it thick without over doing it, let it dry for a minute or two then dust it with a light coat it comes out really good. The light dusting levels out and softens the webbed look the paint is supposed to have and the thick base gives you the texture and gloss.
The heater is painted (looks a bit darker than the ones done with Hammerite Bronze) the emblems are almost completely restored and I picked up new stainless hardware last night. Just waiting on the new 6v motor and I still need to paint the core.
I'm just getting ready to start restoring my heater, and it's the greenish blue metallic that BLUEMEANIE posted here. The truck is also a '51, built in Oakland and shipped to Alaska. The greenish blue color is pretty pristine under one of the sleeve where the defroster tubes go. Just another sample. I suppose they may have sourced the heater from Canada, though. Here's a couple pics. I'll post up what I might find for a matching ratttle can color.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
