Friday, February 8, 2013

Interior Floor & Trunk Priming

The last couple of weeks have been very productive in the shop!  The trunk floor and interior floor prep is complete and all of the SEM Rust Shield paint is nicely cured and with an extra pair of capable hands to help, the entire interior and exterior floor and trunk area is scuffed.

The main focus on this round of work was to get the interior areas that we recently coated with the Rust Shield primed along with the door sills and B-posts.  This would pretty much get all of the remaining bare metal surfaces in the interior locked down in preparation for seam sealing.
As with any coating application, the first task was to vacuum all of the loose dust and clag out of the car and swab every surface thoroughly with grease and wax remover until the surfaces were clean and the solvent had flashed off.  Then a few fresh tack cloths were used to scrub away the last reaming particles of debris before setting off to mix up a batch of primer/sealer.

As many of the followers of my blog have become accustomed to, I am a HUGE fan of the PPG line of products and swear by the entire system.  Just follow the instructions to the letter and apply good equipment and spraying techniques and this stuff just works.  Bare metal, original paint, EDP, or any combination of these is easily handled by the PPG DPLF line of primer/sealers.  This was once again proven by shooting the SEM coated surfaces with two coats of DP40LF primer mixed as a sealer by adding about 15-20% DT870 reducer by volume.  While there, I chose to touch up a few of the thinner spots that were created when scuffing the previously primed floor surfaces.
After a few days of letting the fresh primer flash off, I was very pleased to see the Rust Shield and the DP40LF had played exceptionally nice together, showing absolutely no signs of crazing or lifting on any surface.  This is a significant different between the Zero Rust product and the SEM Rust Shield in that the Zero Rust had a slight tendency to craze and lift at the edges of the thinner films. 

I suspect the primary reason for the Rust Shield’s advantage is that I used the recommended hardener which definitely made a huge different in the final coating durability.  Zero Rust had no such hardener either available or recommended.  The one distinct DIS-advantage to the Rust Shield is it is an absolute B*TCH to spray smoothly and by the time it is thinned enough to spray it has a very annoying tendency to sag or run………at least in my limited experience.  Zero Rust was a clear leader in this category, so take that for what it’s worth…….
Getting back on topic, Ted and I jumped on scuffing the fresh primer after a few days to make the job immensely easier.  One thing to note about PPG DPLF primers is that it gets HARD after about a week of solid cure time and it is a miserable pain to sand by hand in that state.  So, if you know you will not be going straight to a finish coat right away, it’s best to scuff it when it’s still relatively “soft” and then it can be left indefinitely in the “scuffed state” until you are ready to re-prime it and begin the wet-on-wet application of finish coats.

So at the end of this part of the adventure, we now have the interior and exterior floor and trunk surfaces in primer and all of the surfaces scuffed.  Next on the menu is fitting the new stainless steel fuel tank, spot priming the areas that need it and then begins the process of seam sealing the interior and exterior floor areas in preparation for exterior floor painting and the application of U-POL Raptor urethane spray bed liner material on the entire lower surfaces of the car and wheel tubs.
Lot’s more exciting stuff to come in the next several weeks and the spring and summer should be interesting!

Like color-matched luggage, young Ted fits in the trunk area like he was made to be in there!  Here he is finishing up the wipe-down of the interior with wax and grease remover before the priming fun begins!

After a brief bit of strategic planning, we decided to tackle priming of the rear wheel tubs first along with some small spot prime areas that got a bit thin when we scuffed the exterior floor.

Looking toward the right rear corner, you can see how well the PPG epoxy primer covered the areas that were previously coated in SEM Rust Shield.

Still tacky in this shot, the driver door sill and B-pillar look quite nice in fresh primer.

Some of the detail in the left rear trunk.  After upgrading my spray guns to the 3M PPS cup system, getting into tight spots has never been easier.  The gun works in any position so you can shoot just about any surface in a position that you can manage without ever worrying about spilling a drop!  Money well spent!

Another shot of the left rear trunk floor primer fresh out of the gun.

And finally, the passenger door sill and B-pillar with a fresh coat of primer.  Nice!

10 comments:

  1. Very nice! Very nice indeed! Great work and I really enjoy the amount of detail in the pics. Looking forward to the next blog.

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    1. Thanks James! Glad you like the pics as well. There's nothing I hate worse than bad pictures on a blog and I've vowed to show the most detail I can. Learning is what it's all about!

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  2. As painful as all that paint prep is, it sure beats rust and dirt doesn't Sven? I always enjoy this part of the project as you round the mark and begin the strong run towards home. Yes, an interesting Spring and Summer indeed!

    rj

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    1. Man R.J., you ain't kidding! I go back to some of my earliest posts and look at how bad the 'ol gitrl looked and I am MUCH happier today! Long, long way to go, but at least we're starting to think about the "pretty".

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  3. It's coming along great! Want to come and paint my car when I finish the metal work? :)

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    1. Thanks Grant. I am struggling back and forth with what to do when final finish time comes. As you know, paying for a finish and paint job is big $$$$ and I am struggling. Plenty of time left I suppose....

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  4. There's nothing like a fresh coat of primer! I like your comparison of the various products. That should save some people some time and hassle in the future. I was pretty happy with the interaction between ZeroRust and DPLF but usually, it was in areas that wouldn't be seen (under the car) so maybe I just wasn't looking close enough.

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    1. You know it Alex! By and large, the Zero Rust is still a great option in my book. The only place I ever had any isse is where the ZR got very thin and the solvents in the DPLF primer started to soften the ZR. Everywhere else, it's solid as can be. The SEM Rust Shield didn't seem to care in any case and I attribute that to the hardener. The SEM was MUCH harder to spray however.

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  5. That looks great, Sven! I'm Jealous of your progress, but know I'll get there someday. What spray gun and nozzle are you using for the Rust Shield and DP40? I need to check out the PPS cup system. I'm guessing it's similar to the DeKups system. Excellent progress! You'll be hanging doors and fender panels before you know it.

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    1. Thanks very much Dennis! There is no doubt that you are making excellent progress and will indeed "get there". I use a very unique spray system that is rare in automotive circles, but gaining in popularity in the "underground". It is a turbine HVLP system made by TP Tools in Ohio. I have an old post that briefly describes it here:

      http://1970boss302.blogspot.com/2010/11/engine-bay-is-primed.html

      I have been using my 1.4mm tip for the PPG primer (perfect for it) and tried it with the SEM Rust Shield with lackluster results. If I ever shoot the SEM again, I will try my large 1.8mm tip, but THat really hoses the material on and I am doubtful I will like it much. The trick to turbine spray systems is that you must use a bit more reducer as the air it delivers is very dry, filtered and warm, which combine to cause very rapid flash-off of the solvents if you don't offset it with reducer.

      The 3M PPS system is very similar to the DeVilbiss DeKup system, but I don't think the DeKup system has a pressurized cup version which the turbine systems require. But, the DeKup system is a ton cheaper and works very well on compressor gun systems to be sure. I would recommend the investment in a system that isolates the paint from the air in any case and gets you away from the spills, waste and shooting position restrictions that gravity or siphon guns impose. Plus, cleanup is a ton easier!

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