CLEANING AND PAINTING TIPS

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 to 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.

Please do not skip the step "Seal openings and remove things like the carb and ignition components." Power Washing is not the preferred method of cleaning your tractor on a regular basis. There are very few ways to more quickly and thoroughly screw up carburetors, distributors, air cleaners, gauges, and electrical components than squirting them with high-pressure water.

Remove all dirt and loose paint. Sand smooth and feather-edge any drools and chipped areas. This is a good test for loose paint. If you can feather-edge the chip or scratch without flaking off 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 liquid metal epoxy for some repairs or cosmetic work.

Air Compressor, Rattle Cans, or Brush?

Many very nice paint jobs have been done with rattle cans or a brush. Using a spray gun does not guarantee a better job. If you already have an air compressor, almost any cheap spray gun is a good investment. One quart can of paint, applied with a spray gun, will cover as much as about 12 rattle cans. Painting with a brush takes much longer and generally uses a lot more paint than spraying. For small parts and small jobs, it's hard to beat the convenience of the rattle cans. For over 30 years my preference was Rustoleum. Unfortunately that changed when Rustoleum forgot how to make a rattle can that would squirt without clogging. I returned the first 3 or 4 cans that clogged after reported the problem and lot numbers to Rustoleum. I assumed it was a bad lot of paint, but then none of the replacement cans worked well enough to shoot more than 10% to 25% of the contents. It appears that the paint is either full of lumps, or drying on the way out of the can. Even after shaking the can for several minutes before spraying, the nozzle soon starts to clog. I've cleaned and even drilled out nozzles only to have the cans clog up internally. I had very few issues with the old style rattle can with the little male nozzle. Plus, those little nozzles were universal. It was possible to swap nozzles from many different products to get different spray patterns. No more, Rustoleum redesigned the can valve and nozzle. This may have been intended to make the nozzle larger and more comfortable to use. As far as I am concerned the new valve and nozzle design is an utter failure. After doing a few web searches, obviously I am not the only person having this problem with Rustoleum rattle cans.

Final Preparation

No matter how you plan to apply the finish coats, DO use a good primer that is compatible the paint you are going to use. Without a good, compatible primer, finish coats of paint do not stick well to the bare metal. Spend some time making sure the surfaces are clean, smooth, primed, and ready for paint. This is the step that has the most effect on the quality of the finish. Start with one light coat of primer. Then inspect the panels and any repairs. How good did you do on the bodywork? I like to block sand with fine or medium grit 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. That is way overkill for a working tractor. I'm happy if the panels are relatively straight. A few dents just add character, grin. Once you are satisfied with the bodywork, shoot one light coat of primer on everything. Let it dry thoroughly, then sand with fine (180-220) grit paper, or use clean steel wool. Finally, just before spraying the first finish color, go over the surface with a clean rag and mineral spirits to remove any dust or oils. A single oily finger print will mess-up the finish. If you are painting in the great outdoors, try to pick a day with low winds, not too much sun, and few bugs. Good luck with that.

Finish Painting

If using an air compressor and spray gun, one quart of primer and two quarts of each color is enough to do the red-belly paint scheme. This usually leaves some extra for small parts and to touch-up any damage down the road.

My advice is to skip hardeners and any other paint additives, especially if this is a working tractor. Paint fumes are bad enough without adding more toxic substances. Plus, the benefits provided by additives are completely wasted on a working tractor. 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, or make you wish you were dead. Get the material safety data sheets for any paint additives you think you want to use. Just do a web search for the product and add MSDS to the search. If you become sensitized to some of these products, it may put you in the hospital and cause permanent health issues. It just isn't worth the risk for a one-shot deal on a tractor. Leave additives to the folks painting show cars who have the proper safety equipment. A good quality enamel will last at least 10 years and still clean up well (if you ever bother to wash the dirt off your working tractor).

With most paint guns the paint must be thinned for spraying. My spray gun seems to like thinning with 5% mineral spirits (that works out to adding 1.6 ounces of mineral spirits to one quart can of paint). There is enough room in the can to add the thinner, put the lid back on, and shake it up. Information about thinning and tip size should be printed on the paint can. The newer HVLP spray guns 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 overspray. You still need a mask. For a one-time deal even the disposable masks are better than nothing.

Clear Coat

A cheap clear paint will turn yellow, crack, flake, and generally look ugly much faster than plain enamel and any decals would have started looking bad. Decals are printed in several ways and types. Good quality vinyl or water-transfer types seem to last about the same time as paint for me (5-10 years). There are different grades of vinyl and some inks used are more UV resistant than others. Cheap vinyl decals may curl at the edges, or might start fading badly in only a few months.

After experimenting with several clear coat products, most have created more problems than they might have fixed. In theory, a good clear coat should provide additional UV protection, provide a deeper shine, and stay shiny much longer than just the base coat. This works really well for modern automotive base coat, clear coat finishes. It is very difficult to duplicate that in the typical garage/barnyard application area where we are working. A few projects have turned out great, and were worth the effort/expense. The better clear coat products cost at least $20 to $25 for one rattle can. Adding clear coat doubles the cost of just spraying a decent enamel over primer. For that money, I will usually buy two sets of decals and replace them when they start looking bad.

COLORS OF 8N PARTS

Some purists may whine about green and yellow Fords or 9N tractors painted with the Red-Belly paint scheme. Tough, this is your tractor, so feel free to paint it any colors 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.

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. Yuck, thankfully I have not found any official reference to "Sparrow Poop Gray Paint" ever being an official Ford color. Some say the red was to make rust less noticeable.

Trying to match the original colors is tough. Modern paints are vastly different, and perform much better than the original paint. Nothing you buy today will appear EXACTLY the same as the original finish under all types of lighting, and it certainly won't age the same. What looks right in your garage might not look right in the sun. Camera and monitor settings vary so much I often get different looking colors in photos of the same tractor, taken under the same lights, a few minutes apart. Not surprisingly, there is a lot of disagreement between the various experts about the best match for the original colors. Some have their paint custom mixed to match the color on a part that has been protected from sun and weather. Some go to their local New Holland dealer to buy "original color" paint. By all accounts the Ford Red sold by New Holland dealers is too orange for the 8N tractors. It may be correct for the '01 series tractors that started around 1957. There are several shades of gray being sold as "Ford Gray". I prefer to use readily available paint that comes close to the original colors, without being too anal about the perfect shade.

The color swatches below are representative of the original Ford 9N/2N/8N colors. Since, these color swatches will look different on every computer screen, don't put any faith in what you see on any computer screen. The correct 8N red color should be a blood red, not excessively orange. The correct light gray color is hard to describe, not really light gray, more like tan with a very slight greenish tint. I have listed in each swatch the most-often recommended brands and colors of paint.

Ford N-Series Colors:

8N-Red	8N-Gray	9N/2N
Rust-Oleum - 7762 Sunrise Red		Rust-Oleum - 7786 Smoke Gray
PPG DAR 70075	PPG DAR 31657	PPG DAR 0049
TISCO Ford Red	TISCO Light Gray	TISCO Ford Dark Gray

My 52-8N Colors:

I decided to stick with what I know and use Rust-Oleum "Stops Rust" paint. I have had good performance in the past with this brand. Rust-Oleum 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 quart of Rust-Oleum 7786 Smoke Gray, and mix it 50:50 with a quart of 7792 Gloss White. The color I ended up with was a little too light, but since the correct color tends to fade to white, it was not a bad choice. The idea was to find an easy mix that would be easy to repeat for touch-up or replaced parts.

My 46-2N Colors:

After all that, the 46-2N should have been easy, simple, dark gray, right? Nope, that would be too easy. I decided to go with the 8N paint scheme. This time, for the light gray, I used a quart of Rust-Oleum 7786 Smoke Gray, mixed 50:50 with a quart of 7770 Almond. The color I ended up with is better, and still very easy to make.

COLORS OF PARTS - 9N 2N 8N TRACTORS

The following table has all the information I could find regarding original colors of various parts. This table is good for the vast majority of these tractors. HOWEVER, The earliest 9N tractors were very different from most other 9N tractors. There was more chrome on the very early tractors (radiator cap, gauge bezels, choke knob). The early 9Ns also used a four spoke Ford truck steering wheel with a chrome hub cap. Later tractors used a 3 spoke steering wheel with an exposed chrome washer and nut.

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

In general all hardware holding the major castings together was painted when the assembly was painted. The next photo is sort of what the 8N tractors looked like on the assembly line when they were painted.

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 paint again, after the major parts are assembled to cover scratches and hardware. I don't know if going that far on a tractor has any real value, but the guys who do go to that level turn out some incredibly nice tractors, like this one:

Restored Tractor by Derek Barkley at Just8Ns.com

After painting, the hardware used to attach sheet metal 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 the exhaust portion of the manifold. If you don't like rusty cast iron, the best product I have found is a high temp natural cast iron coating for manifolds sold by Eastwood. Every other hi-temp coating I have tried fails as soon as I get the exhaust good and hot. Idling around won't get the exhaust that hot, so your trailer queen's exhaust might look nice longer. Putting a load on the engine for more than 20 minutes will cook off most hi-temp finishes. Even chrome plating tends to turn blue. 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.

Ford Blue and White Tractor Colors:

This is a test area for my "new" 1971 Ford 3000 tractor color choices. The sheet metal is being repaired and painted to stop the rust from getting worse. The cast iron parts will have to wait till I have fewer projects in-progress. After removing dead decals and sanding, two cans of Krylon MAXX Gray Primer sprayed perfectly. Two brand new cans of Rust-Oleum Blue sputtered, spattered, and then clogged completely with paint still in the cans. I stopped using Rust-Oleum spray primers because they won't spray thru the new nozzle system. Apparently Rust-Oleum finish colors now have the same problem. Most of the first coat will now have to be sanded to remove spatters and globs. No more rattle cans for this tractor.

What I'm doing here (just for grins) is comparing various color swatch RGB codes copied from paint manufacturer's color charts on the web. I'm assuming the paint manufacturers have people who agonize over the exact RGB computer codes that best represent their colors. Of course computer screens simply cannot accurately display real colors or change correctly as lighting color changes. The first two rows are swatches of five different official Ford Blue color codes that might have been used for tractors in 1971. This seems to show that there are several different colors that various experts claim are correct for these tractors.

MX700825 or M1639	WT8002 or WT8026	WT8096 or MX700790
WT8027	WT8050	Wimbledon White
Eastwood	Mirror	Blue
Eastwood	Ford	Dark Blue
Eastwood	Ford	Light Blue
Eastwood	Ford	Blue Paint
Valspar	Ford	Blue
Krylon	Ford	Blue
Rust-Oleum	Ford	Blue
Rust-Oleum	Royal	Blue
Rust-Oleum Sail Blue	50-mix-50	Rust-Oleum Royal Blue
Rust-Oleum Sail Blue	50-mix-50	Rust-Oleum Navy Blue
Rust-Oleum Royal Blue	90-mix-10	Rust-Oleum Almond
Krylon Regal Blue	Krylon Navy Blue	Krylon True Blue
Rust-Oleum Sail Blue	Dupli-Color Royal Blue	Krylon Global Blue
White	White	White
Classic Grey	Krylon1	Rust-Oleum Almond
Smoke Grey	Krylon2	Rust-Oleum Almond
Smoke Grey	Rustoleum	Rust-Oleum Almond
Ford Red	RGB Red	Banner Red
Krylon	Color	Test