How much prep to ready the chassis for paint?

[lad]

Hi guys,

We've just paid our deposit on our Excocet kit and we'd like to paint the chassis gold but not at all costs! Stuart tells us the chassis will arrive "ready to prepare for paint". Can anyone tell me from experience how many hours work it is between that and "ready for paint" and also how much they paid to paint it?

thanks a lot,

Chris

[Scott]

Hi Chris,

I have built a couple of Rockets supplied Non painted,, from our history depending how far you want to go probably a couple of hours with a wire brush in grinder just to tidy up a some welds if you want it perfect, probably less as its a Exocet as the rocket was more exposed etc,,,
As for costs not sure of painting as ours were powder coated Chrome effect, so expensive

Good luck with the build, look forward to seeing some pictures,,

Cheers Scott

[kitcrazy]

Hi

I painted mine silver with aresol cans which cost about £100 in total with primer and is the only way to go if doing it yourself unless you have access to professional spraying kit. The problem with can spray is that although the finish is quite good the paint just isn't tough enough even with several coats lacker on top.

Powder coating does save time and most do have a good range of colours.

Hope this helps

KC

P.S don't even think of brush painting it, it looks terrible!

[paultyre]

i painted my frame with a roller and it looks great . plus you can patch it up any time and you can't tell . I used Temac slow drying paint so you dont get any roller marks only cost £ 25 for 5Ltr tin and £10 for primer its a very strong tractor and plant paint so no need to laquer .

[mathew]

Regarding the spray can option (sorry to hi jack the thread slightly) what would be the recomended type?
I recently refurbished a mountain bike and sprayed it matt black, if my memory serves me correctly it was the PlastiKote products i used and since completing the bike it has been used hard and the paint has held up really well regarding knocks and scrapes. Would this sort of product be ok for the Exocet frame?

[lad]

Thanks for your help guys. On Scott's advice we'll spend that couple of hours prep'ing and we've got a quote of £500 for gold powdercoat that we'll be taking up. These guys seem very experienced in the sort of thing we need:

www.banburypowdercoating.co.uk/

Gold frame, red panels, black mechanicals and black vinyl on the floor plan. Should look great.

[paultyre]

In my opinion if you are going for a powder coat you should build the car then strip it first as you will need to drill lots of holes and move bits and peices and its very hard to touch up the powder coat after. if you are willing to spend £500 you should get a top finish and it would be a great shame to mess it up . good luck look forward to seeing youre build progress.

[Kevin Patrick]

lad - I spent about 20-30 minutes spent with a wire brush in a 4.5" grinder to clean up some weld splatter. Overall very minimal though, the chassis comes pretty clean from MEV. I then took the chassis to a powder coater who media blasted the frame, suspension, wing stays, brackets, etc then powder coated - that worked out to around £600.

+1 to paultyre's comments.

Having the finished powder coating present during the build process has elongated the time spent being extra careful. You have to be absolutely certain where holes are going to so you don't make mistakes. Lot's of masking tape to protect surrounding areas during drilling, etc. I think I have had nightmares about dropping a wrench on the side tubes and chipping the finish.

During my next build I'll keep the Exocet frame unfinished until the very end. Not as much to worry about. Another plus is that you can bring in your other custom brackets or other items fabricated during the build and get them powder coated too so everything matches.

Looking forward to your build!

[lad]

MORE good advice! Thanks Paul, thanks Kevin.

That's decided then, we'll do a mock-up build then strip it back for final paint/powder. We'd already started debating what would happen with the holes for the floor and I guess they won't be the last so this seems logical.

Clear plastic protection stuck on the top of the side bars? You see Atoms and X-bows with this. Also seems like a plan.

[PardonWhat]

Just feel I should add my bit after the trouble my bro had with a rocker cover. He had it powder coated but neglected to drill out the excess in the all the holes. The result was the bolts got stuck and one of them snapped in the engine block. Turned out to be a major bummer and to this day is still in there.


Good luck with it though...
P//