Painting The Subframe Connectors, Part 1

Friday after work Dad and I were on a mission to find replacement hardware for the Panhard/track bar, the Panhard/track bar brace, and the trailing arms/lower control arms. It took a bit of searching and a lot of running around, but we managed to find everything we needed. Thanks for your help Dad! Here is everything we bought.

Since the front subframe connectors mounts were completely welded on both sides (the rear still needs the outer sides done) I taped them off and scuffed them up with sandpaper. I decided to paint the bracket portion with POR-15 black and leave the tubular portion red. 

I used the air compressor to blow off any loose dirt/dust/residue from the welding.

I threw down a tarp on the garage floor. Then I used MarineClean and scrubbed the welds and surrounding area.

Then I rinsed the areas thoroughly with water.

I applied Prep and Ready to the areas and allowed it to soak for thirty minutes.

I again rinsed everything thoroughly with water.

Then I strategically placed my larger fans to blow on the areas to aid in drying.

Here are the brackets after being cleaned and prepped.

While I was waiting for the brackets to dry, I noticed the Panhard/track bar brace sleeve was rusted. This is where the bolt passes through. I used Prep and Ready and filled up the sleeve so it could work on the rust.

I capped off one end with a small piece of sound deadening and some black duct tape. This created a watertight seal.

After the first coat of POR-15:

Sara took pictures of me applying the second coat of POR-15 black later that night.

Second coat of POR-15 black:

I applied the third coat of POR-15 this morning and removed the tape. The lines did not end up the cleanest on the subframe connectors, but I am not all that worried about it because they are really not going to be seen. It is weird what a camera flash can do to colors; both the subframe connectors are a deep red, even though one looks orange in this picture.

After I finished painting, I went through the rest of the hardware we had bagged and tagged looking for any additional rear end hardware we would need.