even the simple stuff I can make difficult

[BarryK]

last week I was painting a number of small parts. most turned out fine but two items, the waterpump pulley and the upper radiator bracket came up with a ton of "fisheyes" as soom as the paint hit it, plus on the WP pulley the paint crinkled up as soon as I hit it with the sencond light coat.
Well, the crinling paint I figured I tried to hit the second coat too soon but the fisheyes had be baffled as it was exactly what happened to me when I first tried to touch up my motor block.

Well, yesterday I was at a friends house using his media balsting cabinet on a bunch of other parts (Thanks Chuck!) so I glass bead blasted the WP pulley and radiator bracket to start from scratch again.
Today i wiped the freshly glass bead blasted bracket and pully down to get the beading dust off, than wiped it down with Acryli-clean as a surface cleaner and prepaint prep. It dried for about 2-3 hours while I ran out on errands. Got home and tried to paint them again and even more fisheyes on both than even the first time! %&*@#&$$%@*!!!!!!!!!

Time to wiped them off with lacquer thinner to get the new paint off yet again, clean them all over again and try painting them a third time. In the meantime i called a fellow club member who does his own restorations and explained the problem i was having. He said the parts and/or the paint was too cold and that is what was causing the fisheyes as he ran into that problem himself before. The parts were inside the house all yesterday afternoon and all night and all morning today and the paint was a fresh can I picked up this morning and was only outside in the truck during the drive home from the store. I wouldn't have thought either would be too cold but i'll try again tomorrow but before I do I'll warm up the parts with a hairdryer and i'll leave the paint can over the heating duct in the house to warm up for a few hours. and see if that helps.

The problem is if cold is causing my fisheye problems than when I get to painting the motor that's going to be a real problem to try to warm up the entire motor block while out in the garage this time of year. I'll have to see how warm my space heater can heat up the garage and I may have to go get some halogen heat lamps to hang over the motor too to heat it up.

leave it to me to make what should be a very, very simple thing of painting some small parts into a big hassle and problem!

well, back to that heap 'o junk that's nothing but trouble............ opps, i meant to say back to my car that i love very much and greatly enjoy learning to do my own work on........

[67HEAVEN]

My money is on 15 pages.

[BarryK]

you are too cynical Bob!!

if you notice, I didn't even ask questions, I was just venting!
I already know the cause of the problem and the solution. if you feel better you can close the thread now after these two replies.

[IH2LOSE]

Normally I would ask wht type of primmer was used, But for Barry Ill have to ask did you use primer

[BarryK]

Larry, i WAS going to use primer but was told by three seperate people that primer wouldn't be needed for what I was doing. Without primer that was my first thought also but more than one person has already confirmed that the problem is from the parts and/or paint being too cold and NOT a primer issue.

I may try primer next time anyway, but I think the key is going to be warming up the parts and the paint first.

[Tossin]

The answer is simple for painting the engine block. Put the bed in the garage, the engine in the bedroom and paint it there after it warms up.

Of course, do this at your own risk, for you might be sleeping in the garage for a while.

[IH2LOSE]

Originally Posted by BarryK

Larry, i WAS going to use primer but was told by three seperate people that primer wouldn't be needed for what I was doing. Without primer that was my first thought also but more than one person has already confirmed that the problem is from the parts and/or paint being too cold and NOT a primer issue.

I may try primer next time anyway, but I think the key is going to be warming up the parts and the paint first.

Barry

Every time I paint bare metal parts i use a self etching primer. Any time i paint anythng else I use a primer. Yes there is a tempature concern.What did the can of paint say was the proper range,as long as your in that range there should be no problem. When I am painting in a cold garage i place the metal parts under a quarts flood lamp to pre heat the parts.The paint i will leave in the house over night to make sure they are at room tempature.

[BarryK]

Larry, I wan't painting in the garage. The parts had been in the house for 24 hours in my office than I walked them downstairs to the basement 5 mintes before i painted them.
The paint had only been in the house for an hour or less though so it may have been the problem this last time around.

eitherway, i'll try self-etching primer and also warm up both parts and paint so they are plenty warm next go-round.

[jims427400]

Barry,
I'm glad my carb and cleanup job is about a month behind yours. I have picked up many pearls along the way.
Are you also going to use the primer on the block before hand painting?

The parts being cold does not cause the fisheyes. Contamination from oil or silicon. If you are using a spray gun they make a fisheye eliminator ypou can add to your mixed color. If you are using a spray can You Just have to clean the parts good and watch the oil from our finger prints

Alan

[firstgear]

Originally Posted by Alan76

The parts being cold does not cause the fisheyes. Contamination from oil or silicon. If you are using a spray gun they make a fisheye eliminator ypou can add to your mixed color. If you are using a spray can You Just have to clean the parts good and watch the oil from our finger prints

Alan

agreed that fisheyes come from oil or silicon.....in OEM paint shops fish eyes have even been known to be caused by deodorants that people wear or other such things....no doubt if you have fish eyes you got a contamination from some where......and it doesn't take much to cause it either......brand new clean rag? used rag?

[Larry Shermak]

Barry,
When I use lacquer thinner, I've had poor results when painting. When I use "Prep-All" from Auto-Zone, I've had much better results.
Just my 2¢
Larry

[BarryK]

Jim

no, no primer on block because the old paint is still on there - i'm just cleaning it very well and than going to rough up the old paint a paint a bit with a scotchbrite scrubby pad.

Alan, Herb, Larry - yes, I know oil residue or silicon can also cause fisheyes but i'm positive that's not the case here. In the case of these two parts, as mentioned in the first post, they were beadblasted down to the bare metal, a fresh clean rag was used to wipe the beading dust off them, than a seperate fresh clean rag was used to clean them with Acryli-Clean which is similar to Prep-Sol so the surface was very clean and free of any residue of any type. I didn't mention it but I was wearing rubber surgical type gloves during all this so my own hand oils can't be a cause either.
Two very knowledgable people with decades of expereince working on these cars both told me the cold can cause the fisheyes as well as oils and silicone so that's what I believe it is - I can see no other cause for it with the precautions I took, especially the second time around.

On the upcoming third try, I'll usr Larry's suggestion of the self-etching primer but I think warming up the parts more is going to be the key.

[67HEAVEN]

Originally Posted by BarryK

you are too cynical Bob!!

if you notice, I didn't even ask questions, I was just venting!
I already know the cause of the problem and the solution. if you feel better you can close the thread now after these two replies.

Forgive me if I offended you, Barry. The Devil made me say it.

And, I doubt I'll be closing this thread any time soon.

[BarryK]

don't worry Bob, i'm getting very use to it around here........... but to be fair, my thread do tend to get a bit drawn out at times for some reason.

Hey, at least some people seem to appreciate them, like Jims427400

BTW, the devil had nothing to do with it which I am very aware of because I know him personally - it was just you being you.