My restoration progress begins...

[noneed4nos]

A couple of buddies of mine said that the paint chips off from the frame? anyone here of something like that, I mean the frame looks beautiful and if all I have to do is prep it and powercoat it, then Im IN!!

 

[rmar]

First. Powder coating is still just paint. Very tough paint but still paint.
If it is not completely cured it can delaminate. If it is cured to long it can become brittle. 99% of failures is from surface prep. Or lack there of.
Done properly I would put it up against any liquid.

We use to run OE parts for the Ford Excursion that were coated and Hot bonded together. As a daily test Ford would try to break the powder bond/glue bond. If the powder or glue broke before the metal it was considered a failure.

5yrs. 0 failures on bond test.

Powders must have a chemical prep. Or a perfect blast.( which is almost impossible with out a 1 mil $ system to not use chemical)

That's why most guys in the local shops have parts that look great will last a little while then fail.

 

[urhstry]

I simply had my parts blasted and coated. Nothing more as prep work. Has held up well. Just about everything I own (farm equipment, car parts, bilko doors, etc) have been coated and no problems.
The fuel and brake lines were hand polished/cleaned with SOS pads and a lot of hand work. Once they were looking like chrome, I clear coated them. The bolts, nuts, and clips were wither painted or zinc oxided or black oxide coated. Those kits were bought from caswellplating.com. A friend had his bolts and nuts professionally done and mine came out better. (He also think that). All of this was well worth it and didn't take much effort. If you do the frame by all means do the rear end and front suspension components. It really completes the package. If you need any more help let me know. Hope this helps.

 

[noneed4nos]

No I deff. think powdercoating is the way too go, I was just wondering what process it involves and how well does it stay... My buddies braught it up to me so I wanted to see what you guys thought, IF you dont mind me asking who did your blast/coat or did you do it? also how much? You did your brake lines and coated them yourself? And I would deff. do the rearend and all the suspension parts, I would just take all the lines off the frame and leave everything else. I would apprecaite all yours and anyone elses help on this process. Thanks

 

[urhstry]

My coating was done at Custom Metal Coating, a local business. I think to blast and coat the frame, rear, suspension components and a few odds and ends, the cost was $425. The color is black pearl. It is about a 70% gloss as compared to very glossy 100% black.
I did not coat the brake lines, I hand polished them.

To note, I find it hard to beleive that a coating done correctly will chip off easily. That is one of the reasons I went with powdercoat. If you do happen to scuff an area or take the coating off, it only exposes THAT particular area and not the area around it. Did you ever try to take powdercoat off?? It's very difficult. I had a piece of metal about the size of our fuel rail and it took over 3hours with silicon carbide at 120psi to take it off.

Did you know that powdercoating is now accepted on some concours vehicle restorations?

 

[noneed4nos]

425 for all of that?!?! i was thinking in the thousands to have my frame blasted and sealed/powdercoated with all my suspension and rear parts. Did you do anything to the frame before you brought it to him or no just took the body off and brought it to him? Where is this guy located, because I am deff. Considering using him for that price:biggrin:

 

[urhstry]

Nope, dropped my frame, took it on a rollback to him and a week later he had it done. All the other stuff was done intermittantly. He is located in Sunbury, PA. 570-988-2226 (Jay)

 

[Sal 87WE2]

Yup, POR-15 'd my floor pans with the silver, they were rusted out and had pinholes. I'll take pics tomorrow. I used fiberglass cloth for the bad areas to seal the pinoles and create strength. I washed my carpet and hit it with RIT fabric dye, let it dry and rinsed it out the next day. Looks good but you can still slightly see where it was heavily faded on the front pass side by the tranny tunnel. I took my carpet to the local auto trim and headliner shop and they installed Jute padding to the underside. I am thinking about re-using my old jute in conjuction but i need to see if it has any odor to it. I will post pics on Monday...

 

[noneed4nos]

So just drop my frame and take anything off or just leave it like it is, dont unbolt the rear or any suspension parts either? and by other stuff you mean brake lines, bolts?

 

[urhstry]

I unbolted everything. The frame and everything else was done as a single piece.

 

[noneed4nos]

sweeeeeeet!!! So he did all the bolts, brackets and everything seperately thats even better!!! Does this guy have a website or just a number? How well do you rate him too? Thanks again for all your help too, I really apprecaite it and anyone else comments/suggest please share. Thanks

 

[urhstry]

He does not have a website that I know of. He did not do all my bolts and nuts, I did. Re-read my post about using the kits from caswell plating.

 

[noneed4nos]

Ok I am deff. going to give him a call this week, So with that kit, you did all your nuts and bolts/lines after it was powdercoated? Thanks for all this info and anyone else with any comments/suggestions please let me know. Thanks

 

[TURBOPOWERED68]

Rmar - do you have a price list??

noneed4nos - I cleaned my frame on my own using a drill and a lot of these http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511VLVxlhHL._SL160_AA160_.jpg the cost adds up in a hurry. When I do my Buick I will send it out to get blasted for these reasons.
1-TIME
2-by the time I finished cleaning the frame with the drill I HATED THE CAR its too much work - mind you I also used that same drill and wheel to strip the ENTIRE BODY.
3-the cost of the wheels and electricity plus the short sleep nights and dust in every part of my body plus the endless week ends VS sending it out to get blasted-- sending it out wins hands down.
Good luck
BTW POST UP SOME PICTURES

 

[noneed4nos]

Yes im deff. going to get it sent out, I tried some of it myself and just did not work out. I want it done right and done well. I havent starting dropping the frame yet but if anybody has any suggestions/info/comments on it, please let me know. Thanks guys and pics will here as soon as i start dropping it.

 

[urhstry]

Yep the two kits I bought from caswell's did the job with a lot of room to spare. Good luck!

 

[noneed4nos]

Which kits did you buy? I have been looking on the website but not sure which ones, and thanks IM going to need it haha

 

[urhstry]

I bought the smallest kit, the BO1 for the black oxide.

For the zink kit I bought the PNPZN1.

If you get these kits, let me know when you are going to do it and I'll tell/show you an easier way to do the plating than what is mentioned.

You will also need some small wire wheel brushes for on a dremel tool and a few cans of Rustoleum clear coat to finish the job.
Why are you spending so much time asking these questions? GO DROP YOUR FRAME!

 

[noneed4nos]

Ok sounds good, I will be using those kits, I just have to get this frame off. The problem is #1 time since I go to school full time and work two jobs (to support my part habbit) and two Im not sure if I should completly strip the body as im dropping the frame, i.e. dash, door panels, interior, etc.. Since my body will eventually be getting painted done too. Also I bought a lift but wont be put up for a little while so Im not really sure if I should just wait for the lift to drop the frame because I know it will be so much easier then jack stands!!!
Comments/suggestions also welcome. Thanks guys

 

[regal81455]

here's mine

Here's some pics of my frame off. Just a little bit more frame work then I can put my gussets on the LCA ears and coat. The portion of this job Im not looking forward to is the DS floor pan repair.