Before painting frame questions

[Lando375]

I have my frame completely stripped down and ready for the blasters. I'm not sure whether I'm going to paint it or powder coat it. I got to thinking about some things I may have to do after the paint or power coating it applied. New holes, ground straps, possibly having to weld something on for some reasons or another.

This may never see any type of off road driving other that a dirt road. My plan is to install a basic 3 1/2 lift. The only thing I could come up with is possibly needing drop radius arm mounts.

Are there any, " I wish I would done that before painting the frame" moments you guys can think of?

Thanks

 

[rjrobin2002]

I regret using rust bullet and por 15 in the past on them. Their finish comes out cheap looking and touch up is a pain.

I get better results after blasting mixing and spraying a black epoxy primer, then wait 4 hours and spray a black satin black chassis paint .

 

[Torkman66]

Examine frame for any hairline cracks to weld up. If there are any threaded holes, run a tap through them now. Reason being is if you find one stripped and need to drill and tap larger, prior to finishing is best time to do that.
If you paint, paint inside of box frame first. Get a gallon of the green Pospho from Lowes and fill a gallon garden sprayer. Run the wand into every opening and drench the inside. You can tilt the frame so it runs down hill both directions. Once that dries, it kills all the rust and is ready for paint. You can get a gallon of tractor black paint from Tractor supply for under $50. Thin it about 5 to 10% and fill your garden sprayer again. Spray inside every hole and throughout your box frame. Let it run out of cracks. Now let that set up hard for a week and then go back over external frame with wire wheel and clean up where paint ran out of frame. Now your ready to paint the frame.
I have used the gray tractor primer and the satin black tractor paint on several frames and it has held up very well. Dries hard.
Of course, if you plan on powder coating you can still use the Phosfo but cannot paint internal frame. Tell your powder coater to use his flame thrower to heat up and burn out the inside of the frame. Then tell him to get his powder gun into all the openings to hit as much of the internal metal as possible. Hope this helps.

 

[1970 Palmer]

Prepare the surface (blast), clean the surface (degrease), paint the frame with a TWO PART epoxy primer of your choice. Best to use a primer tinted close to your final frame color choice, for example black/dark grey. TCP, SPI, Summit Racing all sell mail order TWO PART epoxy primers to your door.

Make sure you use a top coat paint that has UV sun protection built into the paint. POR15 will chalk up in the sun after one year. Rustoleum enamel will chalk up in one year. That's why quality automotive paints cost more.

I really like to have parts powdercoated, but if your ever going to need to touch up the frame after a repair, painting is the way to go.