I'm getting ready to permanently bolt the body to the frame on my project and want to paint the cowl/firewall with epoxy primer/paint first. Most brands of paint I have looked at say not to spray over lacquer. Is the factory paint in the engine compartment lacquer or enamel? The body is very clean in this area with very little surrust so I was hoping that I wouldn't need to strip to bare metal and could spray over the existing paint. Thanks in advance for your advice!

Rodney

 

The epoxy is a great product to seal off old finishes Etc. to then go to modern paint. One piece of advice, not knowing the actual paints involved, do not put the first coat on heavy as the solvents may be egressive to the lacquer. Light first coat let flash - good to go

 

68442:
Thanks for the advice. What brands of epoxy primer have you used? I'm thinking of using the Eastwood (Kirker) stuff in the spray cans on for the firewall/cowl area followed up with the Duplicolor DE1624 low gloss black. I'm reading good things about SPI epoxy primer for the rest of the car. Do you have any experience with SPI?

Rodney

 

Get the cowl clean, and then get some Eastwood underhood paint.

Make sure there is overspray and drips, just like GM did!

 

Be sure to record your firewall stampings before you sand or paint over them.