Painting a heater box?

[Matt13]

If so, what paint do I need?

[76orangewagon]

If so, what paint do I need?

They should be left in their natural finish which is a brownish color with visible fiber strands showing. Painting them will look incorrect and is just wrong.

[anlauto]

If it's in real poor shape, you can use a fine glass bead at a low pressure to clean the fiberglass, otherwise just a good cleaning, then spray with a satin clear to restore a natural finish. I agree, they shouldn't be painted.

[Burdar]

I didn't do anything to the outside of my Challenger box.  It cleaned up and looked good.  My Dart box was another story.  I sanded it and sprayed it with a matte clear.  Once the clear hits the sanding scratches, they disappear and just leave the natural color of the box.  It works pretty good.

[RUNCHARGER]

If you had to repair a break you can lightly mist in that area with colour but then clear the whole box.

[Matt13]

Ok, clean and matte clear it is. Thanks!

[76orangewagon]

I know I said earlier there wasn't a paint that looked right because I was strictly thinking about Rattle can paint jobs which seem to be the popular choice but a few Months ago I was at Mike Ross' place B/E and A Restoration parts and saw a heater box for a customer's car with the entire front lip gone and he rebuilt the lip to a factory look instead of just squaring off what's left and formulated a paint color with the fibers that was spot on. So if you need to paint a heater box and is beyond just cleaning it up I'm sure Mike could help you out. I have a few pictures of the repaired section but the entire box turned out fantastic and looks great in the customer's AAR

[screamindriver]

Sure would be nice to see Mike posting some of his outstanding work on the site again...Thanks for sharing his alternative route for others...

[76orangewagon]

Sure would be nice to see Mike posting some of his outstanding work on the site again...Thanks for sharing his alternative route for others...

He might if they would release the chains and let him back in.....he PM'd the powers that could change that but he didn't hear back even regarding him being able to just clearing out his posts. You can find him on Moparts though.

[EV2RTSE]

I have no dog in the fight, as far as I'm concerned the more knowledge shared on these cars the better it is for everyone.

In the meantime, here's a link to Restorick's website on heater box restoration, he's probably the pioneer on this-

http://www.restorick.com/tech/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=75

[JS29]

@Matt13  Mike repaired this heater box, and painted the repair.