Protecting restored parts during the process (1 Viewer)

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Southport, NC
How do you all keep the parts you've restored already looking good while the restoration continues? For example: I did the frame and axles ("rolling chassis") a few years back and have been working on the body for a while now, I've had a drop cloth over the chassis but it still looks like junk from years of dust and debris settling on it. Now I'm having to re-restore parts. Bare aluminum now gets cleaned and clear coated to preserve it for example. I'm thinking of wrapping the restored parts in paper and plastic to keep them air tight - but not sure if that will lead to other problems down the road.

Please don't suggest I keep everything in the house, that's not practical - it's got to stay in the garage and I assemble it as i go as much as possible.

Thanks,

Mike
 
Even though you don't want to hear it...I kept my painted panels in a spare room. I still had to keep the damn cat away from them. For the parts I kept in the shop I wrapped them in plastic drop cloths and taped them to help keep out the dust. Not air tight but more then just being draped over the part.
 
You have to ask yourself how well you’re restoring the parts if you’re worried about air getting to them. What are you going to do once you start driving it? Is it going to be in climate controlled storage?

If it’s just scratches and such you’re worried about, pick up some cheap moving blankets from harbor freight and wrap them up.
 
my concern is storing primed body parts. I have room inside . How long can they be stored and should they be wrapped in plastic or just covered with a blanket.
 
my concern is storing primed body parts. I have room inside . How long can they be stored and should they be wrapped in plastic or just covered with a blanket.

What kind of primer are you using? If epoxy, it doesn’t matter what you do with them. Once you’re past the recoat window they’re going to need to be scuffed and reprimed before you do anything else with them. If you went an etching/surfacer route, most of the surfacer will be blocked off anyways. Just protected it from deep scratches.
 
What kind of primer are you using? If epoxy, it doesn’t matter what you do with them. Once you’re past the recoat window they’re going to need to be scuffed and reprimed before you do anything else with them. If you went an etching/surfacer route, most of the surfacer will be blocked off anyways. Just protected it from deep scratches.
Do you have a step by step body prep, prime, and painting thread somewhere? FAQ sticky sounds like to me
 
Agreed, epoxy primer (2 part, sprayed with a gun) is the shiznit. When done right, it's incredibly durable. Eastwood has an amazing series of videos on youtube that will teach you anything you need to know.
 
You have to ask yourself how well you’re restoring the parts if you’re worried about air getting to them. What are you going to do once you start driving it? Is it going to be in climate controlled storage?

If it’s just scratches and such you’re worried about, pick up some cheap moving blankets from harbor freight and wrap them up.


Valid point. What I've found is that aluminum parts I've beadblasted look like crap pretty quick so now i bead blast them, clean them with POR Marine Clean (strong degreaser), then either put a coat of VHT aluminum finish (if the bare cast isn't great looking), and finish them with a good high temp clear coat. The clear coat seems to be key, a $7 rattle can will keep bare metal parts looking great for a long time.

I'm going to start wrapping everything in paper and shrink wrap to seal it up, I'll test it out on something first for a few weeks and as long as nothing degrades and sticks to the painted surface, that's about all I'll do for now.

The engine in particular looks like junk, lots of nooks and crannies in there for dust and debris to settle into (think about everything that's in the air after welding and grinding for several hours - or all the dust from doing bondo work and sanding/priming). Drop cloths covering the finished chasis/drivetrain was a horrible idea, everything just floated under it and landed on the finished work.

So what I do now is restore, clear coat, wrap (loosely) and seal as much as possible.

t-case rebuild.jpg
 
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