Drag Racing Discussions > Front Engine Dragsters

How to paint body

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imcamod17:
When I get my body painted, I was wondering what works best with aluminum. Should I get it powder coated. If regular paint do you paint where the tabs come together lighter. Do you just paint the outside of the body. Just curious what will last the best.  The inside of my old car was not painted.   Whats price range would a  cobalt blue shorty be with an orange stripe down the middle.  Any ideas I know price is suggestive and varies on location.  I just want a heads up if I get a quote on what is way to much or a good deal. Thanks

Paul New:
My shorty body is painted on the outside only not sure what works best for aluminum but the body shop does. I know Earl Floyd has had a couple of his cars anodized as long as the metal work is good and does not need any filler it looks pretty good!

dreracecar:
Unless its a million dollar show car, the use of Zinc-Chromate primer is not nessasary
Powdercoating might have issues because of the prep(blasting) of the panels causeing warpage if the opperator gets careless, I have seen some PC'd body parts come out like glass, but have seen a lot more with orange peel, so one takes their chances with the finnish and the reluctance of the shop doing the PC to do it over. Also PC adds quite a bit of thickness to the metal so some spring adjustment might be needed and make sure the holes for the Dzus buttons are at least 7/16 min. The body must be metal finnished because any filler will lift when put into the oven and scratches left in the panels will magnify.
 Easyest way is to sand the body with 60-80 grit and keep changing the disc's often, what you want is a "tooth" on the material and then spray with thin lite coats of primer to get the thin primer into the tooth. once that has been established and you have enough build, then it can be sanded and primerd and then painted like a normal. The absolute best way is to have the alu anodized first and then primer directly over the anodize, sand and paint.
Out here in the west coast we have some painters that think their work is special and want to charge over $3000 for a shorty. Paint is also very expensive out here and color choice varies in cost when dealing with custom candy colors. I spend around $150-200 to have a seat back painted locally. I tell my guy to paint it silver with whatever tone he has left over from the next shoot he does

FEDNV:
Not to hijack but I am currently redoing my body and have used paint stripper and abrasive pads to get down to bare metal.  I have been reading on the aluminum prep and do you think something like alodine or coversion coating is needed before priming?  Can you use just any self etching primer on aluminum or do you need something specific?

thanks

dreracecar:
Its not madatory because usually these type cars are not left out in the weather for long periods of time. Ruff it up real good and lots of thin coats (almost dusting) to get the primer to bite, then sand primer and paint as normal. My car was last painted 20 years ago with this method and yes some paint has chipped off the body but only down to the primer.

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