[Justshootme84]

Miss Kitten's debut of the "Dark Horse" inspired me to spruce up the 78 Bronco. I never have cleaned it up, much less washed & waxed it in the 3 years I've had it. But I've had an issue with surface rust on the roof, and wanted to address it before it ate thru and ended up being a problem. Last year, I sanded down the rust and applied a coat of primer to the roof. that has long since been erased from weather. so I tackled it again a few weeks ago. I tried a can of the Permatex rust inhibitor in a can, that's supposed to turn black after a few coats. I tried it in the bed on a small area, and it didn't do squat. I took some 220-grit sandpaper, then 400-grit, and worked over the rusted areas on the roof. After a final wet-sanding, I tried some cheap NAPA brand primer. IT had way too much particulates in it, and I ended up wetsanding most of it off with 400-grit to get it smooth again. I switched to Dupli-Color sandable primer, and got two good, smooth coats on last week. I then applied a thin coat of the cheap NAPA gloss black, and followed up today with two coats of Dupli-Color gloss black. my question is what to do now to even out the finish and shine it up. There's no way to get an even coat of rattlecan spray paint in a barn, and it looks like crap right now. My thoughts are to wetsand with some 1000grit and then apply two coats of clear. granted this is only a trail rig, so a show-quality paint job is not what I'm after. I just want it to look a little better, JSM84

[Bronc76]

we did an old plymouth van's hood about a year ago with dupli-color gloss white after priming it and wetsanded it. 1000 or 1200 grit paper was used before clear coating it. we ended up doing the same thing you're thinking of. its not show quality but the surface rust is still gone!

[American Thunder]

If I didn't have a compressor and spray gun, I'd use PPG epoxy primer and roll it on rather than use the rattlecan stuff on bare metal. It's incredibly durable and really adheres to bare steel. They sell generic brands of epoxy primer which arent quite as good, but are about half the money. If you're careful with a roller, you can get it to cover pretty smooth. After it cures, the epoxy primer can be sanded, then sprayed with regular cheapo rattlecan primer, wet sanded, and repeated until the desired panel flatness is attained.

p.s. sanding rusted metal will get most of the rust off, but if you want it perfect, you should get the area sandblasted with black beauty, to remove every bit of rust from the craters, otherwise it will come back. Don't wet sand on the bare steel, because it gets a thin layer of rust almost instantly. Sandblast, epoxy prime as a base, let cure, then prime and sand until it looks good. (and don't sand through the epoxy layer, or you'll be back to unprotected steel again) Lastly, normal primer is far from waterproof, and after a couple rainstorms the metal will begin to rust under the primer if left outside. Epoxy primer is watertight, but will quickly fade and get chaulky if left in the sun, as it has no UV protection.

This post has been edited by American Thunder: 15 June 2009 - 07:29 PM

[Justshootme84]

Thanks AT, I've used epoxy primer before but only with a spray gun. I've done alot of farm equipment with it, after sandblasting the rust. But that's too aggressive for body sheetmetal. I don't have the spray gun and air supply at my house, otherwise I'd go that route. But I never got down to bare metal, far as i can tell, on the roof. The first time around, I sprayed OSPHO on the surface rust, then shot the gray primer. This time, I used the Permatex, then sanded it smooth. I did get down to the original primer in places, and stopped there. I'm at the poiint now where i have 3 coats of primer and 3 coats of black paint, and want to smooth it out. If it lasts six months, then I can do a proper paint job this winter at my Dad's shop.

[Seabronc]

Just be prepared for the rust to possibly show up again. The best product that I have found is called Picklex 20, it kills the invisible flash rust after sanding to bare metal. I have treated bare metal and left it setting that way for months without a bit of rusting. They don't recommend such a long time before completing the time, but I got distracted . It is expensive, but it works great and can be painted over, just follow the instructions. It only takes a small amount to treat a large area. I buy it by the quart and use a small paint brush to apply it, conservatively, let it set a few minutes and wipe it off. It is user friendly and biodegradable.

the rust converters are only meant for visible rust, they can actually cause rust on bare, no rust showing metal. I use to use Lock Tight Extend, but have recently started to use a new Rust Olium product meant primarily for automotive use.

The problem with shaker cans is that they don't have enough pressure or spray pattern to let you get an even job and usually come out a little "orange peal" in look. The only option there is to be very careful when wet sanding so you don't rub through. I have done it and came out with a deasent looking job after wet sanding but it soesn't come close to a professional job.

Good luck,

[Justshootme84]

Yeah, SB, it does look alittle 'peely' up close, but you have to be like six inches from the paint to see it. I'm gonna let it cure for a few days, since it's like 100+ in the afternoon. I'd post some pics, but I dropped my camera doing the brakes and rear axle overhaul. It no worky no more...

Thanks for all the replies, JSM84