Anything Wrong With My Frame Painting Method?

What about rust converter primer?

 

Sandblasting the frame is easiest, fastest and most effective. You could farm the work out but for $2K you could buy a compressor large enough to keep feeding a pot blaster. Once bare spray with a coat of epoxy primer. If you dont get the frame bare you will be revisiting your work constantly each year if the vehicle is exposed to the elements,,salt etc.
Wear a respirator under the hood if concerned about your health regardless of what media used.
Ive done a few frame off restorations, and always have a project vehicle on the go..Sandblasting is the most fun you can have with your clothes on..my last being the most sheet metal…’48 chev sedan delivery..

 

What blast media did you use?

 

In my limited experience it works well if the rust is minimal and the project doesn’t see a lot of weather/salt
We tried it on some things 10-15 years ago and the stuff that stays inside (which also had way less rust has done fine. the trailer we did started showing problems at 3-5 years after that we pretty much never used it again

 

We did a Unimog 20 years ago. Hired out sandblasting, then 2 part epoxy primer & Imron to finish. The sandblasting made for a really nice substrate for the epoxy primer. Whole job turned out nice and lasted...

3 or 4 years ago I did the frame on our International 9200 single axle sleeper truck. This time I removed the 5th wheel (some rust jacking showing) and then proceeded to do the best job I could by hand (chisel/hammer, and primarily a wire wheel on 4" angle grinder). Took a fair bit of time and must wear protective gear and watch for kickback from wire wheel. As others have mentioned tinfoil is a quick way to cover airlines etc. Used epoxy primer/polyurethane to finish.
Definitely have some small areas of rust which have to be addressed each spring. It is just a 'hobby' truck for personal use (hauls our skid steer/mini excavator etc) so sits during the winters thus avoiding the nasty road de-icer.

 

A long time ago I sandblasted a very rusty frame and I primed it with Rust-Oleum, sprayed.

Then I used Sherwin-Williams paint. It's the one that they say you can spray directly on bare metal.

I wanted a good primer for it to grab on to and it really did a nice job.

I ended up using the truck for parts, but that was at least 20 years ago and that frame still looks beautiful.

My opinion on spray painting is you need enough of a compressor to keep the volume up properly. Painting with too small of a compressor makes a bad job.

Make sure you have strainers and you follow the mixing instructions exactly to the T identically for every cup that you mix.

Make sure to set your spray pressure exactly to the specification that they tell you that it needs to be for the correct application.

I have used Sherwin-Williams paint on multiple occassions, and it always made a nice paint job.

 

I’m guessing that was probably sherkem that you top coated with? We used to use a lot of that and it did great especially for the money but 1-2 years ago it seems they had some quality control issues although they won’t admit it the some of it would take 3-5 coats to cover properly and other batches was glass brittle….we moved up to acrolon for pretty much everything and have not regretted it

 

I use Fine Black Beauty..always sift it through a screen first,,,only takes minutes to screen 50 lbs,,always find some chunks that are large enough to clog spray gun and ruin the moment

Sent junior to get acrylic urethane and he was told “thats old hat”. They sold him ACZO NOBEL U350 .its a 2 stage industrial paint that dries so fast you can wet sanded and buff the same day…hard as stone and reasonable at $400 1.5 sprayable Imp gallon.
Im familiar with ACZO NOBEL E350 epoxy primer,,its premium product..brake fluid has no effect on it..it’s my go to primer for my own vehicles. For others i use Kirker epoxy primer,,its good…I left this cab outside for 5 years in Kirker primer..did not chalk at all..