CLEANING AND PAINTING TIPS

To be perfectly honest, painting tips from me will be about as basic as it gets, I'm no expert. Surface prep is where 95% of paint jobs go bad. That's usually where my paint jobs fall short.
If you want a show-quality finish there is no substitute for stripping everything and starting from base metal. If all you want is a better looking tractor, it is not necessary to strip all the way to bare metal. Seal openings and remove things like the carb and ignition components. Then give the tractor a really good power-washing. You will need some scrapers and wire brushes to help remove caked-on gunk.
Please do not skip the step "Seal openings and remove things like the carb and ignition components." Power Washing is not the preferred method of cleaning your tractor on a regular basis. There are very few ways to more quickly and thoroughly screw up carburetors, distributors, air cleaners, gauges, and electrical components than squirting them with high-pressure water. A decent running tractor is almost guaranteed to not start after a thorough power washing.
Remove all loose paint and any areas with heavy layers of paint. Sand smooth and feather-edge any chipped areas. This is a good test for loose paint. If you can feather-edge the chip or scratch without flaking off more paint, it must be stuck pretty good. Now is the time to do any serious body-work or cast iron repairs. It is possible to braise or weld cast iron. You can even use the liquid metal epoxy for some repairs or cosmetic work.
DO use a good primer that matches the paint you are going to use. I believe primer should be the same manufacturer and listed for use with the finish paint you are using. This ensures compatibility. Experts have certainly tested and approved various combinations of products, but I can't afford waste or do-overs. I'd rather not rely on advice from someone who isn't going to offer to pay for a do-over when the combination has problems.
Without a good, compatible primer, the finish coats of paint will not stick well to the bare metal. It's more than a bit annoying to have new paint bubble, chip, and flake off. One light coat of primer is all you need for starters. That should give you an idea how straight your panels are. How good a job did you do on the bodywork? I like to block sand with fine or medium grit sandpaper to reveal high and low spots. Small imperfections can be filled with primer by spot-painting them and sanding until you build up enough primer to fill the imperfection. The sheet metal is plenty thick enough for traditional hammer and dolly work. Some folks will use a skim-coat of bondo and then sand the panel, leaving bondo only in the low spots. Once you are satisfied with the bodywork, shoot one light coat of primer on everything. Let it dry thoroughly, then sand with fine (180-220) grit paper, or use clean steel wool.

Finish Painting

I have found that one quart of primer and two quarts of each color is enough to do the whole tractor with some extra for small parts and touch-up.
My advice is to skip the hardener or any other paint additives, especially if this is a working tractor. Paint fumes are bad enough for your health without adding even more toxic substances to it. Plus, the benefits provided by the additives are mostly wasted on a tractor anyway. Few home shops have the proper respirators and other equipment required to shoot paint with additives. That stuff can kill you, D-E-D dead. Get the material safety data sheets for any paint additives you think you want to use. Just do a web search for the product and add MSDS to the search. If you become sensitized to some of these products, it may put you in the hospital, and cause permanent health issues. It just isn't worth the risk for a one-shot deal on a tractor. Leave those products to the folks who have the proper safety equipment to use them.
With most paint guns you will need to thin the paint for spraying. My spray gun seems to like 5% mineral spirits. Information about thinning and tip size should be printed on the paint can. The newer HVLP spray guns create a lot less overspray than the older type of equipment that I still use, but they are also more expensive. If you adjust the HVLP gun correctly, you should be able to get good coverage with a lot less paint floating around to breathe. You still need a mask. For a one-time deal even the disposable masks are better than nothing.

COLORS OF 8N PARTS

Some purists may whine about green and yellow Fords or 9N tractors painted with the Red-Belly paint scheme. Tough, this is your tractor, so feel free to paint it any colors you choose. Any future restorer is going to strip whatever paint is there and start over. No-matter what color you use, any paint will protect the metal.
One story going around is that Barn Sparrows had been making such a mess of the Dark Gray 9N paint that Ford wanted a new color for the 8N that would not contrast as much. Yuck, thankfully I have not found any official reference to "Sparrow Poop Gray Paint" ever being an official Ford color. Some say the red was to make rust less noticable. I have my doubts since rust isn't much of a problem on cast iron parts.
Trying to match the original colors is tough. Modern paints are vastly different, and perform much better than the original paint. Nothing you buy today will appear EXACTLY the same as the original finish under all types of lighting. What looks right in your garage might not look right in the sun. Camera settings vary so much I often get different looking colors in photos of the same tractor, taken under the same lights, minutes apart. Not surprisingly, there is a lot of disagreement between the various experts about the best match for the original colors. Some have their paint custom mixed to match the color on a part that has been protected from sun and weather. Some go to their local New Holland dealer to buy "original color" paint. By all accounts the Ford Red sold by New Holland dealers is too orange for the 8N tractors. It may be correct for the '01 series tractors that started around 1957. There are several shades of gray being sold as "Ford Gray". I prefer to use readily available paint that comes close to the original colors, without being too anal about the perfect shade.
The color swatches below are representative of the original Ford 9N/2N/8N colors. Since, these color swatches will look different on every computer screen, don't put any faith in what you see here. The correct 8N red color should be a blood red, not excessively orange. The correct light gray color often appears to be almost a light tan shade that tends to fade to white as it ages.
I have listed in each swatch the most-often recommended brands and colors of paint.

Ford N-Series Colors:

8N-Red	8N-Gray	9N/2N
Rust Oleum - 7762 Sunrise Red PPG DAR 70075 TISCO Ford Red	PPG DAR 31657 TISCO Light Gray	Rust Oleum - 7786 Smoke Gray PPG DAR 0049 TISCO Ford Dark Gray

My 52-8N Colors:

I decided to stick with what I know and use RustOleum "Stops Rust" paint. I have had good performance in the past with this brand. RustOleum used to have a color 7755 Light Olive, that was very close to the correct Ford Light Gray, but it was not available anywhere in this area. They used to list the color on their web site, but it is no longer even listed. For the 52, I decided to get a can of RustOleum 7786 Smoke Gray, and mix it 50:50 with a can of 7792 Gloss White. The color I ended up with was a little too light, but since the correct color tends to fade to white, it was not a bad choice. The idea was to find an easy mix that would be easy to repeat for touch-up or replaced parts.

My 46-2N Colors:

After all that, the 46-2N should have been easy, simple, dark gray, right? Nope, that would be too easy. I decided to go with the 8N paint scheme. This time, for the light gray, I used a can of RustOleum 7786 Smoke Gray, mixed 50:50 with a can of 7770 Almond. The color I ended up with is better, and still very easy to repeat.

COLORS OF PARTS

The following table has all the information I could find regarding original colors of various parts.
PART NAME	8N	9N/2N		PART NAME	8N	9N/2N
Air Cleaner	Red	Dark Gray		Headlight Housings	Lt Gray - Plated Screws	Dark Gray - Plated Screws
Axle Housings	Red	Dark Gray		Hood	Lt Gray	Dark Gray
Axle Hubs	Red	Dark Gray		Hood Side Skirts	Lt Gray	Dark Gray
Battery Cable	Black Insulation	Black Insulation		Ignition Switch	Unpainted	Unpainted
Battery Cover	Red with Decal	NA		Light Switch	Unpainted	Unpainted
Battery Tray	Red	Dark Gray		Lug Nuts	Zinc Plated	Zinc Plated
Battery/Fuel Door	Lt Gray	Dark Gray		Manifold	Unknown	Unknown
Battery/Fuel Door Knob	Black	Chrome		Muffler and Pipe	Zinc Plated	Zinc Plated
Brake Drums	Red	Dark Gray		Oil Filter Housing	Red	Dark Gray
Brake Pedals	Red	Dark Gray		Oil Filter Bolt	Zinc Plated	Zinc Plated
Breather Cap	Red	Dark Gray		Oil Pan	Red	Dark Gray
Cable Ends and Hardware	Unpainted	Unpainted		Position Control Lever	Red	NA
Carburetor	Red or Unfinished	Unfinished		Proofmeter Face	Black-White Letters	NA
Choke Knob	Unpainted Metal or Black	Unpainted Metal or Black		Proofmeter Trim	Black	NA
Clutch Pedal	Red	Dark Gray		PTO Knob	Red or Plain	Dark Gray
Cylinder Head	Red	Dark Gray		PTO Lever	Red	Dark Gray
Dash Panel	Red	Dark Gray		PTO Shaft Cover	Red	Dark Gray
Distributor Cap	Unfinished	Unfinished		Radiator	Black	Black
Drag Link	Red	Dark Gray		Radiator Cap	Black	Chrome?
Drawbar	Red	Dark Gray		Radiator Hose	Black Rubber	Black Rubber
Engine Block	Red	Dark Gray		Radius Rods	Red	Dark Gray
Fan	Red	Dark Gray		Rear End Housing	Red	Dark Gray
Fan Belt	Black Rubber	Black Rubber		Rear Rims	Zinc Plated	Zinc Plated
Fan Shroud	Red	Dark Gray		Rear Wheel Centers	Lt Gray	Dark Gray
Fender Mounting Bolts	Cad Plated	Cad Plated		Running Boards	Red	Dark Gray or None
Fenders	Lt Gray	Dark Gray		Seat & Spring	Black	Dark Gray
Fender Brackets	Lt Gray	Dark Gray		Spark Plug Wire Tube	Cadmium-Plated	Cadmium-Plated
Ford Emblem	Red with Chrome Script and Border	Blue with Chrome Script and Border		Spark Plug Wires	Unpainted-Black	Unpainted-Black
Front Axle Extension	Red	Dark Gray		Spark Plugs	Unpainted	Unpainted
Front Hubs	Red	Dark Gray		Starter	Red	Dark Gray
Front Rims	Lt Gray	Dark Gray		Starter Button	Unpainted-Steel	Unpainted-Steel
Front Timing Cover	Red	Dark Gray		Steering Wheel Nut	Plated Acorn Nut	Plated Acorn Nut
Fuel Line	Unpainted-Steel	Unpainted-Steel		Three-Point Hitch Arms	Red	Dark Gray
Fuel Tank	Cadmium-Plated	Cadmium-Plated		Throttle Lever	Cadmium-Plated	Cadmium-Plated
Gearshift	Red	Dark Gray		Throttle Lever Base	Cadmium-Plated	Cadmium-Plated
Gearshift Boot	Black Rubber	Black Rubber		Tie Rods	Red	Dark Gray
Gearshift Knob	Red 1-Piece (early) Black Plastic (later)	Dark Gray		Timing Cover Bolts	Zinc Plated	Dark Gray
Generator	Red	Dark Gray		Toolbox	Red	Dark Gray
Grill	Lt Gray	Dark Gray		Touch Control Lever	Red	Dark Gray
Ground Strap	Unpainted	Unpainted		Transmission Housing	Red	Dark Gray
Guage Faces	Black-White Letters	Black-White Letters		Valve Covers	Red	Dark Gray
Guage Trim	Black	Black		Wire Harness	Unpainted	Unpainted

In general all hardware bolting the major castings together was painted red when the entire assembly was painted. This photo is sort of what the tractor looked like on the assembly line when it was painted.

This is as far as I go unless the tractor needs to be split to replace the clutch or fix something else major. If that is necessary I wait to prime and paint the tractor after I have it back to this point again. Some restorers prime and paint each casting separately. Then paint again, after the major parts are assembled, to cover scratches and hardware. I don't know if going that far on a tractor has any real value, but the guys who do go to that level, turn out some incredibly nice tractors, like this one:

Restored Tractor by Derek Barkley at Just8Ns.com

After painting, the hardware used to attach sheetmetal and other parts during final assembly was generally just standard Cad-Plated hardware.
The Manifold is shown as UNKNOWN in the table because they may have been plain castings or painted. I have not been able to nail this down. It is almost meaningless anyway. Even if they were painted, the paint almost immediately burns off the exhaust portion of the manifold. If you don't like rusty cast iron, the best choice I have found is a high temp natural cast iron coating for manifolds sold by Eastwood. Every other hi-temp coating I have tried fails as soon as I get the exhaust good and hot. Idling around won't get the exhaust that hot, so your trailer queen's exhaust might look nice longer. Putting a load on the engine for more than 20 minutes will cook off most hi-temp finishes. Even chrome plating tends to turn blue, based on the pipes on every motorcycle I owned. Ceramic coatings are supposed to be able to withstand the heat, but the price is way beyond what I'm willing to spend to test that theory.

source : here

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