hitbyastick

Ok, so basically there's no paint on my car. It has been stripped and cleaned down to bare metal. Then I did some welding here, and some hammering there to get it straight, did some bodywork, sprayed the whole thing with sealer/primer then block sanded it, then did more body work, then more sanding, and then another coat with sealer/primer. Obviously it still needs to be sanded again, but am I missing something? If not, I can shoot paint now? After that everything will be top-secret.
Thanks guys and possibly gals.

Mike951

Did you etch the bare metal? I just restored a 78 VW bus.. anywhere that was taken down to bare metal was etch primed, then shot over with a base coat of primer followed by 2 or 3 more. Once the whole thing was primed...I blocked it one more time using a guide coat.. Then scuffed everything, shot the sealer.. waited for it to flash, and applied paint.

Since you arent painting right away just make sure you scuff it good before you apply paint, and I would call a bodyshop or paint supplier and ask about not etching it. I have always been under the impression that bare metal needs to be etched so the stuff you put ontop of it has something good to bite into due to whatever the "etching" process does to bare metal

-Keith

hitbyastick

Hmm this etching business is news to me. But my bodyshop supply store said that what I was shooting was perfect for bare metal applications.

Van

When I painted mine, about 9 years ago, I used an epoxy primer (2 parts that had to be mixed together) and then a base coat/clear coat. The main thing I remember was the clear coat had to be applied within a certain time frame (i.e. 12 hours or so). The base coat still had to be a little "wet" to help the clear bond to it.

There is only one spot of rust -- as I was doing the final tack-cloth wipe down, a drop of sweat fell onto the top of the left front fender. I immediately wiped it off, then painted. Years down the road, I have a rust bubble there... And not a spot anywhere else!

Matt Romanowski

You don't have to use etching primer. A good epoxy (which is probably what you have) is ok too. I would suggest wet blocking it the last time before you paint it with something like 800 grit. It will produce a much flatter surface and will allow the paint to lay down a little flatter. Not much of a difference in time when you're this far already.

hitbyastick

Alright sweet. That's what I have epoxy primer. Just making sure I got all my bases covered. Thanks guys

TREMPER

I have spent 37 years making automotive primers and epoxy primers are better than acrylic over bare metal but nothing beats an etch primer . The purpose of the etch primer is to form a thin layer of iron phosphate which passivates the metal. The etch primer are normally a two package system with the secnd part being a solution of phosphoric acid. The OEM system used by most manufacturers is a seven stage zinc phosphate system folled by a electrodeposited primer, sanding primer than base coat/ clear coat/ In the refinsh arena since we do not have the big high temp ovens used by original manufacturer...we use an etch primer followed by an epoxy primer..a sealer is only need if you are doing an overall and you need to even out the surface. If the epoxy is cured and sanded you do not need a sealer before topcaoting...
Have fun

Pete

Matt Romanowski

I'd listen to Pete even if he's not racing a 914 anymore....

hitbyastick

Sounds good! Like the other thread says, the primer is essentially on the car. Except I missed a spot underneath so I gotta mix up some more. I noticed about 20 more dings after it dried too, so I gotta do a little more body work before shooting more primer over everything and sanding.
Good thing I'm not in it for the money!