Best coating for frame rust protection

I am looking for what types of products members on here have used to paint(power coat etc) the frame(and tied in cage if equipped) against rust while still leaving the stamped vin numbers readable.

Looking for what works and what doesn't from your guys experience.

 

I POR 15 everything!

 

I believe the answer is in the the procedure not the product. The best coating on the market will not hold up if the frame isn't correctly prepped.

In essence, down to bare metal, chemically cleaned & epoxy primed. Obviously the long haul would be to start by media blasting the bare frame. Not sure from your post if your going this route.

Even with a frame-on resto if you take the time for prep work you'll get good results. Painting is 90% prep and 10% painting.

 

POR-15 is high on the list for recommendations for the frame. Seems a gun is the best way to apply this. But what did you do for the stampings? What was the best way to paint the inside of the frame around (and inside) the cross members.

Also there are many other polyurethane coatings besides por-15 but they all fall short of [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Geneva, Helvetica]polyethylene.[/FONT]

Just going to throw it out there but has anyone ever considered a [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Geneva, Helvetica]polyethylene [/FONT]coating a frame?
It has been used for years as a wire and pipe coating with great results. I am using HDPE plastic sheeting for the body(hence calling it pj).[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Geneva, Helvetica]

Unlike power coating it would require the frame to be rotated after dipped until the [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Geneva, Helvetica]polyethylene cured[/FONT]. Even if someone went to the expense of using a heated spray system they would still need to rotate the frame to make sure everything cured evenly. Just curious if anyone has done it before.
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No matter what coating I go with on the frame I plan on using Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene(the stuff used on food grade conveyor belts and hip replacements that has a higher oil content giving it a wax like feel.) for areas that could possibly see gouging that will act as skid plates. The cost of applying this directly to the frame is ludicrous. But the benefits of using it as a skid plate over using steel are many.

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Getting back on topic (sorry about the above post). What I am looking for is after you prepped the frame what did you use for the frame stamp. Obviously you can not POR-15 this area as it will not be readable.

Something that I am considering is shooting the stamping area's with a epoxy primer/coating then Coating everything else with a POR-15 like urethane as it would leave the lettering readable.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:14,s:33&biw=1280&bih=587

Is there a better coating or method then using a epoxy(over the lettering)/urethane everywhere else?

 

Because the only "stock" body parts left of the 69 will be the frame and the firewall. I need to ensure the frame numbers are readable.

 

Why would the frame numbers need to be readable, the DMV would probably never check them as they wouldn't know where to even look, heck with these old jeeps the engine numbers don't match anything either.
I sandblasted my entire frame and then used Eastwood Rust Encapsulator put on with a brush and 3" foam roller, then top coated with spray on chassis black, no rust after roughly 6 years. Coating the frame with plastic will make grounding things tough.
After coating the frame my numbers are still visible. If yours are not deep enough take a dremel while its down to bare metal and engrave over them deeper.

 

Good point I just want to make sure in case it ever comes up with appraisers or inspectors if I was to move out of state.

 

Alabama never issued a title on a jeep this old. I have 18 years worth of registrations is all I have, no title ever, can't even get one without a mountain of trouble. Checked the firewall tag, looked at the bill of sale and it was all done.
I think your worrying to much about nothing.

 

Heck, most Jeep owners don't know where the numbers are . I wouldn't worry about it too much, as long as you know where it is it'd be easy enough to remove any coating covering it to expose the numbers for any one that wanted to verify them then touch up that area. You could always clean the frame down to bare metal, mask over the number, do whatever coating you're going to do, remove the masking tape then clearcoat over the number. Seems like a lot of work. Bunnytime! bunny with a pancake

 

Eastwood makes a very nice "rust encapsulator" that I have had great results with. Sprays on easy, goes directly over bare metal, and can be used by itself or in conjuction with a chassis black paint, or whatever you want. POR 15 is great too. Either way, blasting the frame is the best method to go...you must prep right first.

 

I will be doing POR-15 on my frame, hopefully next weekend (I had to order it since I couldn't find anyone locally who carries it.) I had my frame sandblasted and plan to brush on the POR-15. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Buy a 15.00 gun from Harbor Freight and spray it on. It will save you tons of time...just make sure the POR 15 is not too thick...you might have to reduce it.

 

I'll probably catch crap for this, but I have used bed liner on 2 of my jeep frames and loved it. I did the strip, blast, prime, paint with eastwood chassis paint. In a couple years the frame was all scratched up from wheeling. I have found the bed liner is much better then paint. Put screws in all holes prior to aplication, and removed before drying.

 

We used POR 15 and it had it's positives/negatives. Any part exposed to UV will peel off within 1-2 years. We also found it wasn't very good with New England salt corrosion resistance. Though we only put on 1 layer, maybe more would have helped. This go round we did Herculiner over the cleaned up layer 'formerly known as Por 15' as it held up very well on the interior for the last 10 years.

 

Nothing wrong with bedliner IMHO...I used it and the only complaint I have is you have to grind it off if you need to get to clean metal...notice I said grind not sand or clean

 

Personally, I think there's no advantage to POR-15 over the top of epoxy primer. Prep the frame down to bright metal, clean it so it's free of oil, and apply a quality 2K epoxy primer. The SPI primer or Kirker primers are popular.


http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/Product lines.htm

http://www.smartshoppersinc.com/kirker/primers.html

Both of these are available in black, and are very popular as a general purpose coating for chassis parts.

The main advantage of POR-15 or the other "encapsulating" paints is in coating rusty metal. These paints are moisture cured and draw water out of the rusty surface. They also seal the rusty surface from further rusting by making a physical barrier over the rust that is (mostly) impervious to water vapor and O2. The pigment interlocks to form part of the barrier, so the choice of pigment matters.

If you want to add some kind of abrasion barrier on top of the paint, I'd suggest something like bed liner or maybe polyethylene (?) mentioned above. JMO - I'd just touch up any scrapes with more 2K primer. Power wash, mix up some paint in a can and brush it on with a chip brush. Why carry around the extra weight of bedliner, especially when it might trap dirt and water against the steel, and make the underside even harder to keep clean?

 

Isn't POR-15 an epoxy-type paint? I had mixed results when I painted my frame with it, one year of New England driving and 9 years sitting in a garage and it is starting to peal off around the two rearmost crossmembers.

 

I believe all the encapsulating paints (POR-15, Eastwood, Rust Bullet, etc.) are single-stage moisture-cured urethane. Epoxy primer is a two-part (2K) product.

 

I must be both lazy and cheap. my cj came with light rust here and there on the frame, not really bad. The tub is fiberglass so no issues there. After researching almost all rust proofing systems known to man I settled on this. First I pressure washed all the caked on Ohio mud, then I put oshpo in a spray bottle and thoroughly drenched the frame. Once the ospho did its thing I used the same spray bottle and applied straight penetrol. Let it dry for a week and painted over it. Obviously the results are no where's near that of pictures posted but the finish sure is tough and could be applied without removing the tub or sandblasting. As explained to me rust is like a dry sponge, when exposed to dampness it absorbs moisture and holds it, thus more rust. If you totally fill all the nooks and crannies there is no place for moisture to fill. I have worked a lot with epoxy resins on my boat, even tried once to coat the bronze rudders with it. It never seemed to penetrate the metals pours, the best it could do was stick to its surface and once scratched its protection gone. Its only been 4 months but I have been out in the glades several times, up to my ears in alligators, no rust yet. Time will tell.