Well, I still may be slightly ahead of myself, but after dinking around for, what seems like forever with parts, I will need to locate someone to do the frame. Need it blasted and powder coated in the orginal color (Any suggestions on what color black?) Looking for someone close to me. I'm in Hudson, WI, 30 minutes east of the Twin Cities, MN. Perfer the east side for distance, but I want a good job done. Is Power Coating the perfered method for a frame? The last one I did was for a old truck (54 F100) I used the Eastwood products and painted it, it turned out really nice, however, that frame didn't have the hard to paint areas that the Buick frame has. Will the Powder get into the hard to reach spots? Any idea as to cost? (Ball Park) Thanks, Rich
rich I just had my Suncoupe frame done , the frame , control arms and sway bars and rear housing were less than 600.00 . There is now several shades of semi gloss available so I chose one thats 80% gloss and it is very close to what I think is correct . The frame still looks as if its painted .
Let see some :kodak: Rear housing, did you just take the rear end as a whole or did you pull it apart first? I hope I can find a place close by, that frame, even bare, is still heavy to move around. Don't want to scratch it when it's done. Rich
Rich, I have a friend that does powdercoating in Mpls., they are good! They work with a sandblaster a block away so they can sandblast the frame and then drop it off to get powder coated, pretty slick! Twin City Metalseal 612-331-1700 Ask for Doug Lamere (owner) Tell him Tim Coyne sent you!
The only disadvantage to powdercoating a frame is that any surface pitting in the metal will show up in the powdercoated product as well. If you need a smooth pit-free surface, you gotta go the primer, fill, sand, then fill and sand-some-more, then paint method. That'll cost you alot more. Before you decide on a powdercoater, ask what kind of prep they will do. It'll vary from a basic sand blast, air blow-off, and powder coat. To a more complete job that'll include pressure washing, metal prep (phosphate wash) bake dry, and even a base powder coat of a primer, before the final top coat.
Good points to consider. When I painted my 54 frame, used an acid wash, then two coats of Eastwood Coorless, then top coated it with Chassis Black. 4 years later, looked as good as day one. One would have to at least acid wash it, so nothing grows underneith. I would think that if not preped correctly, the powder coat could peel. That would look like crap. Would like to hear what others have done. Thanks, Rich
The housing was dissassembled first . The frame is heavy and you really need 3 guys to move it carefully . I have carpet padding wrapped around the side of the frame so I can stand it on its side . I try to get some pics today .
I found a place in Toledo Ohio that strips paint and rust off for 600 and then you can take bare frame over to norwalk,ohio to get it e coated at mayflower inc. for another 600 some what expensive but the process would get to areas you could not reach otherwise
I am a newbie at this stuff but as I understand powdercoat if you put it on bare metal it will hold . The pits show thru yes but hey my frame is 35 years old and the pitting i have is under the battery tray area so it will not be seen . Thats said if you want it perfect I say take it to Redi Strip . have it acid dipped . Then spend hours welding metal in the rust pited areas or holes try not to remove the draw marks from the manufacturing process and then have it powder coated or painted . If I am spending 200 or more hours at 65.00 per hour on the frame I don't want any plastic in there . John
I had the frame for my convertible done last year. It came to just under $600 and looks great. I plan on getting the rear housing, inner fenders and radiator support done when I get back to working on it. They took less then 3 days to do it and they are only about 5 minutes from my house. Their website is eastcoastpowdercoat.net and they list prices and show alot of pictures of there work on the site. Ken
Pits are the key. If you have signicant pitting I would go with epoxy paint so the pits can be filled.
Just did my 64 Cat. Sandblasted then powder coated. Total $600. Used Techno Black. Most powder coaters have a sandblaster they work with. Looks like perfect chassis black. Semigloss 80% is close. As far as the pits, flash, etc the factory was not perfectly smooth either. How does everyone neutralize the acid wash inside the box frame ? For me, it works. Dan
Pitting? Sandblast, epoxy primer, then either fill or apply fast build primer & sand with a guide coat until you like it. Topcoat with two part acrylic urethane. The key is using filler over the epoxy primer rather than bare metal. This technology's been here since the late '80's and is holding up beautifully to this day. Devon
