Hello everyone. Been reading here awhile. Loads of great info here.
Little about me: Grew up in a body shop. My dad managed and then owned one. He closed his and I got out of that part of the auto business about the time base/clear was becoming the norm. I do water leaks, wind noise and sunroof repairs now after working in a dealership service dept for 16 years.
I find that I've missed just a wee bit over the last 30 years, been doing a ton of reading to get back up to speed and get my knowledge base back somewhat current.
So: Fixing up my old Square body drag truck. Been sitting a long time, bed got rusty. Had it blasted, did a bunch of metal work to it, it's now about ready to do filler/prime/paint work. Which is why I'm here, I've been reading all over which way to go and I've found the newer way of doing things conflicts with "the way it used to be", lol.
I've decided to just use SPI for all my coatings, to keep everything compatible and make it just easier. Right up to the paint, as this truck is good old Code 99 black, so I assume SPI's single stage black would be roughly the same.
So here's what I've gleaned from reading about the stages of the process, I want to make sure I've got it right. Feel free to correct me if necessary:
I'm at bare metal. It's been hit with Ospho. I see that's sort of frowned upon here. But, I read the "how to neutralize" write up, and tried it on the front wall of the bed and it's no problem, so I feel pretty comfortable with that process, don't think it'll be a problem. I even tasted it to make sure it wasn't sour.
So I'll do the neutralization, DA with 80, and epoxy. That about right?
Then filler over the epoxy "within the window", as I've read. Prime/block as necessary....then reseal with epoxy for the final, and then paint "within the window"?
From what I can gather, all the above needs to happen in fairly short order, right? I guess in order to ensure the chemical bonding.
Now questions about that before I get to the paint part: What about scuffing before filler? Is mechanical bond not a thing anymore? Does it hurt? Does it help at all? I know it would make old-school me feel better, anyway. But if it's a waste of time, maybe I'd skip it. That's probably my biggest mental hurdle to jump, not scuffing before the next layer of whatever.
So if all that's correct, we're now in the final coat of epoxy and ready for paint "within the window".
I am thinking single stage. Simple, looks great. It has activated Centari on it from 1986 that still buffs to a nice gloss. (on the cab, the bed was blasted)
SPI black about the same? Any such thing as putting clear over SS, and if so, any real advantage to doing such a thing? I swear I thought I read something about that here but then never could find it again so maybe I didn't.
My goal here is to put this truck back on the drag strip. I want it to look nice. But it doesn't have to be a show piece. Just pretty nice. That's the endgame. I'm not even fixing all the dents/dings in the bed floor, just going to coat it probably with epoxy and then have it spray lined. It's never going to haul anything besides butt, and not a show piece so don't care what that part of it looks like. Probably end up with a cover on it anyway.
Am I somewhat on track? My first step was going to be putting filler right on the metal until I read about doing epoxy first, and I'm real high on wanting that metal sealed off as much as humanly possible.
My sense of what to order is:
Epoxy/activator
2k Primer/activator
SS Black/activator
Clear? Thinner? I live in NC, so even though we've had an extended spring, it's going to be hot eventually.
Anything else?
Thanks in advance for any guidance.
This is the truck in happier days
Little about me: Grew up in a body shop. My dad managed and then owned one. He closed his and I got out of that part of the auto business about the time base/clear was becoming the norm. I do water leaks, wind noise and sunroof repairs now after working in a dealership service dept for 16 years.
I find that I've missed just a wee bit over the last 30 years, been doing a ton of reading to get back up to speed and get my knowledge base back somewhat current.
So: Fixing up my old Square body drag truck. Been sitting a long time, bed got rusty. Had it blasted, did a bunch of metal work to it, it's now about ready to do filler/prime/paint work. Which is why I'm here, I've been reading all over which way to go and I've found the newer way of doing things conflicts with "the way it used to be", lol.
I've decided to just use SPI for all my coatings, to keep everything compatible and make it just easier. Right up to the paint, as this truck is good old Code 99 black, so I assume SPI's single stage black would be roughly the same.
So here's what I've gleaned from reading about the stages of the process, I want to make sure I've got it right. Feel free to correct me if necessary:
I'm at bare metal. It's been hit with Ospho. I see that's sort of frowned upon here. But, I read the "how to neutralize" write up, and tried it on the front wall of the bed and it's no problem, so I feel pretty comfortable with that process, don't think it'll be a problem. I even tasted it to make sure it wasn't sour.
So I'll do the neutralization, DA with 80, and epoxy. That about right?
Then filler over the epoxy "within the window", as I've read. Prime/block as necessary....then reseal with epoxy for the final, and then paint "within the window"?
From what I can gather, all the above needs to happen in fairly short order, right? I guess in order to ensure the chemical bonding.
Now questions about that before I get to the paint part: What about scuffing before filler? Is mechanical bond not a thing anymore? Does it hurt? Does it help at all? I know it would make old-school me feel better, anyway. But if it's a waste of time, maybe I'd skip it. That's probably my biggest mental hurdle to jump, not scuffing before the next layer of whatever.
So if all that's correct, we're now in the final coat of epoxy and ready for paint "within the window".
I am thinking single stage. Simple, looks great. It has activated Centari on it from 1986 that still buffs to a nice gloss. (on the cab, the bed was blasted)
SPI black about the same? Any such thing as putting clear over SS, and if so, any real advantage to doing such a thing? I swear I thought I read something about that here but then never could find it again so maybe I didn't.
My goal here is to put this truck back on the drag strip. I want it to look nice. But it doesn't have to be a show piece. Just pretty nice. That's the endgame. I'm not even fixing all the dents/dings in the bed floor, just going to coat it probably with epoxy and then have it spray lined. It's never going to haul anything besides butt, and not a show piece so don't care what that part of it looks like. Probably end up with a cover on it anyway.
Am I somewhat on track? My first step was going to be putting filler right on the metal until I read about doing epoxy first, and I'm real high on wanting that metal sealed off as much as humanly possible.
My sense of what to order is:
Epoxy/activator
2k Primer/activator
SS Black/activator
Clear? Thinner? I live in NC, so even though we've had an extended spring, it's going to be hot eventually.
Anything else?
Thanks in advance for any guidance.
This is the truck in happier days