Paint it Black

Many times during the restoration project I have hummed and hawed and gone back and forth trying to decide how to proceed. Sometimes these decisions are mechanical in nature -- what's the best course of action to take to get some kind of desired outcome? i.e. upgrade to a better axle, or figure out which powerplant to use, etc. 

At other times, these decisions are of course purely aesthetic. The most obvious being, what colour should I use for part X? This is most visible, obviously, on the body of the vehicle. We're not there yet, not by a long shot. But, even this early on in the rebuild process, decisions have to be made as to what to do with the truck's paint.

One such decision is what to do, oh what to do with the shiny galvanized chassis I've bought.

On one hand, I personally think galv looks great, particularly as it wears. There's something about that weatherbeaten look on an old rover that I quite like. 

On the other hand, I am intending to keep Duffy yellow, as per original spec, and in that case I am not certain that a galvanized chassis looks the best. With one exception, this could be thought to be quite nitpicky; after all, you can't see the chassis for the most part as it sits under bodywork. The exception is, of course, the rear crossmember. On Series Land Rovers, the rear crossmember (bumper) is visible from the back. It's very prominent. 

When I ordered the chassis, I selected the military frame but kept the civilian crossmember, because I liked the look. And, on a yellow truck, it seems to me that a black, not galvanized crossmember looks the best. Kind of like this build that legendary Portuguese builders Cool 'n Vintage did:

Their work is done to such a high standard and with aesthetic in mind from start to finish. This particular build of theirs has everything I love, and I'm using it as inspiration for my project. 

So, I love the look of the black rear bumper with the yellow body. And after much deliberating, I decided to take the plunge and just paint the damn chassis. 

You can do this in several ways. The most common way is to spray it, using some kind of HVLP gun, with a 2-part epoxy paint that will stand up to the abuse you'd expect from the underside of a vehicle subject to rocks, sand, crap, and so on. I considered this method for a while but eventually ended up dismissing it for my application. For one thing, spraying 2-pack epoxy is very hazardous. When mixed, the two parts of the paint release cyanides which, if you don't have a skookum respirator, can be hazardous -- or fatal. I wasn't confident that my 3M respirator would do the job, at least not to my satisfaction. I'm not sanguine enough in the ways of industrial processes to bet my health on something I don't fully understand. 

Additionally, with my home setup including a small home-gamer air compressor in a regular suburban garage, I wasn't sure I'd have the right equipment, space, and technique to do the job properly. I have a HVLP setup I bought cheaply (the harbor freight kind, you real ones know) but again, it's as untested as I am and using it to paint a visible, expensive, and not-irreversible-but-not-not part was a bit of a bridge too far for me.

So I decided to etch prime the chassis with rattle cans, then roll on some POR-15 top coat, the same finish I used on the axles. 

The first and arguably most critical step is paint prep, which started with a pressure wash of the chassis to get any surface crap off. 

Then, I purchased some supplies:

Additionally, I bought a carton of purple (excuse me. MAROON, according to the guy at Gregg Distributors that I bought it from) Scotchbrite. 

The method suggested by others I'm shamelessly copying is to use the scotchbrite, with wax and grease remover, to scuff up the surface of the zinc. The reason for this is that galvanized metal oxidizes -- reacts with air -- to form a 'skin' or layer on the metal that paint will not properly stick to. By keying up the surface, essentially lightly sanding the galv, the goal is to mechanically remove the top layer of oxidization from the galvanized steel while removing any grease, wax, or other contaminants which would affect the etch prime. 

This process involves the use of many pairs of gloves; they rip easily. Some sore fingers, because this is an entirely manual process, and a lot of work in corners and tight spaces. 

Other guys have used acid to etch the surface of the metal, but again, with my limited skill set and access to industrial chemicals I just went with the manual method. 

I started by working on the removable gearbox crossmember that came with the chassis:

In the picture above you can see I've already applied a very light coat of etch prime -- deliberately -- just to see how it all worked. 

Nothing seemed to explode or turn a funny colour, and my fingers and lungs didn't die, so 👍. Job done. Time to move on to the chassis. 

I began with a wipedown with diluted POR-15 degreaser, followed by a rinse of the chassis. 

Doesn't it look shiny? So nice. Almost too nice to paint, really. 

Oh well, time to start in with the scotchbrite. YOLO! 

You can see clearly, above, how the application of the scotchbrite, used in conjunction with wax and grease remover, lightly sands the surface of the chassis leaving a rough surface that the etch primer can key onto. In the left photo it's easy to see the crossmember has been 'processed' while the chassis rails are still virgin. In the right photo, near the front axle, you can see how the finish of the chassis is dull and, one hopes, ready for paint. 

In a 109 there is, sadly, a lot of chassis to cover and some tricky spots to work around, particularly near the rear axle outriggers and in the front dumb irons:

But persevere long enough and you're left with this hazy, matte finish that looks like it might be paintable:

Time for a final rinse, and a careful look at the effort so far. 

I'm not the most attentive guy, I tend to just dive in and try to get things going to an 'acceptable' rather than perfect standard. There weren't any major missed spots I could see and I felt that I did well enough to move on to the next phase, which was a final wipedown with wax and grease remover and a shop towel to remove any material left from previous steps. 

Finally, I needed to do some masking of the components that were already attached to the chassis: the suspension and axles. I covered things as best I could. 

Moment of truth. The surface is as prepped as I was going to get it, so it was time to wait for it to thoroughly dry -- I helped it with a little compressed air -- and begin painting. 

The decision not to use a 2-pack epoxy paint system meant I needed to go with a single-stage paint. I decided that rattle cans of etch primer were affordable enough ($21 a can from my local Lordco) that I would use that method to *at least* get some primer on as much of the chassis as I could, before moving on to the top coat. I began spraying the first, very light coat of etch primer. 

You can see how thin I left the first coat. I'm not sure if this is 'by the book' and according to recommendations, but it's how I did it. A really thin first layer. 

Painting with a rattle can is actually *not* easy when you are painting a large surface like a chassis. For one thing, pressing the nozzle becomes extremely difficult, after a while. It's agonizing after the second or third can. I found myself using different fingers to hold down the spray tip because my hands got so sore. My fingers ended up covering the tip partially and causing paint to splatter on the surface. Oops. 

I had to go back to the store to get more paint so I swung by my local hardware store and picked up one of these:

It's just a piece of plastic and butyl that holds the can in its jaws while the trigger cantilevers onto the spray tip. Genius, and I cannot say enough about how much of an absolute life saver this thing is. If you're using rattle cans, you need one. 

On to the second coat!

After two coats and 5 cans of etch primer, total, I was happy with the finish. It was uniformly grey, seemed to have good coverage in all the little spots I was worried about, and I hadn't painted anything I'd not intended to paint. So far, so good -- and the chassis was now ready to topcoat. 

Since I wasn't spraying on the top coat, I decided to use a paint roller, instead. I didn't think the finish would look too out-of-place if I rolled it on; not only was the chassis, itself, not a perfect surface, but the slightly dimpled finish I expected to get from rolling would look good. POR-15 top coat, in my previous applications, I found to be pretty self-leveling in any case. 

I waited for a day with good weather where I had lots of time, and went for it. 

Behold! It is beginning to turn black. 

Painting with the roller wasn't difficult, per se, but it was time consuming and my application resulted in some flaws, as you can see in the bottom right corner of the picture above. 

Over the time scale of painting a whole chassis, the paint will start to set up a little. You can feel it in the tray and on the roller, so working as quickly and efficiently as possible is required. 

My goal was not to create a showroom finish. As much as I love the work of some of the Land Rover restorers out there, I have limited budget, time, and most especially skill. Like many before me, I just used what I had access to and made the best of it. That's kind of the Land Rover experience, I think. 

Aside from a few drips, I wasn't displeased with the outcome. The chassis is mostly covered -- there are spots that I didn't prime and paint, just due to access issues inherent in using a rattle can + roller combo. 

But importantly, the key areas that are the most visible ended up looking... okay, I think. I sweated the rear crossmember, believe me. 

You can see the 'dimpled' texture of the paint here:

Two coats were applied, and it took about a quart of paint.

Am I happy with how the finish came out? 

Yes, I think so. For me, mostly, it comes down to how well the surface will hold up over time. Is the POR-15 topcoat thick and flexible enough to stand up to dings and chips as I add things back on the truck? Will it flake off in places if my etch prime didn't stick well enough to the galv? Will it fade in the sun?

It's all tough to say. I can report back that after a thorough curing period and a few months' worth of heat cycles, that all the crap I've subsequently stacked on top of the chassis hasn't made a dent in the finish and it looks... okay. For me, it's about as good, I think, as could be expected given that I've never done anything like this before. 

Did it cost me a lot of money? 

Not really. The coatings were the most expensive components, of course, but with paints I think you kind of get what you pay for. If you buy cheap paint, you'll get a lousy paint job that won't hold up. I figure I spent about $120-150 on primer, probably the same on top coating, and figure around $50 for supplies. 

Not too bad. 

What would I do differently? 

I wouldn't use old bed sheets in place of proper drop cloths. POR-15 goes right through bed sheets. :(

Oh well. 

I think if I were to do it again, I'd consider using the acid etch method instead of manually keying the paint with scotchbrite and I would *probably* try to use an HVLP setup. My goal is to experiment with my compressor / paint gun on a less consequential piece to see what kind of finish I get. I'd have felt pretty awful if my ultra-expensive chassis looked terribad thanks to a lack of skill and knowledge in spray coatings.