Flattening SPI Epoxy Primer for frame/chassis
 

Long story short, I decided to use straight “out of the can” black SPI epoxy primer as my 60° (60%) gloss. That covers what I wanted for the inner fenders, core support, control arms, and all the other odds and ends. Is it 60? Who knows but I wasn’t about to try to knock down 5 or 10% and complicate things.

For the frame, firewall, top of cowl, and underside of the hood I wanted to come up with a 30°. I used a flattening agent (SPI #950) and test sprayed a few mixes. I settled on 12.5% flattening agent (round up/down if you like, but that was just how the numbers easily worked out for the quantity I needed so I’m sticking with it).

I need to play around with things and get a 0° for the top of the dash (black interior in this ‘68) without going too far and getting the “gray” look. Not going for concourse or perfection, but figured that 3 different gloss levels out of the same can was a win in my book.

Pics of gloss/sheen rarely represent the finished product all that well but I’ll include some anyways. Pics might make it look like it has grain/peel, but it laid out extremely smooth. These were just taken and are 24hrs after spraying, so all flattening effects should be complete.

Sorry- I should have added that all surfaces were down to bare metal, scuffed with 80, 2 coats of epoxy, Fusor epoxy seam sealer, 1 coat of epoxy, then a final coat of flattened epoxy.

No reducer used because I didn’t want to complicate the flattening effects with another variable. Had to shoot 5-6psi above my usual higher end range to atomize everything enough to lay flat. The flattening agent is rather thick.

I am surprised that flattening agent works with SPI epoxy. It was stated on the forum that it is not intended for use with epoxy. At least that is my recollection.

Don

I actually thought of trying it based off readings on the SPI forums, mainly based off a post by Barry: “ I get a lot of calls from people asking how to flatten my epoxy.
First answer is of course you can use flattening agent and a foot note it takes a very small amount.”

I messaged two of the guru’s over there that had mentioned doing it in the past, but nobody had any solid numbers or direction so I just started experimenting.

The SPI #950 that I mentioned above is no longer on the price sheets as of the past few years. I blieve SPI pulled the flattening agent to drastically reduce the number of calls on their tech line... lol. That’s the vibe I got from them on the phone at least. If you ask politely they will still sell it to you when you call! They still use the same product in-house. You will have to acknowledge that it is an “unsupported” product before they will sell it to you.

They are such a great group of people to deal with (besides having quality products). I wish more places had their level of customer service.

Transtar 6494 might provide similar results if the SPI product was actually unobtainable. (?)

Entropy, is your '69 a Baltimore plant build?

Looking at your pics of the finish on the cowl, the finish appears too dull to me. I'm most involved with serious A-body restorations originally built in '69-70 out of Arlington plant, & '69-72 out of Fremont & Pontiac plants.

This one is a ‘68. I’ll have to check the paperwork on the build location. I spent so much time trying to figure out the dealership or general area it was originally sold from (the number I have for that goes nowhere) that I forgot the rest.

You’d be the perfect person to ask… Was the top of the cowl typically the 30% that is on the frame and firewall? I guess that would make sense, but I often see many with that area looking more like the 60%.

I’ll try to get some better representative pics when I can roll it outside into the sun. In that garage I’m either blasting it with too much light or working in nothing but shadows.