Painted my whole interior with POR-15 today!

cowtown · 02-02-2003, 07:07 PM

A couple weeks ago I scraped all the tar up off the floor of my '75 911S, and found that there was some surface rust. So over the last few days I've spent a ton of time scraping, cleaning, and etching the whole floor and rear seat/back deck area, getting it ready for POR-15.

Today it was finally ready and I got to paint it!

Actually, I started painting, and then my wife saw the quality of my work and promptly kicked me off the project and painted it herself...I've never been very good at using a paintbrush - it's a patience thing

Here's how it looked before and after. Wish I could have removed the handbrake assembly, but I needed it to roll the car up and down the driveway. I did remove the pedal cluster, gear shift, harness bar, seatbelts, etc.

It was my first time using POR-15, and I think it came out OK. POR is an interesting substance - not quite paint and not quite epoxy. Really runny and slow drying, and it's picky about what it will stick to. I hope it stays on!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

72 four door · 02-02-2003, 07:11 PM

Really nice job hope ya had a mask on that stuff will send ya to the moon.

RickM · RickM's Garage

Colin,
It looks great. No rust will want to live there!
Did you ever find out what the circular "cutouts" were for under the rear seats?
Rick

Axeman · 02-03-2003, 12:35 AM

Hey Collin,

That came out really nice, I kinda wish now I had used the same stuff in my car! Great job..I had my engine/tranny out this weekend for a repaint of the engine bay, I'll post pics in a new thread.

Later,

McDaniel · 02-03-2003, 05:23 AM

Looks great! Well worth the time and effort.

Thomas Owen · 02-03-2003, 05:34 AM

Very nice, thorough job.

bob tilton · bob tilton's Garage

looks great! 1 question, i might have to do this soon as well and want to know if you need to plug and threaded holes? i know por15 is thick so will any threaded holes need to be re-traced? tia.
bob
68L

Hetmann · 02-03-2003, 06:51 AM

I was going to paint some of my sheetmetal yesterday, but it was just too cold in the shop. Please elaborate on the stickiness comment. Did it stick better to bare metal? What did you use to prep/etch before painting? Is ventilation a big issue since POR-15 does not dry by solvents evaporating? Can I bring my pieces into the house to paint?

cowtown · 07:32 AM

Thanks for the kind words. It's one of those projects where you look at the finished project and think "I can't believe I spent so much time doing THAT!" And then five seconds later you think, "I'm so glad I did that!" I'll try to answer comments below:

Did you ever find out what the circular "cutouts" were for under the rear seats?
Not really sure, but I think they might be fittings that were used in manufacturing the bodies. Maybe to attach the chassis to a jig or dolly of some kind? They were plugged up with rubber and a TON of seam sealer, so they're not drains. I trimmed down the sealer and painted over the plugs.

1 question, i might have to do this soon as well and want to know if you need to plug and threaded holes? i know por15 is thick so will any threaded holes need to be re-traced?

I thought of putting bolts in all the threaded seatbelt holes, but it turned out I didn't need to. If you're careful with the brush, you can avoid the holes. If spraying, I'd definitely plug them. By the way, Silver POR is thickest and appropriate for filling small holes (you tape over the hole's underside and paint over it). But I used Gray, which is runny and goes on thin. You apply the thinnest covering coats you can, according to the instructions. I did 2 coats overall, then a third in a few places that were showing through a bit.

Please elaborate on the stickiness comment. Did it stick better to bare metal? What did you use to prep/etch before painting?

It stuck best to rust, then the roughed etched painted areas, then the bare metal. It will stick to bare metal, but the metal must be etched or wirebrushed by hand to get a surface the paint can bite into.

I got advice from my local POR rep to etch with TSP and rinse with water, which I did. Then I chickened out and bought Metal-Ready, which is the recommended etchant, and used that too. That sucker was etched

Before etching, I scraped, and used MEK to get the glue and tar remnants off.

The only places the POR really didn't like bonding to were a few hidden vertical areas up above the footwells, where I just didn't get all the adhesives off. It's tough getting it all. I'm pretty happy with the results, and just hope it sticks.

I'm going to let it dry a couple days, then topcoat with some POR Hardnose paint, which will bond to cured POR-15. POR-15 will supposedly fade in UV. Normal paints must be applied when the POR is still tacky, and I just didn't have the energy to do it yesterday.

Wow, this is long. I'll stop typing now. Thanks for the comments!
Colin

Chuck Moreland · 02-03-2003, 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by cowtown
my wife saw the quality of my work and promptly kicked me off the project and painted it herself

You are a master.

Now how do you get her to adjust the valves?

cowtown · 02-03-2003, 08:18 AM

LOL, Chuck! It seemed like all I needed to do was keep the music going and she happily painted away, singing along for the neighbors to hear. She's great at home projects - better that I am at woodworking, etc.

I've got a great picture of myself and my burly neighbor (prison guard at San Quentin) drinking beer and looking on as she's painting away. Maybe I'll post it when I get home.

By the way, she gets a kick out of this board. She said to me "I can't BELIEVE there are a bunch of guys as obsessed with these cars as you are! It's like a CULT!"

I prefer to see it as evidence that I'm normal, not that you all are crazy....

Colin

tryan · 02-03-2003, 08:21 AM

how much por-15 did you end up using?

JonT · 02-03-2003, 08:31 AM

Has anyone considered/done a Rhino lining on the interior? This would help with sound deading and would not weigh very much.

pwd72s · 02-03-2003, 09:11 AM

MY congratulations to your wife...for a job well done!

cowtown · 02-03-2003, 09:37 AM

MY congratulations to your wife...for a job well done!

Hey, hey! I did all the prep work!

Tryan, I bought the sample pack with the six 4-oz tins. I used exactly 3 tins.

JonT, I also was interested in Rhino lining or similar. Anyone got any knowledge about this?

Colin

old_skul · 02-03-2003, 10:31 AM

Your wife *did* have a mask on, didn't she? Maybe that's why she was singing...