Sitting in Epoxy for many months

J

John

Hi there. New to posting in the forum (been following for some time) and new painting in general. I'm a mechanic, not a body/paint guy. I'm working on my own restomod '55 chevy. Body was blasted with black beauty on a rotisserie, inside / outside / underside. Bare body shell - every nut and bolt removed.

I'm in the process of finishing SPI epoxy on the bare shell. I've run out of time for now and I need to get the bare metal sealed up with epoxy to protect from rust before putting it in storage for the winter - indoor, unheated in the cold, damp Northeast.

Some questions:
  1. Are there any "special" storage issues? I plan to cover shell with a car cover to keep the dust off, that's it. Storage is metal pole building, no insulation, concrete floor, no heat, some dampness from weather / humidity.
  2. When I get back to the paint work, I'll be using some sort of undercoating on underside and inside rear quarters, fenders, doors, etc. Not sure what undercoating product yet but want to know how best to prep those sections after months of sitting dormant in epoxy.
    1. Some of those areas are obviously hard to sand, so I'm assuming red scotch pad ?
    2. I don't plan on any other primers on these areas, just undercoating (rubberized or bed liner type, not sure yet). Do I need to do anything other than scuff up the epoxy prior to undercoating?
    3. Is another coat of epoxy necessary in the areas getting undercoating?
  3. On the exterior body panels: Some areas still need hammer dolly work prior to blocking. I believe another coat of epoxy is REQUIRED here after hammer / dolly and prior to 2k. Correct?
Thanks!!
-john
 
No special storage issues. Once the epoxy is sprayed and cured for a few days, it is impervious to practically everything. When you get ready to spray, the epoxy will need to be scuffed and reapplied before any other coating is sprayed, for best adhesion.
 
texasking said:
No special storage issues. Once the epoxy is sprayed and cured for a few days, it is impervious to practically everything. When you get ready to spray, the epoxy will need to be scuffed and reapplied before any other coating is sprayed, for best adhesion.
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Thanks for the reply. That's pretty much what I was expecting. Sucks to have to scuff and respray epoxy for undercoating but it is what it is.
 
yes, I have considered that. My dilemma is that the underside and firewall are the "easy parts" to get at.

I had to do some very creative media blasting - making various angle adapters, various length extensions, etc - in order to clean up the rust and corrosion INSIDE of the rear quarter panels on my '55. This area goes from the B pillar to the tail light (close to 5 feet in length) and includes both the inner and outer quarters. There is no way to get a machine up inside that area. I haven't primed that area yet as I ran out of epoxy and am waiting on a shipment. I may have to prime some areas by hand or pour some epoxy in and roll it around on the rotisserie if I can't get in there with a gun. It's in bare metal now, once it is primed it's gonna be a real bear to try and scuff with anything - some areas are out of arm's reach, not to mention cramped areas and right angles.. I hesitate to leave it sit in bare metal for several months and I can't apply undercoating now because the quarters still need some hammer / dolly work at various places plus the outer wheel well is a weld-on piece on this car and needs some final fitting and trimming before it is ready. The hammer / dolly work has to be done 1st, as there is no access to some areas after that outer wheel well goes in. Unfortunately I just ran out of time before winter rolled in to do all this work prior to epoxy.

Seems like the only options are epoxy now and do the best I can with scuffing later on.....or leave it sit in bare metal for several months which seems like a really bad idea.
 
For sure don't let it sit bare metal, a good coat of epoxy is needed. If it were me I'd put three or four coats and leave until ready to work.
 
way ahead of you :) Got my new shipment from SPI and everything is in epoxy now except for inside the quarter panels. I'll be doing those next week, following up with undercoating at the most difficult places to reach - that way I don't have to worry about the recoat window or scuffing those areas.. I'll leave the inner side of the outer quarters in plain epoxy as they are flat and reachable to scuff up while on the rotisserie once the hammer / dolly work is done.

Thanks.
-john
 
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