Painting Procedures; Cleaning & Painting Aluminum Propellers & Gear Housings - Mercury 75 Service Manual

Painting Procedures

Cleaning & Painting Aluminum
Propellers & Gear Housings
WARNING
Avoid serious injury from flying debris. Avoid se-
rious injury from airborne particles. Use eye and
breathing protection with proper ventilation.
PROPELLERS
1. Sand the entire area to be painted with 3M 120
Regalite Polycut or coarse Scotch-Brite, disc or
belts.
2. Feather edges of all broken paint edges. Try not
to sand through the primer.
3. Clean the surface to be painted using PPG
Industries DX330 Wax and Grease Remover or
equivalent (Xylene or M.E.K.).
4. If bare metal has been exposed, use Quicksil-
ver's Light Gray Primer.
5. Allow a minimum of 1 hour dry time and no more
than 1 week before applying the finish coat.
6. Apply the finish coat using Quicksilver's EDP
Propeller Black.
GEAR HOUSINGS
The following procedures should be used in refinish-
ing gear housings. This procedure will provide the
most durable paint system available in the field. The
materials recommended are of high quality and
approximate marine requirements. The following
procedure will provide a repaint job that compares
with a properly applied factory paint finish. It is rec-
ommended that the listed materials be purchased
from a local Ditzler Automotive Finish Supply Outlet.
The minimum package quantity of each material
shown following is sufficient to refinish several gear
housings.
Procedure:
1. Wash gear housing with a muriatic acid base
cleaner to remove any type of marine growth,
and rinse with water, if necessary.
2. Wash gear housing with soap and water, then
rinse.
90-830234R3 DECEMBER 1997
3. Sand blistered area with 3M 180 grit sandpaper
or P180 Gold Film Disc to remove paint blisters
only. Feather edge all broken paint edges.
4. Clean gear housing thoroughly with (DX-330)
wax and grease remover.
5. Spot repair surfaces where bare metal is ex-
posed with (DX-503) alodine treatment.
IMPORTANT: Do not use any type of aerosol
spray paints as the paint will not properly adhere
to the surface nor will the coating be sufficiently
thick to resist future paint blistering.
6. Mix epoxy chromate primer (DP-40) with equal
part catalyst (DP-401) per manufacturers
instructions, allowing proper induction period for
permeation of the epoxy primer and catalyst.
7. Allow a minimum of one hour drying time and no
more than one week before top coating assem-
blies.
8. Use Ditzler Urethane DU9000 for Mercury Black,
DU34334 for Mariner Grey, and DU35466 for
Force Charcoal, and DU33414M for Sea Ray
White. Catalyze all three colors with Ditzler DU5
catalyst mixed 1:1 ratio. Reduce with solvents
per Ditzler label.
CAUTION
Be sure to comply with instructions on the label
for ventilation and respirators. Using a spray
gun, apply one half to one mil even film thick-
ness. Let dry, flash off for five minutes and apply
another even coat of one half to one mil film thick-
ness. This urethane paint will dry to the touch in
a matter of hours, but will remain sensitive to
scratches and abrasions for a few days.
9. The type of spray gun used will determine the
proper reduction ratio of the paint.
IMPORTANT: Do not paint sacrificial zinc trim tab
or zinc anode.
10. Cut out a cardboard "plug" for trim tab pocket to
keep paint off of mating surface to maintain good
continuity circuitry between trim tab and gear
housing.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION - 1C-7