Flat black 1st gen? | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Flat black 1st gen?

mehedgec

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Year, Model & Trim Level
'93 XLT
I am in the process of doing my 'sploder in flat black. Anyone got pics of one in that color?

I just need to take care of a couple more dents on the rear passenger door, finish sanding the primer off from the doors back and the roof and then put primer on and it'll be ready for paint.

Also, does anyone know where to get the best deal on headlight assemblies? The old ugly ones won't look right with fresh paint.
 



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A factory black one will give you a good idea. They look pretty good with some mods if you're going for the zombie assault vehicle look. You may want to use satin black instead of flat black though, flat black has a rough sandpapery finish, and even with clear on it it will still have texture. Satin black has the smooth finish of regular paint, without the gloss or shine. You don't even need clear over it, though it helps with durability and makes it easier to keep clean.

You can just clean up the stock headlamps with PlastX plastic polish or similar, and seal up the lens/housing connection with some black silicone so they don't get condensation inside when they eventually get so old the seal goes. Turtle Wax and Sylvania also make a headlight restoration kit that has the sanding stuff, polish, and sealer to make them look super new. Otherwise you can get new aftermarket stuff from places like RockAuto, Amazon, or headlightsdepot.
 






Anime said it all and left nothing out. I will say I have painted with flat before and will not again as he said its ruff and also hard to keep clean and to me it looks bad really fast. now satin that a way to go every thing flat is with a hit of a shin nothing more but a lot nicer looking and easier to take care of. Helped me sale my old Honda here a few years ago and that was a few years after painting it satin black. Now painting flat well that became an almost every year job so forget it.
 






Actually we're gonna use "hotrod black". I should have been more specific
 






Also, does anyone know where to get the best deal on headlight assemblies? The old ugly ones won't look right with fresh paint.
Ebay. Really a complete set of front lights(headlights, marker, side) will only set you back $80. That's what it cost me for everything. You can try & use those restorer kits,(I never had luck with them) but they will just cover it up & will fade again. It's just easier to replace once. IMHO.
 


















Flat black, $14 paint job:

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Damn.

I just did my rear hatch, and found out the emblems are placed using holes in the hatch. I was planning on leaving them off and putting a loan Decepticon emblem in the corner where the Ford emblem was. :(
 






I haven't taken the sideskirts off, so I'm curious. how likely is it that my rockers aren't rusted out since my truck as spent its entire life in NC?
 






Flat black, $14 paint job:

WOAH wait.... $14? HOW??????? I really must know. Looks better than most rattle can jobs...
 












It was actually 12 cans of .96 flat black spray paint from Lowe's, and 2 cans of .99 clear coat from same. Michael and I taped it off using old newspaper. We didn't end up using all the spray paint, so that should cover the cost of masking tape. :)
 






Very nice.... I was thinking about trying a roller paint job on my explorer since it is too windy usually to rattle can in this state, and I just don't think the truck is worth a real paint job, especially since I don't really mind things hitting or scratching my paint.

A dollar a can though.... that is cheap
 






yea its also some pretty good spray paint too...i have used it to paint my CRX,Jon boat and a few of the kids bikes...looks really good..i think i am going to try to paint my blue.

Whats the roller method?Spray the paint then roll it on??
 






You dilute the canned rustoleum enamal in mineral spirits until it is slightly thicker than milk, then paint it on using a roller and a brush. It takes a couple hours to dry between coats, but it almost completely self-levels.
 






would i have to sand down my truck to bare metal or can i just paint over the red that i have on there now??
 






You just rough it up. Rustoleum is technically formulated to stick to rust, paint and bare metal, so you don't need an etching primer. Only problem with it is it is an acrylic enamel, and it doesn't have any UV additive, so it will never get as hard as a urethane, and it may fade after a few years, just like cars from the 60s

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/body/hrdp_0707_1962_ford_falcon_budget_paint_job/index.html
http://www.rickwrench.com/index79master.htm?http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html
http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=2331682&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1

I'm gonna have a lot of metal repair in my near future..... so I figure I am gonna put truck bed liner from the bumpers down and roll on the top half, probably in orange (safety orange) if I can find it.
 









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i have really enjoyed my two explorers after i painted them a satin black i used krylon fusion. that stuff is expensive but works amazing, i do have some pics of a set of tsw rims i did for a friend they came out amazing ill try to post them on here asap. by the way a satin finish with a flat clear works really well. tough and doesnt shine to horribly. i used about four cans of krylon on my truck and it looks great.
 






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