I have a 78 F-250 4x4 I6 4spd. I am restoring/redoing and what I'm looking for is what kind of paint and primer should i use for the frame and under body. The Frame will be sanded to as much bare metal as i can and the under body the same. I have a lot of time on my hands so time and effort is not an issue all replies are appreciated

 

I personally used rustoleum. I brushed on 2 coats of red metal primer and 2 to 3 coats of satin black.

 

If I ever get around to doing that I'm going to use stuff called "por 15".
Supposed to be great for frame/undercoating.

 

x2 on the POR 15. A friend of mine is frame offing a truck and has used it, wroks great and is way harder(durable) than paint.

 

i used epoxy primer, its black and it works really good, so far, i know the stuff is really durable, we painted my frame with 5 coats, and the power steering pump was still connected to the frame and hanging half haphazardly and it lost its footing and spilled all over the frame horn on the front! and the epoxy primer was not set yet! it was just tacking up! but we wiped it up and the epoxy was fine! i did not even lift it! and after we wiped it good, we sprayed another coat, and still no peeling or anything, this stuff seems to be tough, and well worth it, plus the whole truck got coated in epoxy primer, it seals the bare metal, which we had after sandblasting the frame, and the bare spots on the body, and it seems to really seal so i figured the whole cab and box should get it then Gray self etching filler primer was applied then of course the paint is soon to come, but that's my 2 cents, all so i hear you can paint your whole truck with rustoleum, spray it from a can or gun would be best, but i hear with good prep you can have a nice paint job on the cheap, plus you can also look up a paint from ppg its a industerial paint, i seen it on project cheap jeep on spike tv's powerblock, they painted the whole Cherokee for 100 bucks, plus its industrial grade so it should hold up,

on another note, teds74ford are you from Canada? i am and i know we have rustoleum and i have seen Americans go huh? whats rustoleum? i don't think its called that down there? i think its a Canadian only product or name?

orignal poster look up epoxy primer, from what i hear its the best stuff out there, por15 is good too from what i hear, but from what i seen its also mega expensive compared to epoxy primer, also you really need rust for por15 to work, its not recommended on bare metal, like i am guessing you are planning on? are you sandblasting? if so there will be zero rust left, and por15 actually is short term for paint over rust, so it needs rust to bound, epoxy primer is best for bare metal and it can even be sprayed on rust, but its best to grind the or sand blast the rust out and coat it with epoxy primer, because you don't want your frame rotting out, well thats my 10 cents worth, hope it helps

-Brent

 

Thanks for the replies, I checked out that "por 15" It looks like it would work good but the price is a bit too high for me, I'll probably be using a wire wheel to do most of the grunt work and probably spring for a heavy duty metal primer, I like the way your frame turned out it looked good in the picture Ted, I have recently been laid off so I am doing this project on the cheaper side of things but still want something that will hold up for a long time. I still don't know what color im going to paint the truck kind of looking for something different. I have another question for you guys, this truck sits up pretty good on stock suspension i have 36" tires on 16.5" rims i have been looking at a few body lifts but cant seem to find any bumper brackets i didn't know if anyone has seen these or made any, and again all replies are appreciated

 

No. Try southern Canada-Idaho. I figured rustoleum was everywhere. I absolutely love the stuff.

To be honest, the clear is starting to peel on my hood. In my defense, so is the clear on every factory car paint job from about 2000. My point: it was cheap and comparable to factory. The truck sits outside 365 days a year, and this is after 4 years.

On my next project truck, I am looking at using Rustoleum Hammered. We'll see how it turns out.

 

I ended up using Rustoleoum Rattle cans on the rear it turned out pretty good and only cost about 15 dollars. (If i could figure out how to get a pic in this thing i would)

 

here big_witt7 click the link below its a old thread i started awhile back on how to post pictures on here, hope it helps, and can't wait to see your pictures


https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...-pictures.html


-Brent

 

Here is anothe rproduct you can try. I personally don't care for the POR15.
Stop Rust - Preferred 4 to 1 over POR-15 - Gas Tank Sealer - KBS Coatings - RustSeal in Colors
Eastwood also makes a good product
Eastwood Rust Treatment: Rust Removal, Prevention & Protective Gear

 

i dont remeber how much it cost my friend but he powdercoated it and it looked real nice,,very durable,,its almost impossible to scratch

 

I'll second Eastwood's Rust converter and rust encapsulator. Some people will argue POR15 is the best, but when asked, they admit they have never tryed EW's product's.

There was a shop that did a rusted hood from his shop 1/2 EW and 1/2 POR15 and after some time, the POR15 was starting to flake, bubble and re-rust.... The EW looked as good as the day he layed them down. (He switched to EW after that)

 

I have used both and they are both good products. With POT-15 you have to make sure you do the prep work properly. It sticks to rust. so if you have a clean, rust-free piece of metal you need to use their prep-solv solution first.

Once you have the surface prepped properly the POR-15 will not come off. I did a frame on a Buick about 12 years ago and it still looks good and has held up over the years.

Mark

 

i was talking to a guy the other day, he said hes using single stage 2 part spray on industrial paint. he said it holds up great, goes on fantastic, and looks wonderful.