Postby ynot?! » Sat Dec 06, 2008 11:55 am
In terms of the paint, I ran into a guy on another board that had used red paint, so I emailed him for some details. To my suprise he said it was massey furgason tractor paint. You can get it a Tractor Supply! Valspar is the name of it, restoration series. I can tell you this is some tough stuff! I called the manufacture and they didn't recomend it for a BBQ pit. I explained that it would probably never get above 300 deg, and they still did not recomend it, but gave me some suggestions if I do.
So far, I have used this pit about 20 times, and the paint still looks like new. Accept at the bottom where the horizontal and the firebox come together. The paint is still in tact and holding but it has discolored some. It is not visible though. The Valspar paint is much cheaper, than some of the other paints I was using, but after seeing a 20 year old pit that had been painted with it, I was impressed.
Here is the process I used. I used some degreaser like grease lighting, purple power, or castrol degreaser. You can get these at walmart. I mixed about 50/50 water and degreaser in a pump weed sprayer. Spray it down with that really good and let it sit for a couple of minutes and then power wash it. I did this twice! Then once it's dried and masked, I went over it with a paper towel and a product called prep all (auto zone). Wipe with one paper towel and dry with a clean one. Let it sit overnight, I then primed it, you can see that in the power point. I primed it with a self etching primer. Then I put two coats of the Valspar tractor paint on it. Use the hardener just as the manufacture recomends on the bottle. I shot the paint with a HVLP gun, and thinned it just at the bottle reccomends. I did add a small amount of Naptha to it, because it was very humid the day I painted.
I have been very impressed with the toughness and look of the paint though, I have dropped tongs, steel fire poker, and other stuff on it and it hasn't chiped yet that I can see.
I just used off the shelf spray bomb, stove paint for the firebox and pigs..
Just my opinion, I could be wrong!
