Sometime after christmas im gonna do some minor paint work on my 94 and really need some advice on how to go about it.

Ive already got some left over paint from when i did some touch up with a brush. Had to get it custom mixed because no one makes it, fords desert coppertone (on my 94). Ive got a spray gun and airbrush from harbor freight (thats all money would allow for painting..). Ive also got some self etching primer and ratio bucket things.

Im gonna paint the little quarter inch section of the cab below the door. Its the part of the sill that always gets rubbed when getting in and out. So its like maybe 2-3' long and .25" high? I might do the whole sill for protection...not sure.

The main thing is what will i need to mix in the paint and how much? Hardener? What about clear coat? Really need some advice and it would be much appreciated.

 

Is the etch primer the only primer you have? You are going to want to check, but I don't think you can paint over that, without using another primer or a sealer, and its not going to give you any fill if you have bodywork areas. Unless it is some sort of hybrid. All etch is really for is to etch metal or take care of very minor rust. In fact if you have sanded and clean metal, I wouldn't use etch at all. I would use an epoxy primer on any bare metal, and use epoxy over bodywork and a urethane filler primer if better filling propertys are needed. As far as what you need to add and how to mix, can't really help you with that without knowing what brand and kind of paint you have. All can have different ratios of paint, hardener and reducer. I'd go to where you had the paint mixed, and see if you can find out the brand and type of paint that was mixed. Then ask them for the product sheets for that paint. Most of your information should be in the sheets. I am assuming if they mixed this for you, it is probably either an enamel or basecoat type unactivated paint. You should be able to just get it to the correct spraying viscosity with a urethane grade reducer if needed, and then after plenty of sit time clear it. You could try putting adding a few drops of your clear activator in with it, around a capfull per quart (I assume you have far less then a quart). It may help with chemical adhesion with the clear. If you just have a small area to fix on the sill, Think I would sand it all with around 800 wet, except where needs to be fixed. Spray a little primer on your repaired area, sand final sand your primer with around 600 wet. Then spray and blend the paint you have on your repair area till its covered and blended in well with the existing paint, and then clear the whole sill with an activated urethane clear. The urethane clear will need to be reduced and activated at the correct ratio. It would really help if you found out what paint was mixed for you, going by unknown right now.

 

Thank you very much for the reply! Yes i can use different primer, and thanks for all the tips. I will look to see what kind of paint it is tomorrow and get back with you. Thanks again

 

Well now that i remember, the paint on my 94 is so rare no one makes it...had it custom mixed at the local napa store. They got it pretty darn close. Ive got one pint left over from when i did touch up with a brush, its an acrylic enamel. What exactly do i need to look for on it? Some stuff i see: lead free formula, Reduction 8:4:1 using CR reducers, 10-15 min flash times, some psi ratings.

 

That defignately does sound like an enamel ratio. Napa sells mainly martin senyour brand, which is actually sherwin williams with the ms name on it for napa. I can't really help too much, as I haven't used any martin seynour or sherwin williams paint. I believe sherwin williams crossfire reducers are cr, so thats may be what you have? But Napa does often handle other brands such as ppg,dupont ect, depending on how big they are. If you know its pretty dang close, Enamel should spray out with a gloss, so if you wanted, you could just paint the whole piece I believe, by mixing 8 parts paint with 4 part enamel grade reducer, and 1 part of an enamel hardener. Do use a hardener though, it will make it glossier and dry better. Being it is not a urethane, you could probably use any enamel hardener if you can't narrow down what exactly you have, and use any brand of enamel grade reducer. More expensive ones have better solvents normally so you don't want to use a low grade reducer in a high grade paint. But I am assuming this is a lower priced system being martin seynour and thinking cr is the crossfire line reducer. Sorry I can't help you more, as I still don't know exactly what you have and have its tech sheet in front of me. Maybe this is it, but it gives no recomendation on clearcoating it if you wanted to. http://www.martinsenour-autopaint.co...rylicesys.html.
You may have to read through some clearing enamel threads on here. There is also some on hotrodders.com. If you do need to sand it before clearing, I don't see how you could do it if its a metallic or pearl color, without effecting the metallic or pearl. Its been a long time since I sprayed acrylic enamel, as its sort of outdated compared to acrylic urethane and base clear, and base clear is so much easier for spot repairs and future repairability. In fact if you go to hotrodders.com and sign up, you may want to send a pm to member martinsr. He use to be a rep for sherwin williams and may be able to help you out. I do find it hard to believe they couldn't mix your color in some basecoat clearcoat system. Spot repairs are usually easier and anything from the late 80's- on probably has clear from the factory. Its not really a color is rare, its just if they have developed a mixing formula of what tints and toners to use in a certain brands system or not. What is your color code? Good luck to you. Sorry I can't help you more

 

Well i cannot thank you enough kenseth, you obviously know what your talkin about. I searched over the can and yes it does say NAPA Martin Senour paints. Thanks alot for the link too, that might be really helpful. The paint code for my truck is CB and ford calls it desert coppertone, and the color number from the can is 53c-48437, thats probably just martin senours code for the color.