Mikesfreetime

Well I'm in a frame funk right now. Had my frame blasted and powder coated and the guy did what I would say is a ****** job. The coating is great but I assumed (wrong I might add and I do know what it means) that he would smooth out the pitted areas. Now I have a frame staring at me with pitting and its driving me nuts....SO, should I go back to the start and get the frame smooth or don't worry about it? Its going to be a driver but how often do you have the frame off?

Alan 71

Hi mft,
How pitted is the surface of the powder coating?
You could sand the surface of the powder coating which will smooth some of the pitting and then paint with something like Krylon #1613 which is probably less glossy than the powder coating you have which will help make the frame look smoother too.
I painted over the powder coating on my frame because I didn't want it to look like powder coating and have found the adhesion to be extremely good.
Post a couple of pictures.
Regards,
Alan

Easy Mike

That's entirely up to you. Can you live with what you have? Only you can answer that question.

Mikesfreetime

I will post some pictures this evening, to me its bad. Honestly cant believe it was coated like that.

mirage2991

that's just it though, you can't really "smooth" pitting unless it is very light...but on a 40 year old frame, it won't be "light" so grinding the frame would probably be ill advised in my opinion. Now, what you could have done is use filler (bondo works or any metal epoxy filler type) and then sand it down smooth, then paint the frame (unfortunatly that strike powder coating out of the equation).
Honestly though, at this point, don't worry about it, you spent the money and powdercoat will last a long time

Alan 71

Hi mft,
I'm afraid powder coaters are in the business of coating, not preparing.
As is also true for painting, and plating, with powder coating the VAST majority of the labor is in the preparation, not the application.
That's why people report that they can bring their frame to the powder coater in the morning and pick it up in the evening.
Regards,
Alan

You can certainly improve the pitted appearance by sanding and coating with a finish with less sheen.

Powder coated, sanded, and painted. I didn't even take any pictures of the frame with just powder coating on it because I didn't want to remember how it looked.

dtamustang

Prior to powder coating you can use Lab Metal as a filler , its expensive , horrible to work with and sands like granite , but its the only thing short of welding that I know of that is a solution to pits and can still be powder coated. I think your only solution at this point is do what Alan did or live with it. I have used lab metal in the past and would jump off the tallest building I could find before doing a whole frame with it.

doorgunner

Alan71................are you trying to say the frame looks like someone emptied a shotgun on it (that's how the differential crossmember looked on my " '68 rescue " project after I beadblasted and gloss-blacked it!)

Alan 71

Hi DG,
Yes.
That's a pretty good description.
The more glossy the finish is the more noticeable the pitting is.
Regards,
Alan

Torqued Off

Alan, without question you set the standard for the nicest rebuild I have ever seen. I consider my work close to yours in quality, but you are one step better. The only question I have about how you painted over the powdercoating is why you just didn't get the powdercoater to simply select a product that provided the correct sheen in the first place. The guy I used had developed the right sheen, buy mixing products, or simply finding the right sheen, or whatever...not really sure how he did it. I know a local Corvette shop had continuously worked with him to get it right till now he has it down pat, which worked out good for me and I did not need to topcoat it to get it right. Anyway, Alan, I love your pictures and you should be proud.

SB64

Not that Alan needs any defending but let me just add that I did not like the semi gloss finish and I painted over the powder coating. also. The biggest thing that Alan pointed out to me was the fact that you will scratch the frame as things go back on and and painting over the powder coat lets you freshen up any area if scratched. Just my 2 cents.
R
Ps I have already scratched some spots and touched them up as good as new.

Hey Alan I notice in the pic your leaf is gray? do you have a shot of that so I can see???

7T1vette

The more glossy the paint, the worse a "non-smooth" surface will look. But, it's the FRAME!!! The C3's frame was certainly NOT smooth from the factory. And, if I were a powder coater and someone brought a frame to me and didn't ask for it to be prettied-up...I wouldn't. Besides, that would be an expensive proposition. Lots of labor hours to get a factory frame smooth.

It will be under the car and the top half of it will never see the light of day. If you had gloss paint put on it, you may want to re-shoot it with semi-gloss...or even satin black. But, you can do that with a quick wipe of lacquer thinner and a Krylon rattle can.

SB64

with above comment.

Alan 71

Hi iwas,
My frame was powder coated more than 10 years ago.
At that time the shop that was with-in driving distance of my house offered 3 degrees of gloss in black.
Things have changed considerably since then as powder coating has become so popular.
Regards,
Alan

Alan 71

Hi,
Cars certainly were delivered with frames that were not pitted.
Frames were built, painted, and stored, with little concern with cosmetics.
But that's not to say every frame will be pitted. I would describe them generally as smooth. You can see that in some of the production line photos. Look at the good condition of the frame shown in post #14 of the St. Louis plant pictures thread.
My frame at 46k miles and 25+ years had NO pitting on it anywhere.
I used wire wheels to strip the crud, and surface rust. No grinding was done anywhere.
I used a chisel and hammer to knock the weld splatter off. That's all the prep that was done before it was powder courted.
Regards,
Alan

Anyone can have a frame that looks like the one in my picture… it's a matter time, time, time. Better is the constant enemy of good.

greybull

I don't want to hijack the thread here but this discussion brings up some questions I have on doing my own frame here.

Everyone seems to be talking powder coating and then optionally painting over that. I had planned to just clean mine, do a few minor repairs, and then prime and paint my frame. Is powder coating that much a better deal, and why?

Finding a quality powder coater in my neck of the woods here would be a real trick but if there is good reason maybe I need to think about transporting it to someplace that may be able to do it?

MIKE80

I like this photo of mine from when I had the body off. I wire wheeled it, went over all the welds, added gussets, boxed the front, and smoothed it with a grinder before I had it acid dipped, a zinc phosphate wash, then powdercoated red. It was done about 5 years ago along with the front frame extension, rad support, trans and fuel tank crossmembers. Total was about $900 and it still looks great.



If you paid to have it smoothed out before powdercoating, then tell the shop that they did not do what you paid them to do and to take it back and do it right.

Alan 71

Hi gb,
Powder coating really is a very good finish for the frame.
Depending on what you want the finished appearance to be, you may not want or need to paint it too.
Generally, people who feel the need to paint over the powder coating are interested in achieving a look that's more like the frame's appearance when it left St. Louis.
While priming and painting the frame can give a good surface it won't be as durable as powder coating.
I paid only $225 to have my frame powder coated plus $49 to rent a box tuck to haul it back and forth.
Regards,
Alan

RobRace10

M.F.T. If you didn't ask for and pay to have the frame sanded/smoothed, then what you got was a blasting and powder coating as any powder coaster would have done. There certainly would be extra expense to smooth the frame.

I would rough and fill the areas that bother you and paint over the powder coat. At least you will know that the frame will hold up well with the powder coating. Mine was done 6 years ago and it is still perfect.

greybull

Thanks Alan, I am looking at places somewhat local here (means inside of 300 miles) and see what I can get powder coating done for here. After going through as much work as I'm going to go through on this, I'd really like it to stand up for a while.