Undercoating Question - Reducing to Spray:

Question before I conduct any testing, but I have a 5 gallon drum of the GREAT old original Texaco rustproof formula (long ago discontinued) & want to reduce it so I can apply with a wand sprayer. It's thick like a tub of grease, so if I reduce it with mineral spirits to spray it, I know it will become flammable as hell. The question is, will the mineral spirits evaporate & just leave the rustproofing after a while? If not, what can I safely reduce it with & not have a fire hazard?

Send me a private message and I will help you. You need to see if you can find a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) or Safety Data Sheet (SDS) for the Texaco product you have. See if you can find a part number on the bucket which may help.

So, to answer your question.... mineral spirits evaporates very, very slowly (days/weeks) & is not the best solvent for some types of undercoating/paint. Yes, "eventually" the mineral spirits will evaporate & leave just the undercoating.


Almost all paint thinnners (aka undercoating thinners) are flammable.

You can figure out which laquer thinner works best and how much to thin it by making a few very small (1/2 cup or so) sample batches of undercoating, and brush them out on some scrap metal leaving a final thickness of 1/8" or so. Let them dry.

You can try using automotive lacquer thinner, which should cut the material, flash off nicely and work. The colder the conditions, the faster evaporating the thinner should be. Do not use mineral spirits! It will never dry.

Try making a few batches that end up having a spray-able consistency through an undercoating spray gun similar to this.

https://nhoilundercoating.com/product/spray-gun-for-nh-oil-undercoating-products/

Anyone I know thinned it with mineral spirits....

Ed

I have not had time to test yet. I want to try a piece of paper towel with some of the Texaco stuff on it & see how it burns, or if it burns.

You have to heat it up to thin it too....

Ed