I'm almost at the point to lift the body off the chassis and blast the chassis. I'm tossed bewteen sending the frame out to get powder coated or just buy some chassis paint and do it at home. By no means is this car a trailer/show queen. It's more like a 10-15 footer (looks good from that far away) If paint is the way to go what do you folks recomend?
If I had plenty I would powder coat. Since I am a poor rodder, I have to go with paint. Do a nice job and it'll last a pretty good while. Also if your car is a 15 footer why go to the extra expense? Rodman
If you really want it to last for a long time powder coat. A lot of powder coaters will gaurantee their work for over 10 years. That might be nice if needed. If you cant afford it chassis paint will do the trick.
For one, I don't have plenty... Extra expence cuz up here in Ontario, Canada we get the dam city who love to coat the roads in salt. Also the car has been sitting idol for the last 27/28 years in the east coast salt air.(came in from Nova Scotia)
Paint done right ... looks a lot better ... Powercoat last a long time ... so they say ... The 32 Chassis is painted ... single stage ... and the rear end is power coated. The rear end looks nice ... until you compare it to the chassis. Under the car ... after it's all put together ... everything should be OK ... I had the rear axle housing done first and decided to paint the chassis ...
What are the cost differences? I can't get the local PC guy to give me a price on anything so I blew em off. I'll paint mine.
I will be using POR-15 in the Chassis, covered with a good quality paint. Powder coating is expensive because it needs a lot of heat to bond the Powder to the metal, either by an oven or via large bankds of heat lamps. Otherwise the material costs are not that high.
Using a good sealer and a good urethane paint on bare blasted metal...it will last for ten years...as with anything else, where you live and what you drive on (salt in the winter) will make the difference...powder coat is tuff...but a good paint job is tuff, too. R-
POR 15 This stuff goes on nice with a brush and is tought as nails. We had a wheel cylinder go bad on one of the cars soaking much of the under carrage on that side. The paint peeled off the normal painted pieces but the POR 15 pieces still look great two years later.
the cost to paint a chassis the right way is just as expensive as powder coating. think about it to paint a frame you have to clean it really nice sand , scuff, blast the whole thing acid etch primer, sealer primer, color, optional clear coat. materials alone are $200 and up plus all the supplies to prep the frame for paint. to powder coat you drop it off they sandblast and clean the coat the frame and bake it for around $500 and up
I just attended a powder coating session a few weeks back. the local fellow here was offering to do a chassis for $350, including sandblasting the chassis. If you brought one in that was already sandblasted, then he'd charge $150, he said. However, most folks don't usually know that you have to schedule your sandblasting to be done withing 48 hours of PC. Even if it does not look like it, the chassis begins to immediately rust and can cause some problem with the pc. As much as I wanted to pc the chassis, I talked myself into sandblasting and then painting it with POR-15. I can top coat with Rustoleum and the POR-15 vendors say that will work fine. Prep is always the key to a good job, so even this technique will require some effort. POR-15 also makes a top coat that works well on a chassis, but the Rustoleum is cheaper and will work well they claim. I thought about going a totally cheap way and using just Rustoleum, but after discussing it on several web sites, I think the majority of folks who have tried Rustoleum alone have decided they found to to chip easier than they wanted. I think it may have been in their prep, but I don't know for sure. Any rate, I have purchased the POR-15 and decided to go that route on the chassis. After seeing it on a VW chassis at the dealership where I purchased it, I sort of like it. Even if not topcoated, the stuff will change a bit in color if exposed to UV light directly. Under the chassis there is little chance of that. However, even with the change in color, the stuff is still just as effective in what it does. Since I plan on doing a highboy-style tudor sedan, I will need to top coat, since part of the frame will be exposed to direct sun light all the time. POR-15 can be shot or brushed. They claim it is hard for the dummy to mess it up, but I'll probably do my best to prove them wrong. In deciding to paint though, it is still preperation that means so much to everything. However, by the time you sand, prime, fill, paint, clear coat and so forth, you have spent quite a bit in labor and time. Not to mention the compressor, paint gun, mask, tape, sanding pads, paint, hardner, clear coat, etc. To me, the POR-15 method is actually easier and cheaper in the long run. PC lasts a long time for sure, and the results can be great. They can be crappy as well if you don't fill the pits and such first, and grind welds. Everything is highlighted in a pc coat, so good, bad or ugly, it will show things right away. Huey
I'm a big fan of powder coat. It's as cheap as paint & really durable. I love it for suspension bits & pieces, brackets, engine tin, wheels, etc... Having said that though, I'm kinda afraid to use it on a chassis. #1 - What Deuce Roadster said - It doesn't looks as good. If you know what you're looking at, you can tell it's a plastic coating. #2 - If you ever have to do anything to the chassis that requires grinding, sanding, welding, etc.... your powdercoat is screwed. #3 - If you do ever chip it & it starts rusting underneath, it isn't pretty & isn't easy to repair either. JH
One word: Oven Everything goes into the oven. Thus it has to be completely disassembled. All the components then go onto hangers and are baked at the same time. Obviously no plastic or rubber can be left on. If you sand blast it yourself, you can save 75%, and the powder coaters will love you. Give them steady work, and the price comes down. If you go see them once every 5 years they may not be in business, and if they are, they won't do you any favors. Many powder coaters are rodders and/or bikers. P.S. Powder Coating 32 frames is no good by the way. It doesn't fill-in the scratches, and looks like crap on a hi-boy (I tried it).
I vote powder coat. The guy I use is great, will bake before he blasts, so greasy stuff is no problem. It would be different if it was big money, but he will take dirty parts, blast and coat them for less than I can pay anyone else to just blast. The locals in South Carolina now who I am talking about. He is on speed dial in my cell phone. I also pad his pocket with GOOD tips, and I swear the prices on Powder coating have gone down over the years Paint does look better and is a better looking finish. After a few months everything I build looks well worn, so it makes little difference to me. Also welding on a powder coated frame sucks, and paint can be touched up with a car mostly together.
Paint gets my vote . I always wonder how good PC really is when I see a set of step tubes on a 4wd or a grille guard thats been on the street a couple of years.
I've got six years plus on a PC chassis, suspension, rear end, radius rods, axle, etc. This is an open wheel car and the couple of radius rod rock chips were easily fixed with a rattle can supplied by the powder coater.
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