Painting Things Black

With the bulk of the parts de-rusted with Deox-C, things are looking a lot more presentable. On some parts, the surface finish was still very rough, mainly on the front hub ‘cap’ and rear splash shield. To improve this finish, I gave them a quick sanding by hand. With some care, these surfaces looked a lot smoother and ready for painting.

Sanded and de-greased rear splash shield. Hanging and ready for painting.

Now that these parts are ‘de-rusted’, they need to be painted to protect the bare metal and to make them look nicer. I did some research into different paints before settling on POR 15 (Paint Over Rust) from Frost. I chose this paint mainly due to the vast number of previous builders/restorers who had used it, with barely any negative comments. Most blogs recommended buying only a small amount of this paint as it goes a very long way and some blogs even noted that if you are not very careful you can seal the lid to the can after one use. I guess this a testament to the strength of the paint itself. I, therefore, ordered 1 US pint of semi-gloss black from Amazon. When it arrived I realized I didn’t have any sacrificial paint brushes, although a quick trip to Wilko resolved this problem. 

Since the cleaning was done in stages whilst being stuck during the breakdown work, so, in turn, was the painting. However, rather than painting each part in turn once it had been cleaned, I collected a selection of parts together and painted them in one go. In the first round of painting I painted the following parts:

• Four Caliper carriers
• Two Rear splash shield
• Differential tie bar
• Different pendulum
• Differential bracket
• Two Front hubcaps

To ease the painting process, I tied most of the above parts to my garage door rails and wiped them down one last time with white spirit to remove any remaining grease. To avoid having permanent black blobs on the garage floor I placed plenty of newspaper below them.

Suspended parts ready for painting.

Some parts were too heavy to easily support from the rail (Pendulum and Differential tie bar) or did not have holes (front hubcaps) to attached them to the rail and so I placed these on newspaper on the floor.

Painted parts drying.

When it came to doing a second coat I discovered that despite having carefully cleaned the brush with lots of Fairy and white spirit, I must have left a small trace of the paint on the bristles because they went rock hard. After letting these parts dry/cure for about 5 hours, using another paintbrush I applied a second coat. I was very impressed with the finish of the paint and these parts. I wouldn’t say the parts were perfectly smooth but they are 20 years old after all. The gloss definitely builds up with each additional layer. 

Painted rear splash shield.

Painted caliper bracket.

Painted Differential Pendulum.

A few weekends later, once I had completed the strip down of the calipers, I continued the painting process. By this stage I had gathered together not only the brake components but also finished cleaning the front and rear hubs. These hubs didn’t need the Deox-C treatment, but instead a good wash in soapy water. 

Caliper and pistons in cleaned ready for painting. The slight surface rust on the calipers should not be a problem as POR15 is designed to be painted onto rusty surfaces.

Calipers and pistons ready for painting

To avoid paint getting inside the brake calipers I re-attached the cut sections of brake lines and reinstalled the bleed nipples. I then put a layer of electrical tape over the exposed bleed nipple to keep it clean. Further, I filled the main piston bore with newspaper and duct tape. The surfaces of the piston which sit inside the caliper should also not be painted so these were covered in a layer of black electrical tape (as shown in the above image).

To keep paint out of the internal surfaces of the hubs, these were also filled with newspaper and then a layer of duct tape. 

Front hubs cleaned and ready for painting.

The painting of these parts followed the same process as before, starting with a wipe over with white spirit and then two layers of POR 15.

Painted calipers and pistons.

Painted hubs.

With the painting of the donor parts, things are starting to look a lot of respectable and not just like a pile of rusty car parts. I can’t wait to get these on the chassis when it arrives.