RBrid

Since we're talking about painting an engine compartment with SPI epoxy primer here Cleaning Bare Fiberglass, let me follow up with more enquiries.

I would like my 1977's underbody, wheel wells and engine compartment to be light to medium gray. I'm planning to use SPI's epoxy primer. I can also drop them an email with these questions, but thought I might as well ask here in case somebody has input:

1. I read a while back that it's possible to just spray that epoxy primer and leave it as is.
Do you feel that the paint would perform well over time without any top-coat / clear-coat?
'13611', what's your plan with your engine compartment?

2. If 1 is OK, can I darken the light gray SPI epoxy primer by adding a bit of their black epoxy primer?

Thanks all!

porchdog

black epoxy has uv protection in it. gray does not but no big deal under the car. yes you can mix black and gray with no problems. it will be fine with no top coat .

RBrid

That was quick porchdog. Thanks for your answers!

13611

Well... the plan for my firewall WAS to clean it really good and glass a few cracks then paint it. After I got the first round of epoxy primer on it I got real **** about the way it was looking. So far I've primed, sanded, glazed, sanded, and (just today) primed again. I plan to put a round of 2K primer over the epoxy and wet sand. Then I'm painting it with the "Hot Rod Black" kit. You talked about doing your under body and wheel wells. I did those last week only after I prepped everything, I used rubberized undercoating. I'm not being too careful about keeping the undercoating black at the moment because I'll get it black again when I spray the firewall. Here's a few pics...


Here's the glaze on after the first round of epoxy primer.


Here it is after sanding again.




Second round of epoxy primer.


And here's a shot of the rubberized undercoating.

13611

You can also see in the second to last photo above where I ran the rubberized undercoating around and up under the area of the head lights and grille area and where it transitions into the area that I want smooth.

RBrid

Thanks for the details 13611. Looks like you're doing a good job & have a solid plan. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.