Black wrinkle paint - 308, etc.

I refinished my TR's air box, the key is to do good preparation first before painting. My results were great and it has held up very well....I'm very satisfied with the finish. I bead blasted the air box, wiped it down with acetone, and then followed the directions of the paint manufacturer. It may take a couple of trys to achieve the proper finish. I used Plasticote brand paint. It takes 3 very heavy but evenly applied coats, about 8 to 10 minutes apart. The tricky part is putting on a heavy coat without getting any runs in it. Don't be in a hurry or skip any steps, and things will turn out fine.

 

I re-did the air filter boxes using Eastwood Company crinkle paint after testing it. Two thin coats worked well and the paint is easy to apply in thin coats.

http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&itemID=106&keyword=crinkle+paint

I tested the crinkle paint from a couple parts stores. They are too coarse a crinkle and easy to get too thick a coat.

 

VHT makes a perfect wrinkle in Black Red and Silver. Paint it in an even semi thick coat, and bake it in the oven at 200 degrees. This sounds crazy, but it's the only way for it to set right. You can watch it wrinkle....

 

Do yourself a favour and get it powdercoated. 3 main reasons:

1. PC is much tougher than any spray can applied paint

2. Because the wrinkle depends on the amount of paint applied, it is nearly impossible to wrinkle finish a part without seeing pronounced lap marks in the paint.

3. Unless you have a spare oven around, wrinkle paint needs to be baked. I cannot stress this enough. Using the oven in the kitchen is the fast way to seeing what the couch sleeps like.

I've been through this and learned the hard way. This is one of those jobs where you will work like a dog prepping and end up with a half baked job. I got my complete airbox and steering hub done for $60. Just the cans of paint would have been half of that.

 

I've refinished several items with VHT's black wrinkle, including my cam covers. My overall experience was very positive. Search the old Fchat archives for a fairly detailed discussion. It was a couple of years ago, but here's what comes to mind off of the top of my head:

- Sprayed several light coats at 90 degrees to each other, with about 1/3 overlap of each pass.

- The depth of the wrinkles is is controlled by the depth of the paint. A few thin coats, very fine wrinkles. Heavy coat, very heavy wrinkles.

- I did NOT use an oven, & VHT does NOT need 200 degrees to cure & wrinkle. I put the items about 18" away from a 500W halogen work light. This heated them up to about 125 or 135 F. Fairly warm to the touch, but not as hot as hot tap water. Left it overnight in a 50 degrees F garage. It was pretty well wrinkled the next AM, but I left it under the light during the day to ensure it was completely cured.

- VHT wrinkle is self-priming. Just degrease & then scuff the surface with green scotch brite. (Official recommendation from VHT's application specialist.) If you try to use it over a primer, it WILL peel severely in about a year (don't ask...)

- VHT's wrinkle red is noticably darker than the original red,
but we just decided to accept it at a recent concours as there just doesn't seem to be a better matching wrinkle red. A couple of members have used it then misted a brighter non-wrinkling red over it to adjust the color. If you try it, keep the top coat light. A heavy coat would fill in the wrinkles.

I've got some black & red wrinkle powder coating, just haven't had a chance to try it.

 

I used the eastwood product too with perfect results. I would suggest 2 medium heavy coats, and it took about 2 weeks to completely dry but then it was rock hard! I stripped then primered the wrinkle paint. I painted my valve covers to match the original 308 engine shown at the genva auto show when the first gt4 was unveiled.