On Monday, 5 January 1998 at 13:23 Mike wrote:
MIKE> Getting ready to pull the heater box, radiator support, and valve
cover to paint during the winter months. While sitting watching football
with a couple of friends, they recommended putting the parts in the oven
after I painted them to "bake" on the paint! Has anyone heard of this?
RICH's $0.02> Baking works (tried it when I was 16 -- Mom only recently
forgave me as it also imparts a rather lovely fragrance to your home).
This leaves you with two options:
1) See if you can find a cheap electric stove (either 110v or 220v) that
you can plug in *outdoors* (or in the garage -- I've seen 'em for $25 to
$50 in the want ads); or
2) Heat the parts with a handheld propane torch (a 'Burnzamatic') prior
to painting them. I did this with all the parts, brackets, etc, for my
'79 Midget and the paint is still glossy and hard. I even heated my
block and head before I painted them (albeit much less heat, and much
more carefully!). Worked on the stainless, stamped, cast, and aluminum
with no problems. Use a good quality engine paint, and you shouldn't
have any problems.
As to your heater box, I assume you checked the core for leaks, etc, and
cleaned it properly. When I painted mine, I used a low-gloss black by
Dupli-Color, and after it was all dry, I used silicone caulk on the
inside to seal all the corners, cracks, and crevices, including around
the fresh air intake and fan motor mounts. I also put new closed cell
foam (3/8" thick weatherstrip) around the core mounts to prevent damage,
and used the same to seal the cover to the box. This, combined with the
new heater box-to-body gasket (that I made out of a big chunk of closed
cell foam that I got God knows where) and the cleaned and repainted
heater plenum, resulted in a whole lot more air flow.
Luck,
Rich
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