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I was going to prime my dash on my '38 with Priomat 3255 with 3363 reducer but I never completely removed all traces of the original Nitro on the dash. When I had finished spraying the dash the primer cracked wherever it covered the old nitro. It looks like it just melted the surface of the nitro and "crazed" as it cured. Everywhere else looked fine. Is this a problem with the way I was shooting the paint, or is this due to the Priomat/nitro incompatibility? Is there a primer that would not do that?
Brian

You just discovered that enamel was used on the interior trim in 1938

I'm only on the dash so I really haven't decided on a paint system. I was leaning toward an acrylic enamel, maybe PPG 3255 primer and DAR topcoat. I am doing this at home and I have to wait till the wife leaves for a couple of days before I can shot anything. I would like to go all the way to bare metal but as a do it yourself job, that one bites. I would like to leave what is left of the paint where I have to and build up from there. I may go with a POR 15 coat as a sealer but that stuff sticks when it wants to, or not as the mood takes it. I may have to throw caution to the wind and switch to a water based system. Since I'm not proficient in the oil based system a change doesn't really impact the job. I would like for the paint to be as strong and durable as the original and that's about all I can hope for.

Brian

So, lets talk example. I have a door panel that had some rust. I cut out the rust and put in a new patch panel, then did the repairs on the panel, using either lead or bondo like material, and now I need to prime. Some of the original paint was not removed during the this repair, some of the panel is bare metal and some is a combination of bondo, glazing putty, lead, and guide coat primer. So I really have six surfaces I need to cover and seal. Do you still suggest the water based primer?

Brian

With todays paint systems there are enough problems when everything is done following the manufacturers recommendations. The paint gremlin lives in my garage and likely his cousin is in yours. Most of the time he just stands back and watches but every once in a while he throws some of is magic dust in the paint or squirts on the surface or calls in his bug friends or ? Sometimes he is so tricky that the factory reps are stumped on what he did.
It ain't much fun to start over.

I guess I was just hoping that in the insuing 64 years since this car was originally painted that someone somewhere would have come up with a way to seal it up without stripping the thing back to bare metal. It's not a serious problem to strip the paint since that's all I have to do until the wife leaves town again.

Brian