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CLEANING AND PAINTING TIPS

K.LaRue-VA

*9N/2N/8N*

1952-8N fordlogo

To be perfectly honest, painting tips from me will be about as basic as it gets, I'm no expert. Surface prep is where 95% of paint jobs go bad. That's usually where my paint jobs fall short.
If you want a show-quality finish there is no substitute for stripping everything and starting from base metal. If all you want is a better looking tractor it is not necessary to strip all the way to bare metal. Seal openings and remove things like the carb and ignition components. Then give the tractor a really good power-washing. You will need some scrapers and wire brushes to help remove caked-on gunk.

Remove all loose paint and any areas with heavy layers of paint. Sand smooth and feather-edge any chipped areas. This is a good test for loose paint. If you can feather-edge the chip or scratch without losing more paint, it must be stuck pretty good. Now is the time to do any serious body-work or cast iron repairs. It is possible to braise or weld cast iron. You can even use the liquid metal epoxy for some repairs or cosmetic work.

DO use a good primer that matches the paint you are going to use. I believe primer should be the same manufacturer and listed for use with the finish paint you are using. This ensures compatibility. Experts have certainly tested and approved various combinations of products, but I can't afford waste or do-overs. I'd rather not rely on advice from someone who isn't going to offer to pay for damages caused by their mouth (think about it).

Without a good, compatible primer, the finish coats of paint will not stick well to the metal and will soon bubble, chip, and flake off. One light coat of primer is all you need for starters. That should give you an idea how straight your panels are. How good a job did you do on your bodywork? I like to block sand with medium grit (100-150) sandpaper to reveal high and low spots. Small imperfections can be filled with primer by spot-painting them and sanding until you build up enough primer to fill the imperfection. The sheet metal is plenty thick enough for traditional hammer and dolly work. Some folks will use a skim-coat of bondo and then sand the panel, leaving bondo only in the low spots. Once you are satisfied with the bodywork, shoot one light coat of primer on everything. Let it dry, then sand with fine (180-220) grit paper or use clean steel wool.

Finish Painting

I have found that one quart of primer and two quarts of each color is enough to do the whole tractor with some extra for small parts and touch-up.

My advice is to skip the hardener or any other paint additives, especially if this is a working tractor. Paint is bad enough for you without adding even more toxic substances to it. Plus, the added benefits of the additives are mostly wasted on a tractor anyway. Few home shops have the proper respirators and other equipment required to shoot paint with additives. That stuff can kill you, D-E-D dead. Many of those who are not killed outright have permanent health issues.

With most paint guns you will need to thin the paint for spraying. My spray gun seems to like 5% mineral spirits. Information about thinning and tip size should be printed on the paint can. The newer HVLP spray guns should create a lot less overspray than the older type of equipment that I still use, but they are also more expensive. If you adjust the HVLP gun correctly, you should be able to get good coverage with a lot less paint floating around to breathe. You still need a mask. For a one-time deal even the disposable masks are better than nothing.

COLORS OF 8N PARTS

Some purists whine about green and yellow Fords or 9N tractors painted with the Red-Belly paint scheme. But, this is your tractor, so feel free to paint it any color you choose. Any future restorer is going to strip whatever paint is there and start over. No-matter what color you use, any paint will protect the metal.

Trying to match the original colors is tough. Modern paints are vastly different and much better than the original paint. Nothing you buy today will appear EXACTLY the same as the original finish under all types of lighting. What looks right in your garage might not look right out in the sun. Not surprisingly, there is a lot of disagreement between the various experts about the original colors. Some have their paint custom mixed to match the color on a part that has been protected from sun and weather. But duplicating that exact shade for future touch-ups could be a problem. Some go to their local New Holland dealer to buy paint. By all accounts the dealer Ford Red is too orange and there are more than one shade of gray sold as "Ford Gray". I prefer to use readily available stock paints that come close to the original colors without being too anal about the perfect shade.

The colors listed below are very close to the original Ford 8N colors. These color swatches will look different on every computer screen, so you can't go by that. The correct red color should be a blood red, not orange or burgundy. The correct gray color is very light, almost white, with a very slight greenish hue to my eyes (other people say olive or tan).

One story going around is that Barn Sparrows had been making such a mess of the Dark Gray 9N paint that Ford wanted a new color for the 8N that would not contrast as much. The red maybe was supposed to make rust less noticable. I have listed in the chart below the most-often recommended brands and colors of paint.

Ford N-Series Colors:

8N	8N	9N/2N
Rust Oleum - 7762 Sunrise Red PPG DAR 70075 TISCO Ford Red	PPG DAR 31657 TISCO Light Gray	Rust Oleum - 7786 Smoke Gray PPG DAR 0049 TISCO Ford Dark Gray
I decided to stick with what I know and use RustOleum paint. I have had good performance in the past with this brand. RustOleum used to have a color 7755 Light Olive that was very close to the correct Ford Light Gray but it was not available anywhere in this area. They used to list the color on their web site, but it is no longer even listed. For the 52, I decided to get a can of RustOleum 7786 Smoke Gray and mix it 50:50 with a can of 7792 Gloss White. The color I ended up with was OK, photographed well, and has held up very well. The idea was to find an easy mix that woudl be easy to repeat for tough-up work.

My 52-8N Colors:

8N	8N	9N/2N
Rust Oleum - 7762 Sunrise Red	Rust Oleum - 7786 Smoke Gray mixed with Rust Oleum - 7792 Gloss White	Rust Oleum - 7786 Smoke Gray
After all that for the 46-2N I decided to revisit the mix and see if I could do a little better. This time I'm trying a can of RustOleum 7786 Smoke Gray mixed 50:50 with a can of 7770 Almond. The color I ended up with was OK, photographed well, and has held up very well. The idea was to find an easy mix that woudl be easy to repeat for tough-up work.

My 46-2N Colors:

8N	8N	9N/2N
Rust-Oleum-7762 Sunrise Red	Rust-Oleum-7786 Smoke Gray mixed with Rust-Oleum-7770 Almond	Rust-Oleum-7786 Smoke Gray

Here's the progression: Again these colors probably appear very different on every computer screen. Paint colors nearly always appear lighter than the swatch when applied to large surfaces. I take all of my pictures with the same camera and you can see from my photos that the colors are all over the place when I publish the images. I know my tractors are not changing colors at night. Pick colors that you are happy with and vary them to suit your preference. It's your tractor and your money.
8N	8N	9N/2N
Sunrise Red	Smoke Gray+White	Smoke Gray
Sunrise Red	Smoke Gray+Almond	Smoke Gray
Sunrise Red	Just8Ns	Smoke Gray

COLORS OF PARTS

The following table has all the information I could find regarding original colors of various parts.
PART NAME	8N	9N/2N	PART NAME	8N	9N/2N
Air Cleaner	Red	Dark Gray	Headlight Housings	Lt Gray - Plated Screws	Dark Gray - Plated Screws
Axle Housings	Red	Dark Gray	Hood	Lt Gray	Dark Gray
Axle Hubs	Red	Dark Gray	Hood Side Skirts	Lt Gray	Dark Gray
Battery Cable	Black Insulation	Black Insulation	Ignition Switch	Unpainted	Unpainted
Battery Cover	Red with Decal	NA	Light Switch	Unpainted	Unpainted
Battery Tray	Red	Dark Gray	Lug Nuts	Zinc Plated	Zinc Plated
Battery/Fuel Door	Lt Gray	Dark Gray	Manifold	Unknown	Unknown
Battery/Fuel Door Knob	Black	Chrome	Muffler and Pipe	Zinc Plated	Zinc Plated
Brake Drums	Red	Dark Gray	Oil Filter Housing	Red	Dark Gray
Brake Pedals	Red	Dark Gray	Oil Filter Bolt	Zinc Plated	Zinc Plated
Breather Cap	Red	Dark Gray	Oil Pan	Red	Dark Gray
Cable Ends and Hardware	Unpainted	Unpainted	Position Control Lever	Red	NA
Carburetor	Red or Unfinished	Unfinished	Proofmeter Face	Black-White Letters	NA
Choke Knob	Unpainted Metal or Black	Unpainted Metal or Black	Proofmeter Trim	Black	NA
Clutch Pedal	Red	Dark Gray	PTO Knob	Red or Plain	Dark Gray
Cylinder Head	Red	Dark Gray	PTO Lever	Red	Dark Gray
Dash Panel	Red	Dark Gray	PTO Shaft Cover	Red	Dark Gray
Distributor Cap	Unfinished	Unfinished	Radiator	Black	Black
Drag Link	Red	Dark Gray	Radiator Cap	Black	Chrome?
Drawbar	Red	Dark Gray	Radiator Hose	Black Rubber	Black Rubber
Engine Block	Red	Dark Gray	Radius Rods	Red	Dark Gray
Fan	Red	Dark Gray	Rear End Housing	Red	Dark Gray
Fan Belt	Black Rubber	Black Rubber	Rear Rims	Zinc Plated	Zinc Plated
Fan Shroud	Red	Dark Gray	Rear Wheel Centers	Lt Gray	Dark Gray
Fender Mounting Bolts	Cad Plated	Cad Plated	Running Boards	Red	Dark Gray or None
Fenders	Lt Gray	Dark Gray	Seat & Spring	Black	Dark Gray
Fender Brackets	Lt Gray	Dark Gray	Spark Plug Wire Tube	Cadmium-Plated	Cadmium-Plated
Ford Emblem	Red with Chrome Script and Border	Blue with Chrome Script and Border	Spark Plug Wires	Unpainted-Black	Unpainted-Black
Front Axle Extension	Red	Dark Gray	Spark Plugs	Unpainted	Unpainted
Front Hubs	Red	Dark Gray	Starter	Red	Dark Gray
Front Rims	Lt Gray	Dark Gray	Starter Button	Unpainted-Steel	Unpainted-Steel
Front Timing Cover	Red	Dark Gray	Steering Wheel Nut	Plated Acorn Nut	Plated Acorn Nut
Fuel Line	Unpainted-Steel	Unpainted-Steel	Three-Point Hitch Arms	Red	Dark Gray
Fuel Tank	Cadmium-Plated	Cadmium-Plated	Throttle Lever	Cadmium-Plated	Cadmium-Plated
Gearshift	Red	Dark Gray	Throttle Lever Base	Cadmium-Plated	Cadmium-Plated
Gearshift Boot	Black Rubber	Black Rubber	Tie Rods	Red	Dark Gray
Gearshift Knob	Red 1-Piece (early) Black Plastic (later)	Dark Gray	Timing Cover Bolts	Zinc Plated	Dark Gray
Generator	Red	Dark Gray	Toolbox	Red	Dark Gray
Grill	Lt Gray	Dark Gray	Touch Control Lever	Red	Dark Gray
Ground Strap	Unpainted	Unpainted	Transmission Housing	Red	Dark Gray
Guage Faces	Black-White Letters	Black-White Letters	Valve Covers	Red	Dark Gray
Guage Trim	Black	Black	Wire Harness	Unpainted	Unpainted

In general all hardware bolting the major castings together was painted red when the entire assembly was painted. This photo is sort of what the tractor looked like on the assembly line when it was painted.

RED

This is as far as I go unless the tractor needs to be split to replace the clutch or fix something else major. If that is necessary I wait to prime and paint the tractor after I have it back to this point again. Some restorers prime and paint each casting separately. Then they paint again after the major parts are assembled to cover scratches and hardware.

I don't know if going that far has any real value, but the guys who do go to that level turn out finished tractors that are nearly perfect like this one:

Restored Tractor by Derek Barkley at Just8Ns.com

After painting, the hardware used to attach sheetmetal and other parts during final assembly was generally just standard Cad-Plated hardware.

The Manifold is shown as UNKNOWN in the table because they may have been plain castings or painted. I have not been able to nail this down. It is almost meaningless anyway. Even if they were painted, the paint almost immediately burns off. If you don't like rusty cast iron, the best choice is probably a high temp flat black stove paint or Eastwood sells a high temp natural cast iron coating for manifolds that I am using on the current 2N project.

Every hi-temp coating I have tried so far seems to fail as soon as I get the exhaust good and hot. Idling around won't do it, so your trailer queen's exhaust might look nice longer. Putting a loadon the engine for more than 20 minutes will cook off most hi-temp finishes.

Even chroms plating tends to turn blue, based on the pipes on every motorcycle I owned. Ceramic coatings are supposed to be able to withstand the heat, but the price is way beyond what I'm willing to spend to test that theory.

Colors I keep on hand for touch-up and small projects.

Rustoleum High-Performance Enamel

Dark Machine Gray #7587

Smoke Gray #7786

Almond #7770

Sunrise Red #7762

Crystal Clear Enamel #7701

Gloss Black #7579

Flat Black #

Silver #

Updated NOV 2010 KL