My Ace Rust Stopper Journey

fj404life · 08-13-09, 05:10 PM

Hey guys, figured I would start a thread. I am hoping on using some color matched ace to re-spray the interior of my 69 fj40. The PO of my 40 decided it was a good idea to brush black rustloeum all over the interior...Really this is a "long term temproary fix". Someday I will be taking the 40 down to the frame and having the body soda blasted. In the mean time I can not deal with this uglyness. The PO also decided it would be a cool thing to put carpet all over the floor with spray glue. Lemme tell ya I just love freaking PO's. He also screwed aluminum 90 trim all over to hold the seams of his custom carpet kit down. So I have welded up about 50 holes all over the rear floor and fenderwells. Other than this crap from the PO my 69 is totally unmolested, original paint, and hardly a lick of rust.

I am about half-way through prepping the interior.
Still experimenting with how much to thin the paint and how to setup my el cheapo HF special HVLP.

I have a lot of questions but I will just start with a few that I have been pondering on...

1. I am not planning on removing all the old paint. There are some areas that I would like to neutralize the rust. Phosphoric acid bath? Will this hurt the paint on the exterior when I rinse if off? Where to get it? I also have some TSP...not sure what to use.

2. Primer...Still stumped here. I am experimenting still but I think I want to be able to use highbuild 2k to help level out the imperfections. Can I spray this right on the old paint/bare metal or do I need to spray an epoxy primer first?? EDIT: Pretty sure I am going to spray a couple coats of Epoxy down 1st. Then maybe some highbuild....not sure there yet. Will see what it looks like with the epoxy down.

3.Paint takes a LONG time to cure...what kind of hardner can I add to it? How much are you guys thinning to spray thru HVLP? With what? I have just used odorless mineral spirits so far about 4 parts paint to 1 part Spirits. I think I need to go thinner...I sprayed my toolbox lid yesterday with the 4:1 thinned and it seems to be drying MUCH faster than the stuff I straight brushed on some parts when I first got it...pretty orange peely tho...

before pic...only welded the holes

thecrazygreek · 08-15-09, 01:37 AM

ACE paint takes along time to dry. Thinning it like your doing is a big help. But you have to be patient. What I did after a week of drying was to shoot clear over it. That way it has a nice rock hard finish. I used Valspar auto / industrial grade LIC-30 clearcoat. It's cheap and does the trick.

You may also want to look into PPG ALK-200 paint. It is wonderfull, and $57.00 a gallon. Its an industrial paint so it acts and dries like auto paint should.

I did my whole rig in ACE / Clear, but if I had to do it over again, I would go the PPG ALK-200 route.

fj404life · 08-20-09, 12:55 AM

Well it looks a lot different than that pic above now. Been sanding like a maniac.
Gotta toss my tranny in then roll her out for a wash down, ospho prep on the bare metal, and its primer time! Still playing around with that ace paint. I have some valspar enamel hardner coming.

belaw · 08-20-09, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thecrazygreek

You may also want to look into PPG ALK-200 paint. It is wonderfull, and $57.00 a gallon. Its an industrial paint so it acts and dries like auto paint should.

I did my whole rig in ACE / Clear, but if I had to do it over again, I would go the PPG ALK-200 route.

As a point of comparison, can someone give me an idea of how much fleet grade automotive Acrylic Enamel Paint (such as Nason Ful-Cryl) costs?

llih · 08-22-09, 02:32 PM

When I painted my cruiser, I found It was worth the shipping to buy the Kirker paint from these guys.

http://www.smartshoppersinc.com/

They have a variety of premixed colors. and I could get urethane for less then I could buy plain enamel locally.

fj404life · 08-22-09, 07:28 PM

Well there is no turning back now!!! woot! Primer round 1!

fj404life · 08-24-09, 05:49 PM

WOOOOT! Super stoked. Turned out real good for a long term temporary fix!!!
2 coats of primer 1 good coat of paint. Thinned 4 to 1 with odorless mineral spirits with a bit of valspar enamel hardener added for kicks.
Sprayed thru 14$ HF HVLP. Gun lasted thru everything but started leaking right at the end. It saved me from cleaning it out again LOL.

destin · 08-25-09, 03:23 PM

looking good man

thecrazygreek · 08-25-09, 04:07 PM

That looks good, now let it dry..........................

fj404life · 08-25-09, 11:17 PM

Thanks guys! I am pretty stoked. First time using an hvlp and it was NOT EASY getting it sprayed out.
Lots of nooks and crannies and akward angles to deal with!!!

O ya...its stil a lil soft...I can dig a fingernail in if I really mash it.
We have PERFECT paint drying weather here...10% humidity and 80+ degrees.
I let it bake in the sun today...same tomorrow. Then its time to start putting it back together!! Woot!

CMD82 · 08-27-09, 05:49 PM

Looks great! Any tips for a first time painter?

Nomis · 08-27-09, 07:06 PM

Nice work.

fj404life · 08-29-09, 12:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CMD82

Looks great! Any tips for a first time painter?

Sure...

1.sand a lot more than you think you need to
2.keep sanding
3.wear a real respirator, goggles, suit, gloves, hood.
4.practice first

What I would maybe do different...
I sorta wish I would of shot some highbuild/blocked it. You can see where the old paint is feathered out thru my paint job...o well still looks tons better! And I was way way over sanding! There is a LOT of akward crap to sand in the interior of a 40!!! My main goal was to feather everything out and get all loose paint/spray glue/rustyness off. And I think I did good there...the primer stuck real good.

The hardener I used is gnarly...same nastys thats in real auto paint. And I dont think it made much of a difference.

I just about have my 40 back together. Once I do I will layout all the tools, and materials I used and snap a pic to post.
Paint is cured enough to start bolting stuff up. Gotta be a lil carefull yet as you can still scrape it if you try hard enough.

belaw · 08-29-09, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fj404life

The hardener I used is gnarly...same nastys thats in real auto paint. And I dont think it made much of a difference.

I hate to hear that. I always assumed that the catalyst determined how hard the finish was, not the paint. Basically I thought that I would get "real" auto paint if I used an automotive hardener.

Since I don't want to use a clear coat this may kill my plans to use Ace paint.

fj404life · 08-30-09, 12:29 PM

The ace paint is an oil based enamel. Far cry from auto paint. But for 20$ for a matched gallon. Its cheap, easy to touch up, sprays real good in a cheap hvlp, and can be custom matched.
Now if I was to be doing a proper resto on this I would have never thought of using this stuff...but I know someday the tub will come off for a proper frame up and then I can just blast this stuff off.
For now I really like the patina on the exterior of my 69. The interior was driving me crazy though. I think it turned out super good for the amount of $$ I put into it.

belaw · 08-30-09, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fj404life

The ace paint is an oil based enamel. Far cry from auto paint.

This is something I've been wondering about. Ignoring the catalyst, how does Ace paint differ from auto-grade Acrylic Enamel?

fj404life · 08-30-09, 07:51 PM

Im not well versed in auto paint. But I think auto paint wont cure/harden without the catalyst.
Oil based is slow to cure...like 2 years to full hardness. My batch of ace was tack free in a couple hours...it is still not "hard" though. Gotta be a lil carefull bolting stuff up but I can walk on it...low humidity and warm temps help here.

destin · 09-01-09, 04:55 PM

more photos!

fj404life · 09-02-09, 06:52 PM

Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket Now I just need to put some scratches in it so it all matches! LOL

destin · 09-02-09, 07:54 PM

nice man!

You painting the exterior as well?

fj404life · 09-02-09, 08:36 PM

Not unless I see rust getting worse. I really dig the weathered look. And living where I do in the high desert I think I can hopefully keep it in check. Someday the tub will come off for a blast/repaint...but for now I dig the OG look. Just wanted to make the interior 1 color insted of 3 or 4 heheh.

destin · 09-03-09, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fj404life

Not unless I see rust getting worse. I really dig the weathered look. And living where I do in the high desert I think I can hopefully keep it in check. Someday the tub will come off for a blast/repaint...but for now I dig the OG look. Just wanted to make the interior 1 color insted of 3 or 4 heheh.

Nice man

Looks great, nice job on cleaning up the inside.
I dig the patina look too, if I lived in AZ i would have left mine as is as well.
But being in oregon, i needed to nip that rust and seal up the body

Just sent the tub and all the parts to the body paint shop!

dwh84 · 09-05-09, 07:40 AM

Great thread! I'm about to do the same with my truck. Same color and everything. Would you possibly be able to post the Ace paint code for your color?
Truck looks great. Good job!

fj404life · 09-05-09, 09:11 PM

Here ya go. Paint code letters on left side from the top-bottom B,E,L

These are all the main ingredients. The Limco 203 is a pre-paint cleaner/de-greaser that I got at the auto paint shop. Figured it would be handy to have a gallon of it. I put some in a spray bottle and wipe down with a clean rag, then tack cloth. Stuff works awesome and seems to help paint/primer stick real good.

Anything rusty was sprayed with Ospho (forgot to put that in the pic get it at Ace in the paint solvent area) then wiped off with a clean rag then let dry 24hr before paint.

Rattlecan primer I just used in areas I missed or sanded through. I used red primer as thats what was oem on my rig and its showing through all over the exterior where its weathered/scratched...this should match well with some use!

The Valspar Hardener I ordered from a Valspar dealer. Check Valspar.com ? for a dealer near you. Its got nasty stuff in it so use a respirator, goggles, suit etc.

I sprayed the primer and paint both through a 14$ HF Sprayer and it worked great till the very end then it started leaking somewhere...o well I was done anyways!

The paint code was scanned from my kickvent that I buffed out a lil bit...original 40 year old paint. Match was ok...not perfect at all but close enough for my project.

dwh84 · 09-06-09, 08:39 PM

Thanks for that info! I'm not looking for a perfect match either. It's a trail truck so it just needs a little something that is all one color!

I will be spraying through a HF cheap hvlp too. I was interested in how it sprayed. It looks like you did a good job with yours! If mine is half as good as yours I'll be satisfied. I just want a decent looking paint job until I can really spend some time and money on it. Thanks again!

fj404life · 09-06-09, 09:12 PM

You will be stoked with how it sprays...I thinned 4 parts paint to 1 part mineral spirits (or so). Think you could go thinner.
Mess with the gun and practice a bit on something 1st.
Only downside is paint is slow to cure.

dwh84 · 09-17-09, 08:56 PM

If i was looking for fast I wouldn't be driving a land cruiser!

Yeah, I'm looking forward to diving in to it. Hopefully I can get on it in a couple of weeks. Work on my truck has been slow because of lack of time and mostly money.

rockcrawler · 09-23-09, 03:16 AM

Nice work!

Just curious, did you spray this in your garage? Didn't you have problems with the over spray getting onto all your tools and equipment? Got to spray mine too some time in the future and trying to figure out how to get around this problem.

fj404life · 10-04-09, 12:12 PM

Overspray was very minimal. I sprayed it in my 24x36 shop. Only thing I noticed is it is attracted to plastic. Very dry here lots of static buildup. I put plastic on my sandblast cabinet window (plexi) as the first coat I sprayed got on it. Didnt bother covering anything else. I had a window open on one side and a fan blowing out the other side window. My window screen is blue now.

DO WEAR A RESPIRATOR!!! AND GOGGLES!!!

rockcrawler · 10-04-09, 09:32 PM

Thanks for letting me know

I might hang up some plastic drop sheets just to keep it contained a bit, and yep fans/ventilation like you say. Been a while since I've done some heavy duty spraying. No problem will use a respirator and goggles.