VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Body - Sheet Metal, Paint & Wood Frame Paint revisited again, & again &............

Ok, now don’t go yellin at me for not putting the effort in to search for an answer. Cuz I been a lookin’ since about noon. I looked for “frame paint”, I looked under “paint, frame”, I looked under “frame”, and “paint”, I looked with quotes, without quotes, I looked under “frame painting”, I looked under “frame finishing”, under “frame refinishing”, “frame restoring”, I looked under PAINT FORUMS, I looked at ALL FORUMS, I looked at, newer than 5years and I looked at older than 1day.
So ya see, I really have been lookin’ but as usual the good old search engine let me down again.
What I would like to know is whether the black on the frame was a gloss enamel, or a semi gloss, from what I can remember from standing under many back in the day and greasing them up it wasn’t the black that was under the hood. I seem to remember that where they shot it a little heavier it was glossy but it was mostly thin so it wasn’t glossy all over.
I’m sure this has been discussed hundreds of times in the past but I just cain’t dig it out of the archives.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

The paint in 1950 had some gloss. Seeing it was applied over rough unsanded metal with no primer the gloss was some what hidden. Look at a 2008 truck frame. Its about the same. The frames were'are painted at the frame plant whch usually was not Chevrolet.

The frames and other large chassis/suspension parts were dipped. It was much cheaper than spray painting. The coating was glossy but not a high gloss, modern semi-gloss is the closest match.

That's what I thought, don't think the bathtub is big enough to dip it in, but I'll figure something out. I’d like to get that dipped look.
I was picking up some rims that I had blasted last year and they had a late model muscle car frame that they had just powder coated. It looked great, that is, if you were building a show car, but it certainly didn't look factory original.
Chemically stripping it is the most appealing to me right now, that seems to leave all of the original tooling marks on the metal as opposed to sand blasting which removes all of the little details on the surface. I have very little rust and think it will clean up real nice, no need for any heavy blasting on this one. Since I'm not going to be driving mine in the rain or in the bad weather I'm seriously thinking of just flowing a good heavy coat of Rustoleum on the frame after it's been stripped.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Thats what I would do. In 1970 I wire brushed the frame on my '34. Painted it with black Rustoleum gloss. I don't believe there was semi back then. It still looks like it did the day I painted it. The gloss cleans up real easy also and dirt dosen't stick to it.

I know of a couple of people that wire brush and degrease the frame and paint with POR 15. Sure looks nice and since it does not get much direct sunlight holds up well. Since POR 15 is not UV stable sunlight will degrade it.

I've got a buddy who is one of those "hot rodders" and he is building a 1948 Willys Panel Delivery that's about 80% Ford Ranger at this stage.
He did the original frame, battery box and a bunch of the under hood stuff with gloss black Por15 rust preventative applied with a brush. It does look like some of the dipped parts that I used to stock in the Chevy parts room almost a half century ago.

Knowing that UV is a killer for Por15 wouldn't you think that they would come up with a formula that would take care of that??? The Por15 catalog is a full 52 pages and it's very impressive. This thread did get me to read through their entire catalog, which I only glanced thru before. I was under the impression that they only offered a couple of chooses because at the shows the vendors usually only have the Por15 rust preventative paint out on display. They do have a semi-gloss topcoat product called Chassis Coat Black that has no sensitivity to UV light, is flexible and is non-porous also.
I would think that if you have eliminated the rust by chemically stripping or blasting that this would be the only product that you would need to apply. Probably wouldn’t hurt to use the metal prep that they sell of one of your own choosing before applying the topcoat.
If on the other hand you were working with a rusty chassis and did not intend on stripping or blasting, then you would be better off using their four-step process and finishing with the Chassis Coat Black topcoat.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Just to add to the mix I offer this recollection. Sometime I seem to remember it was the 60s and 70s they changed the formula for chassis coating to an asphaltic based product. It provided excellent rust and water protection but was washed off by gasoline or solvents. I remember because worked in a body shop during the period and we had problems with come parts of the frames and suspension parts washing off the coating. We were more concerned with the mess it made on the floor.

You are right....that same type of frame paint was used on the 1977 Monte Carlo that I purchased new. Even cleaning solvent would take the paint off the frame.

:o :( :cry:

Well, my pride and joy is just a plain old '50, 3600 but I have found in a lot of spots where the frame wasn't exposed to the road splash for 58 years that still has an asphalt based something on it. I just assumed it was the factory applied undercoating. There is a heavy undercoating on the bottom of the fire wall and at the rear of the front fenders. But under the cab I've found a smooth layer on the floor and frame. All of this is desolved with WD-40, Kerosene or CRC brake cleaner.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL