Painting slightly rusted 1945 Ford 2N

This tractor is a worker and will continue to be. The reason I decided to paint it is because I had to tear it down to replace the throw out and pilot bearings.

Now I would like to paint it but I don"t have much time since I need it to rake our riding ring.
I figure since its a work tractor it doesn"t make sense to spend hours painting it.

What would you recommend as far a bare minimum tear down. I already have the hood, air cleaner,battery box and all of the guages removed.
Also the whole thing has a light rust cover except the engine. I was thinking of using Rust-oleum rusty metal primer followed by a Rust-oleum top coat that closely matches the Ford Gray. (If one exists).

There are a few dents and dings that I will try and hammer out and braze as best I can.

Any tips or hints? Again this is a work tractor that I will probably own and work for a long long time. And I don"t have much time to do it in.

Also I should that sand blasting unfortunately won"t be an option since I don"t know anyone that has one.

Thanks in advance for all of your help.
Jeff Bath

Don't do any painting unless you can do it right. A rusty tractor that works right looks better than a half-fast painted one.

Just wipe it down with light oil on a rag every once in a while. You will be surprised at how nice it will look.

I've used Rust-Oleum in the past to paint construction equipment and using they're heavy rust primer the equipment still looks good to this day. Almost 10yrs later.

I would like to at least sand the hood and fenders to bare metal but I tested on a small section and I found it will take a long time to do it right. I did test a section with the rust-oleum primer and it cover very nicely.

I intend on at least using a wire wheel to remove the flakes and it also needs a good pressure washing to remove the grime.

Some of the ugliest tractors I ever saw were brush painted by some old farmer who knew that protecting the metal was more important than looks. Once stripped, these ugly ducklings showed near perfect sheet metal and could be redone as real beauties. To say "don't touch it unless you have the time to make it look nice" is being short sighted.