Chassis painting

[dundmt]

Thinking about sandblasting a chassis down to the bare metal, I really like the factory look. What are you guys doing to prevent rust? Clear coat?

 

[alvin l nunley]

"Factory look" (pre-painting) and the look of a sandblasted frame are not the same look.

 

[OVALTECH1]

Oh for goodness sake another thread starting off the rails...


Anywho... yes sandblast your frame use a good metal prep like por15 makes or I like to use this blue acid etch called metal prep 79. Wipe it down real good to neutralize the starting of rust and spray it with a good automotive clear coat. You can also have clear powdercoat applied. I hope that answers your questions

 

[flattop1]

Factory chassis is powder coated .
As you said bare metal will rust .
Clearcoat could work expect to redo or touch up occasionally.

 

[OVALTECH1]

Personally I prefer to have it clear powdered. It will get blasted then pre baked which open the pores of the metal up and well as baking off impurities. It really makes for a nice job when done.

 

[JPMKarting]

i think you will find that when you blast it, you will just have a dull silver color...will take a good bit of work to get the "metal" look back

 

[KKania17]

As well as pit the tubing. My chassis mfg told me to never sand blast or RE powder coat. Kart I have now has original 2008 clear coat, with help from wd40.

 

[dundmt]

Thanks for the input guys!

 

[Kj26]

As well as pit the tubing. My chassis mfg told me to never sand blast or RE powder coat. Kart I have now has original 2008 clear coat, with help from wd40.

We’ve blasted and coated all our stuff through the years, I think they actually go faster

 

[OVALTECH1]

Bingo!

 

[1fasttiller]

Have the chassis chem-stripped not blasted. You will dull the metal and it will never look like the raw CM tubing again. I used to powder coat chassis all the time when I owned my shop. Be careful with the heat too, some claim it can effect the properties of the tubing.

 

[OVALTECH1]

I was gonna add that.. when we did powder coating we had a stripper that would pull the powder or paint and leave it ready for powder without blasting.

 

[Ted Hamilton]

If I was going to blast it, I'd then go back and progressively "polish" it, 220 sand, 400 sand, 1200 polish, then clearcoat or clear powder. Yes, some minute metal loss will occur unless you soda blast it (which I've had done too.) The changes in metal properties don't happen until the 800°-1200° range, and so the lower heat levels (powder coating is typically around 500° but ask your PCer what their oven is set for!!) shouldn't affect it... The easiest would be to blast it, then do a 2 step powdercoat with "dark chrome". It depends on WHY you want that look. The bare metal with true clearcoat lets you see cracks or other issues....dark chrome just plain looks cool, but can hide other things...

 

[OVALTECH1]

Man kart chassis came a long way over the years that looks nothing like my old jitney...

 

[Ted Hamilton]

HA....that's quad frame...simply in the correct black chrome. Couldn't find a proper kart frame pic...

 

[kartboy63]

"Factory look" (pre-painting) and the look of a sandblasted frame are not the same look.

hes talking about clear coat powder coat that looks like bare metal, a lot of karts are like that

 

[dundmt]

A wealth of info on here. Thanks all.

 

[Joe28]

I watch a lot of the car shows on TV, and lately there's been a product advertised for bare metal called Sharkhide. It's an anti corrosion clear coating supposed to last up to 3 years. I haven't researched it, but it might be worth looking at.