Black Paint for Early Interior (and other) Sheetmetal

[TC911e]

What are folks using to repair, refurbish, touchup the various items are painted black on the early cars? I need to strip and repaint the seat support plates, the parking brake handle and mount, various brackets and clamps, some parts of the trunk (mine's all black rather than body color), and likely some other stuff. These are the seat support plates as they currently stand.



I know generally that black is black, but there's lots of variation in gloss as well as durability (and I'm sure other factors). I used the Eastwood Chassis Black satin on some of the underneath painting and that even that looks too glossy. I'm also going to need to retrim around the doors where the edge underneath the door panel is painted black, and looks closer to a flat black, but that won't be until after it's painted.

[bahman]

For some reason, the seat brackets are vulnerable to much wear and tear, and rust. perhaps from water accumulating in the recessed areas from car wash or rain.

I recommend media blasting them to remove all rust, and then powder-coat; tough, durable, and impervious to moisture and a lot of chemicals. The powders come in a wide variety of shades of black, and gloss level (from flat to high-gloss, and many in-between).

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I use Cerakote and custom mix to get the right gloss level. It is applied very thinly like paint so it looks correct and not like a 1998 Ford Taurus, is more durable than powder which is applied pretty thick and chips. Pitting and repairs are also easy using Cerakote.

[Dpmulvan]

SEM rust shield is commonly used. $89 a gallon.

[TC911e]

Originally Posted by bahman

For some reason, the seat brackets are vulnerable to much wear and tear, and rust. perhaps from water accumulating in the recessed areas from car wash or rain.

I recommend media blasting them to remove all rust, and then powder-coat; tough, durable, and impervious to moisture and a lot of chemicals. The powders come in a wide variety of shades of black, and gloss level (from flat to high-gloss, and many in-between).

Thanks, I may try that for the seat rails, but it probably it would not work for some of the other parts. My immediate problem is figuring out what do in the truck area where it needs some rework (most of the other stuff is detached and I can deal with it after it goes to paint), and it looks like what was originally there is similar to what's on the various brackets and sheetmetal.

[TC911e]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

I use Cerakote and custom mix to get the right gloss level. It is applied very thinly like paint so it looks correct and not like a 1998 Ford Taurus, is more durable than powder which is applied pretty thick and chips. Pitting and repairs are also easy using Cerakote.

I'll look into that, but what does it take to "get the right gloss level"? From their website it looked like the one product that air dried had half a dozen or so different blacks.

[TC911e]

Originally Posted by Dpmulvan

SEM rust shield is commonly used. $89 a gallon.

I’d looked at the SEM products, but couldn’t narrow it down to something that would be fairly close. I presume the one to use is the “Black” since there’s also a “Gloss Black” and “Flat Black”.

Do you know if the rust shield can be used where it isn’t applied directly to the metal? The small parts I can strip ok, but there are places in the trunk that will be over primer and some existing paint.

[bahman]

Originally Posted by TC911e

I’d looked at the SEM products, but couldn’t narrow it down to something that would be fairly close. I presume the one to use is the “Black” since there’s also a “Gloss Black” and “Flat Black”.

Do you know if the rust shield can be used where it isn’t applied directly to the metal? The small parts I can strip ok, but there are places in the trunk that will be over primer and some existing paint.

SEM 49143 Trim Black Ultra may be what would best suit your application. Readily available on Amazon and eBay. It has a nice satin sheen to it, and is very durable.

[911obgyn]

I like the SEM trim black also.
Nice satin flat and holds up better than rustolium or box store cans.

[Michael at Pelican Parts]

Originally Posted by bahman

SEM 49143 Trim Black Ultra may be what would best suit your application. Readily available on Amazon and eBay. It has a nice satin sheen to it, and is very durable.

We carry the SEM 49143, which is available here, as well as a much larger selection of interior paint, here.

Can't wait to see the finished result once those pieces all cleaned up and refinished!

[RSTarga]

I think the seat rails you show should be glossy. I had mine powder coated and they have held up well. For the door trim and other areas I prefer Wurth semi satin.

[Dpmulvan]

SEM Rust shield mixed 8:1 with hardener is the choice for many restoration shops.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by TC911e

I'll look into that, but what does it take to "get the right gloss level"? From their website it looked like the one product that air dried had half a dozen or so different blacks.

Tim, air cure is only appropriate for high temp application, the H and E series catalyzed and heat cured are correct for things like the seat mounts, handbrake handle, front A-arms, engine tin, etc. Funny story, I had done a set of A-arms, torsion bars and front early crossmember in one of my satin blacks. The finished arms were standing against the wall, I picked one up, forgot that the torsion bar was inside which promptly fell out and landed end first on the crossmember. It fell about 2 feet. There was no mark on the crossmember whatsoever.

Anyway, I use a combination of H series Gloss Black and Graphite to get the tone I want. Catalyst ratio also changes the resultant gloss level. For your seat rails, you could just use Gloss Black which is what they were originally like the horns. Gloss but not really shiny.

[TC911e]

This didn't show up all that well, but here's my my first attempt. At this point I'd only painted up to where the seat rails start to try get something of a comparison. The lighting makes it look a little odd, especially just behind the parking brake hole, but it's a pretty good match on the tunnel- at least good enough for something that's going to be primarily covered.



This is with the SEM Trim Black Satin (49143) spray. I also ordered a can of the Matte finish (49133) in case the statin was too shiny, but I think it worked out ok. I'll probably need the matte version for the dash background (after I get the adhesive strips cleaned off) since it's going to need some touch up too.



I got a quart of the SEM Rust Shield to use on the more exposed parts and stuff that had some rust on it. I may use that for the seat tracks, but will probably experiment a little is some of the trunk and underneath parts that didn't get powder coated.

[rennch]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

Tim, air cure is only appropriate for high temp application, the H and E series catalyzed and heat cured are correct for things like the seat mounts, handbrake handle, front A-arms, engine tin, etc...

Hey Shaun,

Would you paint the entire interior with one of those? If so, which one would you prefer? I'm at the point of painting my entire car, and Cerakote is generously sponsoring my build, so I'm going to reach out to them for the first set of paint for the interior.

[IndyAlex]

Cerakote for sure.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by rennch

Hey Shaun,

Would you paint the entire interior with one of those? If so, which one would you prefer? I'm at the point of painting my entire car, and Cerakote is generously sponsoring my build, so I'm going to reach out to them for the first set of paint for the interior.

What do you mean by entire interior Michael?