TOPIC: Painting Question

I have begun painting my ’63 1000. Just shaker cans of phantom black. Not going for perfect, just a nice refresh that will last reasonably long.

I disassembled the motor and have the top hat, pan, mid, & lower separated and stripped of all their components. I’m also painting a spare long shaft mid from a 65 that I sourced as a test bed for my PTT project. For prep, I scrubbed and washed the parts with a heavy dose of Dawn Liquid detergent. The ‘63 mid section had a fair amount of oil/grease on it so I first used an engine degreaser, making sure to not let it sit more than five minutes so as to not soften the paint. Then for each hand sanded the paint to smooth out the chips and scratches, remove what glossy surface was left, and tried to get to some of the pitting. Was not intending to get all the way to metal.

I then painted the spare leg as a test of the prep work. Shot the phantom black on without primer. Looks really great, but not perfect. Can still see a little bit of pitting and some of the deeper scratches went into the metal.

So, after all of that, here is the question. Is it worth the time and effort to prime the parts first since I did not sand to metal? And, would primer help to fill the pitting (other than being just another coat of paint?). Planning on three coats of black – two coats 45 muintes apart, third after a 48 hour cure.

primer coats are always to your advantage, sanding between coats will reduce the imperfections

I would primer, buy a tube of glazing spot putty, to fill the pits, dries in 20 min, sand with 220 then 400, then spot prime the putty, sand 1 more time with 400 and shoot your color coats

Thanks - I was wondering if there was a purpose made putty that I could use to fill the pits and scratches. Is there a specific brand/type etc that I can buy? Is this a west marine type product?

3M Glazing putty

auto parts store and auto paint suppliers

Self etching primer comes in rattle cans and is best to use.

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Painting directly onto aluminum just will not last.

I agree that with bare metal you want an etching primer to maximize the top coat adhesion. Then of course you need to be sure your scratch-fillers and surfacing primers are all compatible.
And I've found that two-part scratch fillers will bond better and feather easier than the red [one part, no mix] fillers you may find at auto parts stores.

So looking for filler to fill the pits and scratches. Checked Pep Boys, nothing but Bondo (no surprise). West Marine has a few different products, mostly for fiberglass work. They do have one that might be what I need, so thought I would ask; The Marine-Tex Repair Kit. Reviews seem to support it would work fine for my purposes.

If you're filling pits in metal, clean it well, then use jbweld.

Frank

depending on the size of the pits and scratches, the primer makes a good filler. might take a couple coats, sanding down to the surface, leaving the scratch filled in. paint it again. when you cant see the scratch under the coat of primer, you have a level painting surface.

take your time, the lake will be there next year. the drought is just a rumor

yeah - with whats coming up over the course of the next few months, I've resigmed myself to not getting in the water this year, so will be taking my time with all of it.

Go to a local auto parts store where they mix paint and ask for a "high build" primer. it's a two parter. You can brush it on really thick and it drys in an hour. Sands down very easy and works like liquid bondo. I've used this to fill small holes and spider cracks on the glass boats. When the sanding is where you want it you can squirt your finish.
Cal