[joeyg1973]

I live about 10 minutes away from the POR-15 headquarters so it is pretty easy for me to get this paint right away when I need it.

I want to point out that prep for any paint system for metal is the MOST important step. It is the main factor that will significantly affect the life and quality of finish.

I have used the POR-15 engine paint kit as well as painted my axles end to end. The first thing that I painted was my engine block and head. I had the machine shop clean these before I painted them. Here is the order I did this:

1. I used several implements of destruction attached to my angle grinder and drill to get off as much rust as I could and completely removed all old paint or other chemicals stuck to it. A butane blow torch to burn the old paint and chemicals a little and BrakeKleen(ether highs rule!!) work pretty good before applying the grinder and drill. I used 3M black paint and rust remover wheels for this (they look like black spounges), 3M flapper wheels, and lot of different sized and shaped wire wheels. for smaller parts I just let them soak in white vinegar for a few days or put them in an electrolysis tank I made. I prefer the white vinegar nowadays. Both methods will take off paint, vinegar will eat the rust, and electrolysis with convert the rust back to iron.
2. Blue painters tape off everything you don't want covered with POR-15 now. Keep at least 2 packs of safety razors around for cutting the tape as they go dull quickly on metal. An Exacto Knife with a bunch of blades is also very useful. Make sure all the tape is tight on the metal.
3. Put a pair of those thick yellow rubber dish washing gloves on.
4. Cover in POR-15 Marine Clean. Let it sit for 15 minutes. Approx 3-4 songs on the radio. Make sure everything stays wet and covered don't worry about how much you use, make sure it is mixed 1-1 and that the solutions HOT. You can safely put the mix/spray bottle in the microwave if it has cooled or if you are using leftover.
5. Spray it down with your garden hose making sure that you get all oily and soapy spots off.
6. Dry it off with compressed air.
7. POR-15 Metal Ready for about 15 minutes. Approximately 3-4 songs on the radio. I don't know what this stuff is and it is expensive, but I wanted this stuff to last a long time so I believe an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. Make sure that the metal stays wet and covered for the whole time. Don't use this stuff sparingly. I actually suggest you just go ahead and buy a gallon supply of this stuff because running out of it midway though the process means that you need to start all over.
8. Hose it down again.
9. Dry it off with compressed air. It should get either a white hazy/powdery look or a slight patina of rust. If the metal is smooth, you didn't get all the oil off of it or you touched it with a bare hand and you need to repeat everything from 4 on again.
10. ----End Of Prep----
11. Now you can paint on the POR-15. I used several cheap brushes for this and would throw them out pretty much as soon as they started to shed. I didn't think about it at the time, but I believe that the way to go now is to use several of those cheap foam brushed to avoid the hairs shedding like you do with regular brushes. For the engine it was the silver paint. It has metal flakes in it so it fills pores better. However, on flat smooth surfaces the metal flakes and silver color in the paint don't lay out right. I found that the best way deal with this issue is to put on the required 2 coats and then go back and jab or stipple( I think that is the right term) the paint on the smooth surfaces. This makes the flakes and the color on these spots lay out right and eliminates the streaks.
12. Let this dry per the instructions. Basically when you can make a finger print in the paint, but not drag your fingerprint it is ready to top coat.
13. 2 coats of POR-15 Engine Enamel Ford Blue, no thinning.
14. Let dry for a few hours under a plastic tarp tent to avoid any dust getting on it.
15. Remove the Blue painters tape. Inspect the paint lines and use a razor blade and the thinner on a clean none lint cloth to clean up any mistakes on the top coat of the paint.
16. Ok now here is where I found the best way to REALLY harden up this paint. Bake it. Don't have an oven to use? go out to home depot and buy a cheap radiant heat lamp. Hang it about 1-2 feet away from the part. Turn it on Hi and just walk away. Leave it there over night. The next day when you come back, the part will be pretty hot so let it cool for about 20 minutes. The paint will be ROCK hard. Can't scratch it at all and it looks like it was powder coated.

For axles, I first did the rear axle. Same care and detail in the prep work except when I put on the black POR-15 and the chassis coat black I used my spray gun. I had to thin each out just a tad for the gun. I wouldn't recommend spraying it on, nor would I recommend using the chassis top coat. It doesn't really go on that well and it is pretty soft. I haven't heat lamped this yet so that might actually harden things up a lot. I mentioned that I thought the chassis black top coat was soft and was crap to the POR-15 folks when I went back and they told me that unless the POR-15 was going to be exposed to direct and prolonged sunlight, it did not need to be coated to protect from UV. They also gave me 2 quart cans of POR-15 black because of the poor experience I had with the chassis black topcoat. When I did the front axle, I just brushed on 2 coats of POR-15, heat lamped it, and so far so good.


I will take some pictures of what the head looks like all painted up and post them here.