Ok, Ive asked these questions in other threads, but no one seems to answer, so Im just gonna start a new one. I was wondering how people paint their engines, and with what paint? How do you mask it off? Do you do it assembled or not? And also, where should I look for a Holley pump and regulator (6PSI 12GPH)?

~T.J.

 

im 100% sure nobody paints their engine asembled,
definetly not a rotary,it gets alot hotter then a piston engine,
so that knocks out a couple of your questions,
the best way is powder costing,
you can take it somewhere and have it done or if your lucky like me you may know someone who does it.
it can be done at a home in a standard oven,

ok and why are you going with a holley over a carter?
the only diferences i have heard of is their louder and more expensive.

 

Ok, well actually I dont care who makes it, as long as its 6 PSI and 12 GPH with the regulator . I just want something cheap for when I buy all my RB stuff (this thursday ), I need the pump for the new Holley carb. Anyway, if anyone knows where I can get one...Let me know . Where did you get the one on your car ?

~T.J.

 

I've painted 2 Rotary engines assembled, so your %100 is out the window.

 

I never paint my rotaries while assembled! I masked off the parts I DO NOT want paint on..this is the longest part of painting them...I spend probably 5-10minutes per housing with masking tape and newspaper covering everything I don't want paint on..Very worth doing to make it look good. THis is after everything is completely clean...THOURGHLY! Then I spray the housings LIGHTLY and let them sit for 15-20minutes and spray again LIGHTLY. Then one more final coat and let them sit for 15minutes about and then move them carefully into a very sunny room and bake in the sun for as long as you want. Then let them cure for 5days before assembly... This process as yielded the best results that the paint remains durable and sticks.


Rotaries DO NOT get any hotter then piston engines?! WTF? Do you look at the thermostats? They are 180F or so, that is the same if not lower then more modern engines with 195F or more. The rotary exhuast gets hotter some, but a lot more if you measure temps after the Cats.

I would NEVER powder coat my rotary since you put it in a oven afterwards thats in the 250-300F range which could potentially warp them one would think.

BUt, its your engine, do whatever...

Oh yeah, I bought a holley 95GPH 7psi pump from a checkers parts store for like 80bucks or so. This is more then you need, but I plan on using it on other high demand engines requiring more fuel.

 

That's water temp and not always indicative of actual engine oil and metal operating temps. What's the stats on oil temps of a boinger vs. a 12A? Without that, I'd have to feel the hotter (much hotter...) exhaust temps are a result of something being hotter, que no?

 

Ok, well shouldnt the average high temp paint be enough on her though? Also, how do you guys keep the engine looking good afterwords? Do you just hose her off every now and then? Or do you use degreaser and whatever? As you can tell I'm thinking about venturing into this myself. Also, whats the average life span on that paint? Im thinking that If it starts chipping/fading that I'll be embarassed to open my hood, and I dont wanna rebuild just cause of a little paint . Anyway, thanks for the info so far, much appreciated. Also, color choice, what do you think of the black/yellow "killer bee" look? I think it would look good under the hood with my yellow vacuum lines, yellow spark plug wires, yellow strut brace, etc. when im done . The other thing I was thinking was just silver "polished" rotor housings and black front/intermediate/rear housing...Or what do you think would look good on a white car?

~T.J.

PS - I dont have anything custom under there so far, but once I start putting stuff under there I wanna keep it all schemed .

 

sounds about right to me,
im going to invest in an oil temp gauge so i can watch my skyrocketing oil temps.
the rotary gets hot on the inside because it constantly runs in a rich sort of way,
the combustion chambers are constantly changing shape which make for an ineficient fuel burn,
which is like running rich,
which will make your engine hotter.

 

well regular high temp paint might be fine but the only color i have seen on the real high quality high temp is black.
the lower stuff is avail in other colors though.

but think about it,its just spray paint,
i could come over and put some gas on your engine and woops there just went some of your top coat,
cleaner degreeser there just went some more,etc.
im sure you get the point.
plus chipping,
woops just dropped the socket wrench.

come on,unless your building a show car then do it right,
powder coating does not have any of these "woops" effects.

 

I just used the normal hight temp spray paint on mine and it worked well and the black goes well with the polished rotor housings. I've never heard of anyone using anything other than normal paint because there's no need. I've spilt fuel and dropped **** on mine countless times and it hasn't chipped or peeled one bit. Here's a shitty pic of what they look like. BTW, since this pic was taken I've added a Weber IDA and a T2 alternator. Gotta get some new pics.

 

So when you did that, how did you get the "polished look"? Did you have it done somewhere, or did you just do it yoursef?

~T.J.

 

I needed some rotor housings when I rebuilt the engine so I bought those second hand already polished and in perfect condition. They're actually a lot shinier than what they look in pic.

 

I painted mine assembled (makes #4 for me ). I used some leftover Pontiac Blue engine paint from the Trans Am engine I built, and bought some high temp silver, primer, and clear.

 

dude, check out any parts store for engine paint. autozone has a collection with just about anything in temp ratings for 500 deg and about 10 or so colors in 1200 deg ratings. chevy orange, daytona yelow, ford blue ( which is also the paint on my 3rd gen calipers) grabber green and plum purple. taste the rainbow... you gotta catch it first

 

Here is a pic of my old one, still looks like this 2+ years, just a light hose down in the spring, keeps lookin good.
I used the 500degree engine enamel paint from PlasticCoat I belive.

 

Hey, Now I know where Punky Brewster went!

If you don't know who Punky Brewster is..then I am getting too old..

 

THe exhuast temps are higher because rotaries are less efficent at burning as much fuel in the chambers as pistion engines. Raw fuel and 02 pumped in the rotary exhaust passing through the cat will raise the temp to around 1600F (if working correctly) opposed to ~1200F in a pistion engine.

Now thats silly..IF the metal on the engine surface was MUCH hotter, the coolant would start boiling? The average temp will be very close to the thermostats rating if its working right and the outside temp isn't too high since the coolant going into the engine will be cooler then the thermostat and the stuff going out to the radiator will be ofcourse hotter then the rating of the thermostat.

IF you're refering to the metal in direct contact with flame front and water passages around the spark plugs especially, they do infact get hotter but not dramatically unless your putting race sustained WOT on a mod'd Normal asperated or turbo engine.


..why else would they have the cooling mod for that area? IF you get a non-contact thermometer and aim it at different regions on the "OUTSIDE surface of the engine you'll find its very near the operating temp. Painting it dark and the darker you go, the more heat will be conducted as black is the best conducter of heat and white is the worst. OF course if you aim it near the exhuast or directly at the spark plugs...it will be a bit hotter... Of course you can't aim them at the rotors unfortunatly.

I painted engines without any falling off after years of use. ONly were oil dripped on it over time...Some chips from hoisting it in and manuvoring it...

 

I've actually painted both ways, assembled and apart. Granted, apart looks alot better. I used hi-temp Ford Blue and h-temp Silver the last time. Looked real good. The new engine is getting color matched irons with polished rotor housings. Should look pretty good. I'll know next week.

 

It generally boils at 260-274 deg F depending on pressure cap at 50/50 mix which is higher than a boinger normally goes, so it's still possible to run hotter without boiling coolant. How do you know it's not boiling at the plugs anyway?


The only two functions of a thermostat are to (1) keep coolant from circulating through the entire cooling circuit until it hits the designated opening temperature of the pill and (2) to provide some restriction to coolant flow so that the hot coolant wiil spend useful time in the radiator dissipating heat. It does not, I repeat does NOT control coolant temperature to the extent that it determines the final hottest operating temperature of the engine. A 180 deg F thermostat opens at 180 F. That does not mean that the engine actually runs at that coolant temperature and certainly not at that oil temperature! Does anyone in this Forum care to pull up oil temps of an operating 12A vs. a boinger? I can dig for oil temps of a Pontiac 400 or 455 if someone can get the other side. Without that info, everything is pure speculation on both sides of this "divide."