Paint sequence for Castings and SHeet Metal

I bought two videos from this website on sheet metal and painting and must say I was dissapointed in the lack of details about metal prep which seems to be the most important thing. I hope someone has a surefire way to get the paint to stick and be a tough coating.

Last question is "FOrd Tractor Paint from NH good or better quality?" I've used it before and think the color seems right. TSC's grey was almost white. TSC's red seemed alright.

Thanks

RICK

Have mostly done the high pressure wash/solvent degrease where necessary approach on equipment cast iron. A stiff-bristled, oval parts brush works pretty well for removing grease, with gas or mineral spirits and will get into most tight spots.

Wire wheel on heavy rust and sanding on the sheet metal. Used a drill back then, have an offset grinder/wire wheel now, mucho better.

Buy the best primer you can afford, wipe down the sheet metal with whatever solvent the primer mfr. suggests, prior to application and make sure the finish coat is compatible with the primer.

TSC stocks two different "Ford Grays". I bought the darker of the two for my Jubilee, which I hope to de-rat sometime this fall. Painted that thing about 25 years ago, forget now, but probably had the NAPA guy whomp me up some Martin-Senour synthetic enamel auto paint for the gray back then. Spray bombed the iron with a Rust-Oleum or Krylon red of some sort, IIRC.

It has sat out in the elements most of the time since that paint job and it held up fairly well for about the first ten years or so. Did fog some gray on some of the sheet metal several years ago, but it was a half-arsed job. Gonna do it right again this time, but no more sunshine and rain after this one. Won't be a show queen job, but it's still a working tractor and will at least look better without the rust and crud.

Please remember that colors do not show up the same on different monitors or printers. There are LOTS of variables that affect colors so what you see will almost certainly differ from the real life color that comes out of the cans.

I pressure washed my cast iron and painted it Rustoleum safety red with no problems for two years now. I used TSC gray and it was a lot lighter than what I painted over. Prep was not much more than a light sanding.