VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1946-1948 47 frame painting

I'm doing a frame off restoration on my 47 fleetmaster but i wanted to sandblast and paint my frame at home and use the money i would've spent powder coating it on something else. What paint could i use? I've seen por15 but seems expensive for the amount you get.

Hi Dusty47,

Take a look at the following posts before starting your project. I wrote a series of posts on this topic last year. There are 4 parts to the series plus everyone's comments. I could post the whole series here but think you might want to benefit from doing your own Advance Search of all our posts for the rest of the articles. If you have a problem doing an Advance Search, and finding the other articles, let me know and I will gladly post them.

To do an Advanced Search locate the Search heading at the top right of this page's headings. Checkout the clues they give you for doing an Advance Search. I used the following words in my search with a plus in front of each word +frame +painting. Make sure there is a space between the two search terms. For the Display Name Search I put in the name Mike Buller. Under Date Range I put in Newer than 2 years and Older than 4 months. That brought up all my articles and all the comments on them. There are more searching techniques to locate posts on topics you need help with, but this will give you a little experience with the general process.

Good luck, Mike

Painting your frame and suspension

Painting your frame and suspension 1st article

I own large enough sandblasting equipment equipment to sandblast a frame. That includes a large pressure pot, 150 cu ft/min. diesel compressor, air supplied hood, gloves, rotisserie, etc. When I calculate the cost of sand, diesel, primer(s), good quality urethane or epoxy paint and clean up it comes to more than I can hire the sand blasting and painting done and powder coating depending where it is done. I don't intend to blast and paint a frame ever again. I do lots of small parts in my blast cabinet and occasionally a bigger part outside. So you might want to do some more figuring before you jump off into blasting the frame.

A professional stripper will not use sand. They will use a blasting media, which will do a much faster,cleaner, and more thourough job. The blasting is done in an enclosed area to allow the media to be recovered, because it is too expensive for only a single time use.

To sand blast & powder coat a frame in Tucson is 650.00. I've heard stories of 1200.00 to 1500.00 in California. Anybody confirm that?...Joe

Sand doesn't care about whether it is removing rust or good metal. My floor pans had a few pinholes and when the sand blasting was done they were the size of rabbit holes. Had to replace the whole mess.

Don't worry about coating the frame with no stinking expensive process. Go to the local hardware and get you some black rusteloum (sp) and spray the thing. Will serve just as well. Will too!

Spend the money on something nice like a restored radio or whatever. No one is going to look under the car a go, "Wow! Earl, com er and look at this here POR fifty paint job (or powder coating). It won't happen because chances are, they won't be able to tell the difference, even if they cared (Judges too).

Over the years, you can spend another four or five bucks and touch up any unsightly places where you've run over some bushes or something.

Good luck,
Charlie

$1200 sounds like way more than my area of California. I suppose prices can vary, just like anywhere else. I had a frame and some misc. parts done in Lodi California about a year ago and it was about $700. Wheels cost $50 apiece for blasting and powder coat to the same color as the car, which was a dark metallic brown. I was surprised to find a powder coat that matched, even down to the metallic, but he had hundreds of colors. Shop around.

Sand or media blasting won't remove good metal. If it made the pin holes in your floorboards larger, your floorboards were shot and needed to be replaced anyway whether you sand blasted them or not.

Latigo,

Thanks for educating me on sand-blasting. I sure thought that sandblasting my floor pans contributed to the size of the holes. Seems that I was mistaken.

Everyone: Please Ignore my comment about sand-blasting eating away at good metal. On being informed by a more knowledgable person (Latigo), it appears it just isn't so.

Best,
Charlie

We all want to revel in the concept of a frame off restoration. How can we really say we restored anything without taking the frame off?

What I have just said is a bunch of nonsense.

I, myself, am in the process of a frame off restoration. But fortunately for me, I started my frame off restoration ten years ago. The first thing I did was buy a 1941 car off of ebay and haul it back from Waukesha, Wisconsin to Midland Michigan. I then spent nine years making it mechanically sound, including last year having a 41 engine rebuilt, to replace the 49 engine it came with. Along the way my goal was to work on the car winters and drive it the rest of the year. I met that goal by sticking to a schedule of only completing one job before moving onto another.

The reward for me was always the carrot of driving my car when winter was over. The process let me educate myself,at my speed, on all aspects of my car. I learned how to rebuild the brakes, disassemble the engine to try and repair a leaky rear seal or noisy rod bearing, clean out an oil pan and reaim its oil nozzles. I tried my hand at rebuilding generators, starters, carburetors, windshield wiper motors, distributors, heaters, window regulators, and much more. I cleaned out my old frame, put a new front cross member on it, painted the bottom of the car, repaired rust holes in the spare tire wheel well and trunk floor, replaced the passenger side running boards, floor, and cowl. On the driver’s side I replaced the cowl and repaired the running boards. I did it at a leisurely pace, as I had the time and money.

Last winter I finally did take the frame off the car to replace it with one I bought 7 years ago. This is the first summer I did not drive the car. I decided to do some more extensive body work on it and maybe even have it painted.

I”˜m doing the work my way, and most of the work myself. In the end I will have written two big checks,one for the engine rebuild and another for the paint job. I, most likely, will have spent over $30,000 on the car. Probably, an average price for a daily, driver, restoration. This has turned into a wonderful retirement hobby, and I hope I can enjoy it for many more years. But to me everyone needs to do their own restoration their way. For some it is going to be to write a big check and let some other guys do the work. For others they will pick and choose what they want to tackle.

The best advice I can give is to listen to others and then do what you want. A lot of guys have gotten into frame off restorations and have gotten real frustrated and given up on their project. Only you know what is your frustration level or your success with trying new things? So take the path less traveled and do it your way. You will stumbled many times on the way but the journey will be well worth the challenge.

Good luck, Mike

P.S. Don’t forget to take lots of pictures or videotape your work. They are a big boost along the way. I have over 32, one hour, videotapes of my work.

[quote), it appears it just isn't so][/quote]

Charlie, can you spell facetious?

Ruscar,

I was being as serious as a heart attack. I always try to acquiesce to better knowledge. And, pass it along when I can. I, also, acknowledge my errors and try to correct them immediately. Nothing facetious at all.

Sincerely,
Charlie

Check out the chassis painting supplies at Eastwood. www.Eastwood.com

I am doing a frame off restoration on our 61 Bonneville Conv. I had the frame powder coated, I could not be anymore happier with it. The amount of time it would take to try to sand blast it myself and paint it would have been a lot longer than taking it to the guy that did it and let him do it. I use to work at a collision shop untill I just got a job at a factory, so this and the engine rebuild and interior are the only things I will have had someone else do. While the frame was being done I was able to get everything else done (suspension and so on) so as soon as I got the frame back I was able to start assembling it. I did get a sample of color they used so I could match it so everything would match when you look under the car. If I ever do a car to be a driver I would have the frame powder coated the biggest reason is the durability.

Hi Andy,

What did it cost you to have the frame powder coated? Did it end up a glossy black?

Thanks, Mike

Mike,

Sorry for not getting back. I think it cost around like $750 it was done in Monroe Michigan which is only 30 min north of me (im on the Ohio Michigan Line.) It did not come out glossy as I asked them to do it in like a satin black finish.

Andy Jurski
Lower Michigan Director