Questions on primer and paint...

[StephenAcworth]

Hi

So, I am at a point where I need help as I seem to be working in a vacuum (other than through this wonderful board).

The car has been have stripped on the underside of the floor and I want to prime and ... (please insert the correct products)... it to protect it for the future...

I am back to bare metal and would appreciate advice on what products to apply and in what order. (Told you I was a newbie in this area).

I am in Canada, so I guess most products should be available to me.

I am in the process of (trying to) return the car to stock.

Whilst I have looked at many of the excellent threads on this site (and DDK), I find that the people doing the restos are mostly experienced and mention products that I am uncertain of: I don't want to hijack their threads just to get advice, so thought I would start my own.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated as I learn how to do these things!

Cheers

Stephen

[mac73s]

I would recommend you identify a resource where you want to purchase your paint supplies based on the product line you want to use, i.e. Dupont, Glasurit, PPG, etc., and keep to one product line with your materials. What brand of products you use will be determined by your preference (if you have one) and or local availability to include a shop that can reliably mix your color coat when that time comes. If you are down to bare metal, you will want to use a 'self-etching' primer as your first step and simply follow the product line recommendation for what - if anything - should follow in the way of another primer, primer/sealer and then the top/finish color and clear if you are using a base/clear coat system). You did not mention if you want to apply an undercoating, but if so, that would go on top a primed surface. I am not an expert in every application of undercoat Porsche originally used, by in the case of my 1973, the process as I understand when the car was build was bare steel, primer, undercoat (partial trunk, underside, wheel wells, and engine bay) and then the entire car (to include over the undercoat) was painted the color coat.
'

[John Z Goriup]

Stephen,

Bare metal is a strict NO-NO. Get it covered up sooner rather than later to prevent the slightest trace of rust or other forms of corrosion on the exposed sheet metal. My recommendation is to re-prepare the surface to make sure it is absolutely pristine with metal-prep and apply an etching Epoxy primer.

Once completely covered up you will have the option to sit back, do the necessary research and decide on the next step in covering your underside.

For what it's worth, I used 3 coats of pick-up truck bed liner ( a product called Hippo-Hide in my case ) on the outside and 2 on the inside and have been totally satisfied with the results. It will last forever, is totally waterproof, extremely abrasion resistant, results in a significant weight-saving over Schutz, and since it is not a petroleum based product, it cures harder but never becomes rigid and cracks. A good man with a gun can give it a texture very close to the original post '70 undercoating (when the factory changed from tar based to a vinyl undercoating on the exterior surfaces).........I believe it's far superior to original, it just won't actually be authentic.

Attached photo - my '70 911T after one coat of Hipopo-Hide. As you can see it's a little glossier that Schutz, but that can be alleviated with satin black paint......as shown near the bottom of the wheel well where I experimented with various satin blacks to get the correct sheen.

JZG