Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Hello everyone,

I've had this car for a long time and it's been languishing in a torn-apart condition for several years. I have had the engine and transmission rebuilt, and drove the car up until I parked it and started the dismantle for restoration.

My question is - do you know of good suppliers/shops in the Tampa Bay area for paint/body work as well as upholstery? I have been told about Alderman's in St. Pete for the paint/body, but I haven't visited them yet.

Plus, is there some good general reference on how most people approach the "management" part of a project like this?

Finally, while I have you here , I have the engine ready for painting and I have the turquoise paint. Once stripping all the old paint off, is there any primer or other prep you put on the engine or just apply the paint? What I've seen on youtube is strictly applying the paint directly to the metal, but wanted to get feedback from you folks if possible.

I'm looking forward to resurrecting this car and getting it back on the road!

- Ted

Ted, can't help you with a shop in the Tampa-St. Pete area, but encourage you to share your work with us in a project blog. Good luck in finding a good shop.

(o{}o)

Great to hear about your restoration of a superb car in Packard's 1956 line-up. I can recommend an excellent upholsterer who has done work on my 56 Patrician (and will probably be doing more). The catch is that he is in Valdosta, Georgia. Not a bad drive, however, as I do it three or four times a year. Let me know if you want his name and contact information.

Ted- no primer on the engine, shoot the paint straight to the cast for best adhesion. Let the paint cure 1 week min before firing it up.

Thanks! That's my first step back on the restoration road...

I would respectfully disagree on the topic of primer on an engine. Here's what we have done for over 25 years: Have the block and heads and pans chemically stripped by the Alkaline bath method, this gets ALL the rust out, out of the cooling passages where it is most problematic. HURRY home with the stripped components, mix up a pint or so of DP-90 epoxy primer, making sure to allot the proper one hour pot time for the two-part reaction to occur. You can paint the rough cast surfaces with a cheap chip brush from Home Depot, we paint every cast part (but not the machined surfaces, obviously), inside the block and out, then pour an amount in each cooling passage, tape it off at the freeze plugs or other various exit points and rotate the block on the engine stand, and we go so far as to lift the block by each end to insure the primer gets everywhere on these ultra-clean, ultra wants to rust surfaces, then drain the excess out. We spray the pans in the spray booth, just like any other part. Send the engine out for machining, clean off any oils left over from that process and assemble the engine normally. The epoxy primer is an important step to allow the color coat (which is little more than that) to bond to the cast iron. After the engine is together we roll it into the spray booth and spray the whole assembly as one, as most factories did. This method is used by other prominent restoration shops I know locally and throughout the country.
Engines we did this way in the early 90s still run wonderfully, come up to rated temp and stay at rated temp no matter what the ambient (outside) temperature is, no matter whether we were in a parade (the most insane thing you can ask an antique car engine to do) or drive at speed on the open road. We drain and change the coolant and the old coolant comes out very clean n' green, not rusty reddish-brown.

Disclaimer: this topic involves paint and painting techniques. This is like Italian cooking, If you ask 5 top -tier body men who have restored Concours winning Packards how to do something you will get 5 completely different answers, each one of them absolutely correct. All you can do is take the advice you are given and make a choice.

Wow. Thanks MrPushbutton for telling all what works for you. I must say I have never heard of epoxy primer inside the block. Cant argue with it though there are other products for that.
What is your topcoat of choice? I would say it depends on what you are painting the block with . I am like Troy in that if using a direct to metal enamel an epoxy primer is not necessary but many high end shops if painting the engine body color with 2K urethane will spray epovy. I will say it was mentioned to do this before machine work on the motor and I have to disagree with this. All 2K mixed products using a hardener have a recoat window max time for top coat without sanding and since you cannot sand cast iron rough surfaces you may have adhesion problems if machine work and assm takes over a week. Look at the data sheet. There indeed was one episode of peeling/ chipping of the color coat before the first firing most likely due to this. If you go the DP lf rout you may want to use it after machine work and partial assm. Should we have a thread on paint , primers, max recoat windows without sanding. Min recoat times vs ambient temps vs heated booths vs baked paints and required safety equipment etc.?