Painting An AMC Rambler - Learn to Spray Your First Paint Job

There were a few holes between the wheeltub and the trunk floor that looked a little larger than the seam sealer would bridge, so we welded them up with the MIG and ground them down with the 36.

For the cracks between the tubs and the floorpan and between the rear valance and the rear of the trunk floor, we used Evercoat brushable seam sealer. We applied it using a 1-inch brush from a bargain bin in the paint store. The sealer can be painted over in about an hour, is flexible, and leaves brush marks just like the factory did (if you are into that sort of thing).

After blowing the grit out of the trunk with compressed air and cleaning the surfaces with wax and adhesive remover (Eastwood PRE or lacquer thinner will also work), we sprayed any areas that were sanded to bare metal with SEM self-etching primer.

Some primers intended to be used with topcoats don't stick to bare metal, and that's why you should use an etching primer. But you don't want to just spray everything because sometimes etching primer will not stick to basecoats, primer, filler, or even the seam sealer.

Tape off stuff you don't want paint to stick to. Did we have to tell you that? In this case, we blew compressed air into the nooks and crannies to get all the dirt out. If you don't do it now, the paint gun will do it for you and sprinkle crap into your paint job.

Proper mixing of all materials is crucial or funny things will happen to your paint job over time. Follow the directions on the can closely, or better yet, follow the procedures on the product's technical data sheet if you have access to it. DuPont's 2840S sealer is a two-part urethane that must be mixed with an activator at a 2:1 ratio. Be sure to stir the mixture thoroughly and strain as you pour it into the paint cup.

Mixing paint with a mixing pail is easy. The paint cup on the gun will have hash marks that indicate how much paint it will hold in ounces. For small jobs, we tend to use the gun with the cup about half full, it makes it lighter and easier to handle. Big jobs will require a full cup. We decided on 12 ounces of primer for this shoot.

On the mixing pail, the measurements are marked on the lefthand side of the cup and the ratios are marked at the top. After you determine how much primer you are going to mix, you must find out how many parts primer need to be mixed with how many parts activator. It is marked on the paint can. Ours called for 3:1, meaning three parts primer to one part activator. So we filled the pail with primer to the first line marked with a three (see the Car Craft finger) then added the activator to the next line marked with a three. Simple.

The difference between a good two-stage primer and a rattle can is metal protection. If you are going to leave the car in primer for a long period of time, the two-stage resists moisture and won't chalk or flake off in the sun. It is similar to a topcoat in terms of protection, and of course it is easier to lay down a lot of paint with a gun. Your spray-can finger doesn't get tired.