painting problems on my 2056-881 restoration-help

[Anonymous]

hello all
I am restoring my 681 and 2056. They were in rouch shape-bought from ebay cheap-The mechanicals are now great, but the repainting is giving me loads of problems. 1st, I stripped the paint, I used rustoleum clean metal primer, then Krylon semi flat black over it. The paint is not uniform, does not seem to get hard. I shook the can for well over a minute, and painted it with several light coats. I then let it sit in the sun or heat lamp to cure. The paint cured for almost a week! The paint still is soft and scratches off easy. I put dry transfers for decals and rustoleum matte on for protection. I stripped everything off with Bix and am starting over. I have done this several times in the last few months. Is the problem caused by Krylon going over rustolem primer? Could it be weird metal combinations from the early 50s? Any suggestions for a good job? I have restored other engines with great results-never this much trouble-Help

[trigtrax]

Your problem is spraying Krylon, a lacquer, over Rustoleum, an alkyd. At room temperatures an Alkyd takes about a month to fully cure. ( I bake my Alkyds at 160 degrees F for two hours) So the solvents in Krlyon are acting like a paint stripper on it. Also Rustoleum clean metal primer is really meant for steel not the zinc alloy of the 2056.
I would strip it again and respray on the bare zinc using either Benjamin Moore Ironclad semi-gloss Black or Insul-X Flat Black.

[trigtrax]

After that dries, you can bake on the finish as Trigtrax suggested.

Oh boy now you've scared me. I should point out I bake my paint in an electric oven of my own construction. It has a circulating fan and sealed heaters. This oven reaches it's stabilized temperature in 5 minutes so the heaters never reach the solvent flash point.
Do not bake paint in your kitchen gas fired oven!!! I'd hate to think of that solvent air mix reaching explosive proportions and you explaining to your wife you got the advise on-line.
[xx(]