Rib primer question

[taylorcraft078]

I got a chance to varnish the spars today. About 60 in western NY in December. The wing went to the driveway and I got out the paintbrush! It was nice to put stuff on instead of strip stuff off.

The question is about painting the primer on the ribs. I am considering using a little Poly Fiber epoxy primer on the bottom T stock to give it a little protection for the next 30 years. There is currently no protective coating on the ribs. The instructions call for using a phosphoric acid etch to wash out the corrosion and then another pre coating before the primer. When I asked Dondi about it she explained the process to me (hint-get your stuff from Jim and Dondi Miller if you are a beginner).

My plan was to just use scotch brite pads and MEK to clean things up. Then put a paintbrush coat of primer on the capstrips. I figure that it will be better than nothing and not leave the risk of having some of the phosporic acid hanging around and causing more problems.

Any thoughts on which way to go? What am I giving up if I just clean things up and brush on a little primer? Should I just clean up the ribs with the scothbrites and leave it at that?

Dave
N36078 '41 BC-12-65

[Robert Lees]

Some epoxy prime would not go amiss...any protection you can provide! Brush will be OK.

If you use the Poly-Fiber acid components to clean up the corrosion, make sure you can rinse them all out.

[lktiller]

check out this link for aluminum protection.

http://www.polyfiber.com/techquestions/surfaces/aluminumsurfaces.htm

and this one:

http://www.arl.co.nz/chinch/rvlog/priming.htm

more:

http://www.poly-metal.com/alodine.shtml

I used an alodine process to coat my ribs. makes an excellent primer base. Resists corrosion.
I still sprayed with zinc oxide (not chromate) for that extra protection.

LKT