i'm doing a down to the frame restoration on my 79 f-250, everything is off but the motor and transmission. i have wire brushed the whole frame. i need some help on deciding wether to prime then undercoat it, or to just undercoat it,... or just to prime then paint. give me your opinions.
and another thing is that what kind of undercoating or paint should i use.. i got some 3m in the drawer i've been thinking about using if i go the under coating route.

 

Depends on what your going to use th etruck for when your finished with your restoration. If just for show and go I'd go for the painted finish. If your going to do some 4 wheel'in then probably the undercoating. I keep seeing posts about POR-15, I've never used it, but everybody that has seems to swear by it.
I wire bruched mine, then primed it with rattle cans, and sprayed it with cheap enamel thined with mineral spirits. It lasted about a year or so, then started flaking off, but I drive mine every day, and in the winter they use alot of salt on the roads.

 

I had my 55 frame sand-blasted (had to, lots of crud) then I just used Rustoleum primer followed by Rustoleum gloss black out of spray cans. Looks OK now and I'll hate to cover it up with the bodywork.

 

ok, but what about the fender wells and under the ned, should i just undercoat it?

 

In one word, Zero Rust the undercarriage. For me, the semigloss is just about right for the undercarriage. If you want a gloss, you can always use their Crystal Coat to cover the Zero Rust.

I gave up on Por-15 after discovering Zero Rust. Besides working as well or even better, it is so much easier to use and the price is right.
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Once Por-15 is opened, you have to use the entire can. ZR can be resealed.
ZR comes in rattle cans. Por-15 doesn't.
Por-15 has isocyanates. ZR doesn't.
Por-15 is $95/gallon. ZR is $50/gallon.
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Don't get me wrong. Por-15 has some great products. For undercarriage paint though, ZR has Por-15 beat hands down.

I have some steel fence posts in my backyard that I painted with ZR in 1997. Only prep was a wire brushing and a degreasing before I painted them with 2 coats of ZR from a rattle can. They have been exposed to the wet Pacific Northwest weather since then. Not a speck of rust has appeared. The stuff works.

Disclaimer
I don't work for ZR and have no vested interest. I'm just a happy customer.

 

i just got done priming my frame, then painting it with a high gloss b;ack paint... should ik undercoat it or leave it as it is with the high gloss black??

 

I'm replying to this too late, but for anyone else that can afford to attempt a Total Resto., cool! The newest thing to come along is PODWERCOATING. An electrical charge is used to create a magnetic field to apply the powder. Then it is baked in a large oven until cured. It is fully guarenteed against chips and peeling. It comes in many colors, even Clear Coat, so it can be applied over paint to protect it. The coverage is excellent and uses no moisture or chemicals to apply, so there's no fear of rusting. It costs as much to have your vehicle undercoated (Ziebart) as it does to have your frame powdercoated. Many collision shops are now offering this service. For those of us not willing to commit to stripping the frame to bare metal, the collision shop can bead blast it or chem-dip for you at a nominal cost. But before the powdercoating is applied, you must have all the brackets welded on and/or the brackets removed, you are not going to use. Alot of grinding would need to be done to get the coating off to weld something on. And last but not least, it's chemical resistant to most anything we could expose it to. Good luck....

 

thanks alot for the info, i have wire brushed it down, prmieredit painted it then undercoated it... now i'm waiting on my 4 inch ruff country lift kit