Was wondering if anyone has a process for duplicating the low gloss thin looking under hood factory paint ? I've stripped, primed and repainted my entire front dog house with single stage exterior gloss paint but its so glossy that it bothers me on this particular car and thinking about sanding and repainting it. The factory paint I've seen on other 88 Irocs under the hood looks almost flat body color and thin like there wasnt good coverage. With this car having the history that it does I'm second guessing the gloss finish. Any tips? Still have to spray the k member and such but figured before I did that I better decide if I am respraying or not.

 

It looks excellent as it is. It will eventually fade from the engine heat...

 

Any other car and I'd be tickled with it but this is the original 1988 SCCA Escort Series championship car raced by Morrison Cook and just thinking about originality at this point. It only has 11000 miles on it [all track miles] but somebody prior had painted under the hood with a house latex that was peeling.

 

This is an interesting topic, that we had some discussion about years back. Year to year, and plant to plant, people were reporting different finishes of different quality from car to car.

My car, like yours, has an almost semi-gloss mat finish to the underhood area. It's hard to describe, and I would think hard(er) to duplicate. Actually, when I clean underhood (particularly the first time I did it years ago), I actually get some Bright Red on the towel, using mild cleaners and later WD40 or spray detailer. This tells me that this may be more basecoat than clearcoat. Clear would not come off red. So I've wondered if the underhood area might not have been clearcoated, or just have an overspray level of clear on it. No other area on the car has this sort of finish. Door jams, the underside of the hood, etc. have a more normal level of gloss.

 

My 90 - the paint in engine bay and underneath is a low gloss as you describe. blue tho, its as if it doesnt have a clear coat on it or something. you could shoot it with a matte white to probably get closer. my engine bay also has overspray from what they used to coat wheel wheels with, not really a coat, some sort of half *** job. its been a while since i looked at it, so may not be describing it entirely accurate.

actually, under is a mix of paint and epoxy color
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/memb...ml#post6330534

this is the coating that was oversprayed in engine bay a bit
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/memb...ml#post6329403

 

Just my thought, but you could probably spray another light coat and add a "flattening agent." I'd ask an auto-body supply store.

 

The reason it's a low gloss is because the clearcoat wasn't sprayed over the base coat in the engine compartment very well. Whatever clear made it in there was just happenstance...

 

Duplicolor DE 1635 Ford Semi-Gloss Black was pretty close to a direct match for the finish on my shock towers. I'd try just spraying a thin coat of semi-gloss clear overtop.

 

Whatever path you choose, you'll need to scuff it up good with scotchbrite so the next layer will stick. I'd go with some flattened clear, it's more durable and cleanable than single stage.

 

The more I look at low mileage untouched cars I am thinking you are spot on as that is what it looks like to me as well. Base but never got any clear. Bottoms of those same cars look like that too.

 

I worked at the dealer in the 80's and even though we are in Ga they had me undercoat nearly every car that came in that wasnt a special order just so they could bump the prices on the. That stuff was nasty to work with.

 

No doubt and as many times as I've sanded it so far its still a pia. I'm going to run by and talk to my paint guys as I had thought a top coat of base only but did have concerns about how it would absorb anything that gets on it.

 

Appreciate all the ideas and it gives me several options to consider but guess I'll start the sanding process again, lol.

 

I'll bet it was. The coating I showed was factory. Its a Texas car, no need for any undercoating.

 

No turning back now as I pulled the strut mounts off and started taking it back to bare metal.

Not taking everything



to bare metal again but I have a lot of material on it in areas and dont want it to crack later with more on top. I had 2 good un-thinned coats of gray SPI epoxy, then 2 more good thick coats of un-thinned SPI white epoxy and the 3-4 coats of white single stage urethane. Better to be safe than sorry at this point. Now that I have it indoors I pulled the hood to make it easier to work on.

 

I'll put future work progress updates in my build thread however will update this thread after we decide on the paint process so others will know if needed. One of my painter friends has said that he has shot base only with a hardener in it on some under hood areas in the past but not F body specifically.

 

Seems like unchartertered area as I've talked to several paint reps and they all are saying you cant just spray base and leave it. I've tried to explain what I'm trying to accomplish but most either havent noticed or dont fully understand. I'm afraid using a matte clear will still give it too "thick" of a look as well single stage with a flattening agent.

I have it in gray epoxy primer now after stripping everything back to bare metal. I normally do not thin my epoxy however did this time by 20 percent, raised my gun pressure and sprayed it faster than I normally do. It has proper coverage but also has the thin flat look still so if I can get the base to lay down like the epoxy did I'll be tickled.

At this point barring a better idea I'm just going to add 1 ounce of hardener to the base and go for it.

 

well, to be fair, i always admired fresh paint jobs and the super clean, glossy engine bay that can be achieved. but totally understand what you are trying to achieve. good luck!

 

I've spotted in areas underhood with base only. In my case (dark blue) it was the best match for what was there from the factory. It's held up fine over the almost 20 years it been on there. If it's going to be exposed to UV or harsh cleaners it would be a problem for sure though. Good luck!

 

The problem with not clearing it, any oil or grease will discolor the white base and it won't clean off.
I used to take base, and activated clear and mix them together for underhood jambs. You'd still have to flatten it but that's an option.

 

Same here and like I had said, any other car and it would have been great. Looking at the Last Norwood book and the assembly line painting it appears maybe only a couple years of Van Nuys cars had the no gloss under hood.

 

Agreed and I remember working on these cars new at the dealership and running Firehawk with them and I can remember ever having an issue with the underhood paint. I know its not optimum like the exterior but maybe adding the hardener will help.

 

I know it softer and that may be a possibility but just dont remember with all the engine changes and intake reseals ever having an issue including degreasing under hoods. I'm leaning now that maybe the factory mixed a little clear in with their base on the few years that had no gloss. On other years it looks like the under hoods were sprayed by hand in a single stage gloss even though the robots sprayed base clear on the exterior.

 

I just sprayed the white base with 1 oz per quart of hardener mixed in. I have a 24 hour window now if I decide to top coat it but want to see how it flashes out and dries. It looks to me at this point it lacks a very small amount of "sheen" compared to the reference pictures I have so I may end up test spraying a lower part of it with a matte clear first thing in the morning if so.

It's close but to me still a touch off.

 

When I repainted the engine bay, etc., under the hood of my 1972 Buick GS, I use semi-gloss black paint by Rustoleum which was very close to orig paint. I would use the same paint for my '84 T/A

 

Third Gens are all body color under the hood and as historical as this car is it needs to look right or as close as I can get it.

Now on my 1st and 2nd Gens I use SPI black epoxy on the firewalls, inner fenders, radiator support and bottom side of the car and its as close to the original sheen as I've seen. John Deere Blitz Black is pretty close too as I did the dash and bottom side of my 69 Pace Car in it.

 

I sprayed matte clear over it this morning, had a product issue and sprayed another coat this afternoon so we'll see what it looks like.

I think with everything I've researched and been through on this a much simpler way would be to use a flattening agent in a single stage urethane and end up with similar results.

I've looked at pictures of several low mileage white 88's and while there were some consistencies there were also differences so at that point the line becomes gray as to what is correct and what is not.

 

if you look close at some factory paint, the front part of engine bay where radiator sits does not all get painted. there are parts where it is still primer only because some else was mounted during final paint

 

I've noticed that but I think part of that may have been from the ways the guys were hand spraying the under hood area coming down the line as it was a quick pass and then the next one was there. As many times as I have sprayed different coats I've noticed you really had to work hard and make several passes from different angles to get paint in those areas.

My front bumper reinforcement has paint but you can see a couple areas where it looked to have had wide tape and those are still primer as are part of the bumper horns between the reinforcement and the radiator support.

The pictures from the Norwood book [assuming the Van Nus is similar] shows the cars coming down the line with the fenders, hood hinges and hood all bolted in place but no front bumper cover and then it shows a guy on each side spraying the under hood and areas the robot sprayers cant get. When I pulled the fenders, hood and hinges I was able to verify mine was the same based on the areas that had paint vs the ones with only primer.

 

The issue I thought I had found with the "matte" clear yesterday didnt correct it as today the gloss was still 100% and there looked to be zero flattening.

So, today I mixed 30% flattening agent with the clear and hardener and could see instant results. Its as close to looking factory as my limited skills and knowledge can get it but I'm happy with it if it stays like this. Barring any additional flashing out that may occur it is already dried but then my little shop is close to 100 degrees when I just went back down to check the paint and take pictures.

Maybe this will help someone else save time and have fewer issues if they are attempting the same. I'll add more pics in my actual build thread so as not to get this one moved.