Old 80's large frame Snapper, 10hp 30 inch with one of the industries best cast iron gearboxes, dual running lights, wide tires and and as easy to handle as any current new machine. Bucket and augers painted. All bushings and bearings replaced. It has dash mounted hood and chute controls but lacks auger clutch locking with the drive clutch. Has a very strong motor and tosses very well with the deere chute. Machine cost $30 and about $150 in parts. It's good for another 20 years and the engine probably 10. It would be a perfect match for any length long driveway.
Rustoleum primer and paint. I go two coats of primer and 2-4 on paint. The two primer are for coverage and some extra protection. The 2-4 paint is because the reds and oranges do not mask the primer well and require a few coats to hide it. It’s also for a little added protection.
Why Rustoleum? It’s available in lots of colors, cheap and works. It’s not durable like baked on paint or whatever Ariens used on it’s 70’s machines. One thing I’d like to try is car clear on top of Rustoleum.
Depending on what’s painted and how bad or smooth the surface is I use brushed on paint or cans of spray. It usually works out that the primer and first color coats are brushed on and the last coats sprayed after a very light sanding.
Getting a paint job to look like a car fender is not possible without a lot of work, the same it would take on a car but since it’s a snowblower I don’t put in too much effort. When the job is done it looks ok from a distance but up close a hack job. After one or two times out clearing snow the slight buildup of dried dirt makes the machine looks normal and much better.
For surface prep I get the surface sort of smooth depending on the rust level. For pocked areas I don’t sand or grind them out. Various rust preventers are used in hopes they will neutralize the embedded rust. I’ve had good luck with these:
Evapo-Rust from Harbor Freight.
Rustoleum Rust Reformer, available anywhere.
Navel Jelly, available anywhere.
Must For Rust, available from Home Depot. They used to carry a decent size hand spray plastic bottle at an ok price but stopped carrying it.
The rust preventers work about the same with slight differences depending on the rust and type of metal. They may have to be applied several times with wire brushing. Again, depending on the type of metal and rust the result can be a gray metal finish, a hard blackened surface or a white coat. The gray and blackened surfaces are left as is. The black is a hardened protective coat. The white will be powder or sometimes very hard. It can be brushed off. It’s not required to get all the white off 100% as it can be painted over and bond with the paint.
The result does not provide great protection from bumps and banging like original paint can take. I’ve done a lot of touch-up on buckets and a number of full buckets. The paint does stay on and not lift, at least so far. I’ve done over a few, sold them and have kept in email contact with the buyers to see how things went. So far after three seasons the paint has stayed on and looks good. One machine was a 7hp Simplicity 22 inch that clears a three tenement in Boston. He stores the machine in the cellar so had to go with a smaller bucket. The machine had great external paint but the bucket inside was nasty so the bucket inside got done. The drive is a long one car wide that opens in the back of to a fairly big parking lot for the tenants. It gets a lot of use each storm so a good workout for the paint.
For me the key for doing this is
1. Putting up with a non-car like finish as it’s too much work.
2. Effectiveness of the rust neutralizers.
Getting a can of car paint is out as it’s very expensive to have a batch mixed up. The min quantity was a gallon. I tried Ariens and Toro factory spray cans but they don’t match anything. With Rustoleum you can get a few quart cans that are close and mix to get a match. MTD red and Ariens orange have both changed their colors over the years. The machines also change color over time.
