My Ace Rust Stopper Journey

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fj404life

fj404life

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Oct 25, 2008
Threads
40
Messages
1,331
Location
Central Oregon
Website
www.oregoncruisers.com
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
DSC_0434 (Medium).webp
 
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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.
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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.
 
thecrazygreek said:
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.
Click to expand...

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?
 
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.
 
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.
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That looks good, now let it dry..........................
 
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 said:
Looks great! Any tips for a first time painter?
Click to expand...

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.
 
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fj404life said:
The hardener I used is gnarly...same nastys thats in real auto paint. And I dont think it made much of a difference.
Click to expand...

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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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