Painting Battery compartment

albinogek · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 6:09 am Post subject: Painting Battery compartment

Have any of y'all painted the battery compartment along with the other compartment next to it (underneath back seat). If so, what did you use to prep the area & what type of spray can paint did you use? I was thinking of using a flat black paint. The area currently has some type of paint so it is not bare metal.

grandpa pete · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 8:40 am Post subject:

Wire brush
Ospho on rust ...wait 24 hours
Prime with rustoleum... wait 1/2 hour
Paint with rustoleum semi flat black

Paint and body stickie has over 300 pages of info
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albinogek · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 9:21 am Post subject:

Where can you buy Ospho? Looked online, but you have to buy in large quantities.

drscope · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 10:34 am Post subject:

CAREFUL with a wire brush in the battery area! You can whip all that rust dust that contains battery acid up into the air and then latter find all sorts of things rusting and eating away inside the car!

I like to use Rustoleum products for this type of thing. Start by simply vacuuming up all the loose stuff. Then you can use Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer to paint the area.

Since this is under the back seat and not visible body area, you can apply this with a brush. That way you don't need to worry about over spray or getting it on things you don't want painted.

Rusty Metal Primer is great stuff and you can find this is quart cans at Home Depot or similar stores. It may smell pretty bad for a few days as it contains fish oil, but it's well worth putting up with the smell.

Although it dries pretty quickly, give it a few days or even a week to cure and then you can use any Rustoleum color as a top coat. We have done a LOT of race car interiors this way in several different colors and we apply both the Rusty Metal Primer and the top coat color with a brush.

It comes out looking very nice and is a very easy way to do this sort of job in a car that is assembled. If we have a car that is just a shell straight out of the acid dip or fresh from the media blaster, we may choose a different way to do this, but for what you are doing this is probably one of the least expensive and easiest ways to get the job done.

And it will last for a long time, is easy to go back and touch up if you need to, and looks great when you are done.
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albinogek · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 10:44 am Post subject:

Would you recommend using a degreaser before doing this? Someone here locally told me to use Purple power to clean up the area & to use a Brillo pad.

albinogek · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 10:47 am Post subject:

Would you recommend using a degreaser before doing this? Someone here locally told me to use Purple power to clean up the area & to use a Brillo pad.

drscope · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 11:02 am Post subject:

There shouldn't be much in the way of grease or oil there. But after sucking up the loose stuff, it wouldn't hurt.

However I think in this case the best approach would be to use lacquer thinner.

You can also buy that by the gallon at Home Depot for about $14 a gallon. But if you have never used that before, there are a few things you should be aware of.

First, it is highly flammable. So don't be smoking when doing this job.

Second, it will eat the paint off of things if left in place for any amount of time. Plus it will also eat many different types of plastics and it can damage other finishes like floors or counter tops. So be careful of that and don't drip or spill it on stuff. Also be careful of what you do with your wet paper towels or rags. If you let them lay on the wrong stuff, you may get an unpleasant surprise when you pick them up.

The best way to do this is to buy yourself a GOOD roll of paper towels. We use Bounty here as they don't leave a lot of paper towel fiber behind and they are pretty strong.

What you want to do is wet the paper towel, NOT soak it and wipe the area with a towel that is wet enough to leave the surface wet, but will dry in just a few seconds.

This should remove much dirt and grease from the area without really removing any good paint that may be there now. Just be aware if you get it on any of the tar boards or tar type insulating material it will start to melt that stuff pretty quickly.
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KTPhil · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 11:06 am Post subject:

I have used the rusty metal primer and it works great-- good advice about letting it dry for several days. I had been told to use a coat of clean metal primer between the rusty metal primer and the topcoat. Again, allow extra drying time for the best hardening. In both cases, don't go any thicker than what is needed to completely saturate the rusty parts and all the nooks and crannies.

albinogek · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 11:07 am Post subject:

I appreciate your info on the situation. .will give it a try!

grandpa pete · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 1:35 pm Post subject:

local paint shop should sell ospho ( osphoric acid )...dilute as directed...might burn sensitive skin Shocked

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hitest · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 7:03 pm Post subject:

As the Dr. said- a wire brush with care. I like the wire brush in right hand, shop vac crevice tool in the other method.
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grandpa pete · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 7:21 pm Post subject:

Old auto detail trick is to use a blower attachment on an air hose to blow all the small debris out of crevices...then vacum
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drscope · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 8:09 pm Post subject:

panicman · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 8:21 pm Post subject:

Just chiming in to agree with all of the above posts. The only addition I have is to go to Napa and get a can of their Rust Treatment. It's inexpensive at about $5 a can. Also I always used rubbing alcohol to clean small projects before paint, and it worked great. I wire wheeled the whole pan, then brushed on Rusty Metal Primer. Dr Scope had a convincing post about RMP a few years ago, and I followed his advice. One thing he mentioned that is also helpful is to have Home Depot or Ace (where ever you buy the primer and paint) shake it on the machine for you when you buy it, hopefully a day or less before you plan to apply it; it helps it dry flatter. I did this with the RMP and the semi gloss black, and it dried very smooth an flat, and is a very hard finish. I worked on the car for another year and a half, and when I pulled out the protective cardboard layer I put down while I finished welding and bodywork, the pans looked great.
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albinogek · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 8:39 pm Post subject:

I appreciate all the feedback from all of you. Will most likely use the brush on primer & paint. Thanks for all of the advice, y'all have definitely answered my question!

drscope · Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2014 7:44 am Post subject:

Always keep checking back to a thread like this because sometimes valuable information is slow coming!

As for cleaning with rubbing alcohol, that may work on some oils and adhesives, but it usually doesn't do so well on grease.

On our gravity race cars when we start with new bearings, one of the first things we do is remove the grease out of them. Alcohol just won't cut it even if the bearings are left in there to soak over night. The lacquer thinner on the other hand works really quickly. We put the bearings in a jar, pour in enough lacquer thinner to cover them and swirl them around for a couple seconds. The grease is GONE!

There are times when you may want alcohol as it isn't as strong of a solvent as the lacquer thinner, but for cleaning really nasty stuff, I would go with the thinner.
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albinogek · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:07 am Post subject:

I just noticed that there is some tar cardboard over the hump that divides the battery compartment from the other well, is the tar board paintable? And if so should I go over it lightly with some lacquer thinner to clean it?

drscope · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 7:57 am Post subject:

You can paint the tar boards, but it usually doesn't make much sense. Sometimes it can help to keep things looking clean but it isn't going to help protect the tar boards.

In cases where you are not removing the tar boards, it's probably best to just mask them off around the edges and paint up to them, but leave them paint free.

Wiping them with the lacquer thinner will cause them to melt and you may end up smearing tar all over.
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panicman · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 8:18 am Post subject:

You can make them look fresh by wiping them with microfiber to remove dust, and if you want to make them look less faded, I used a bit of vegetable oil. You could probably also use armor all or similar. Might seem obsessive, but I feel like if you are taking the time to clean that area up, it might as well look good!
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albinogek · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 9:12 am Post subject:

Thanks! Appreciate it !


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