Black coating on new sheet metal

[Mike65 475]

As I am replacing the sheet metal on my 69 Coupe a lot of the new pieces have the black coating on them, the quarter skins, tail light panel, rear valance, door sheel & door skin. Should I sand off this black coat or can a paint shop prime & paint over it. If I sand it off can I use just rattle can primer to cover tehm until they get painted?.TIA, Mike.

[latoracing 256]

The black paint is a primer/sealer. Most body shops will scuff the pannel before they apply a primer, or any other coating, and leave this coat on the pannel. I would not see a need to take the coating off, just to put basicly the same thing back on. I'm shure there are alot of diffrent point of views on this, but my painter always tells me to leave the coating alone.

[RogerC 136]

Its E-coat, it protects the new pieces from rusting. Prep for paint as any primed surface, no need to remove.

[dzahm 10]

X 3- My body guy says don't remove- He said some of the companies will not warranty the part if that is removed (prob only applies to new car/collision work)not old mustangs. The exception to this is if its peeling/chipping. In all the parts I got- only one did that- it was a door skin and when bent around the door shell the edges began to lift. So we removed all loose areas, and sanded (feathering the edge) and then primed.

[fordguy69 24]

Test the coating. Put some laquer thinner on a rag and rub the black coating. If you see black on the rag, sand it off. If you don't, leave it. Most of the repro companies now use good e-coat that does not need to be removed. However, some still use crappy coatings that do not provide a proper base.

[Mike65 475]

Thanks for the info guys, thats what I needed to know.

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

i've always removed the e-coat given my time is free and it isn't hard to remove. i've discovered what appears to be rust on a few occasions. i don't know if it would have ever become an issue or not. it seems a lot of people don't remove it, so that would in theory result in fewer people discovering whatever i've found. plus those who are sanding off the e-coat probably are sanding off the rust appearing color at the same time never noticing.

 

i certainly wouldn't remove the e-coat just to replace it with a rattle can.

 

in general, you probably won't find what you don't look for.