Ok, so some of you know, some of you dont. I plan on repainting my entire car eventually, but for now, Im starting with the engine bay since its going to be hard to do after the engine is in . Anyway, I have some light rust in certain areas (under battery tray, misc. screw holes), and I was thinking about just sanding/grinding it out, rust coating, and painting with auto paint products. Well, the other day I thought, why not just use Rustoleum or whatever? That thought quickly went to why not use a "good product" that Ive heard good things about like POR-15? So, I went and browsed their website (www.por15.com), and I figured I could just get some of their Rust Preventive paint in gray to paint the bay with as a "primer" to stop all the rust, then topcoat it with their Whitecote because I want the bay white to match the exterior of the car eventually. Ill also get another can of the regular rust preventive paint in black to do the misc other stuff I have to do (hard coolant lines, brackets, etc) that might rust again, as well as their metal cleaners and other chemicals neccessary to prep the surfaces. I figure the paints will stand up better to the abuse of cleaners, chemicals, and whatever else the engine bay goes up against versus the regular auto paints.

My question is has anyone else tried painting something as large as an engine bay with POR-15 before? I plan to use a spray gun as recommended and follow all of their directions, but I just wanted to know if anyone else had tried this by any chance. Also, does this sound like a good idea? I know its "less work", but its also cheaper in the long run because of the lack of other chemicals and coatings required to treat the rust "properly". Im not really on a budget per say (I want to do it right), its just that if this is going to work just as good (if not better) for less, then why not? I figure that for all the supplies I would need from them, Im looking at about $223.50 shipped according to their website. I got a quote from a few auto body shops for more than that getting less material per item, and needing more items to get the job done. That $223.50 includes the following:

WHITECOTE® - Quart $45.00
POR-15® - Quart (1 Black, 1 Gray) $62.00
POR-15® Solvent - Quart $8.00
Marine Clean® - Gallon $17.50
METAL-READY® - Gallon $28.75
POR-STRIP® - Gallon $27.00
3-Pack Dry Air Filters $19.50

So, as you can see, thats a good amount of product for such a small area, but I would much rather have too much than not enough. Besides, I will always come up with something else to use it on, lol .

~T.J.

PS - So far all Ive done is cleaned (degreased, scrubbed with steel wool) and wet sanded with 600 grit paper (per auto shop reccomendation) under the hood to prepare for the paint. I got rid of as much rust as possible for now so its all ready for whatever treatment, so even if the POR-15 route turns out it isnt good, I can still do something else.

 

I've painted my engine and countless other things with POR-15 and would recomend you paint your engine bay with it.

 

Sorry about the vauge post, I had someone looking over my shoulder (I'm at work) The quality of POS-15 products is outstanding. I had planed on painting my engine bay as well but got to much in a rush to put the engine in. I do plan on removing the sound deading matriel in the the hatch to get to all of the little surface rust back there and painting it with POR-15. My .02

 

Nice and to the point, lol. Thanks . Does it apply well? Does it work as well as they say it does?

~T.J.

EDIT: Haha, you posted the answers as I was writting this. Thanks . Anyone else have any experiance with them?

 

i think it is a good idea and you sound to be on the right path towards restoration. tackle that rust before its too late

 

I've used it under my battery holder where some acid etched away some paint and yeah it's a fantastic product here in oz

 

What kind of finish does this stuff have? Does it show any "orange peel" or is it glossy smooth once cured?

 

I haven't used POR 15 personally, but I have heard nothing but praise for it.
It seems a mite expensive, though.
I use phosphoric acid to "kill" rust, then paint with ordinary automotive paints. Some brands are "Os-Pho", and "Rust-Mort", which I think is a SEM product.
Just ferret out the rust with a little Scotchbrite disc on an air tool, or you can even use a wire wheel chucked into an electric drill. You don't need to remove ALL the rust, just any loose stuff. Then paint the rust with the phosphoric acid, which is runny like water. You can even thin it a bit with water for better penetration in cracks, seams, etc. After a few minutes, you'll notice the rust is turning black. It's being converted to Iron Phosphate, which is similar to the corrosion-resistant finish used on military weapons (Parkerizing). After it has all turned black and dried completely, I wipe the area down with acetone on a rag, and it's ready to primer. Anyway, a bottle of the stuff costs about $5-$7 and will go a long way.
Just my thoughts on the subject, I'm sure that you'll do a good job whatever method you use.

 

The Whitecote Im going to "top coat" with has a glossy finish, and the black regular POR-15 I assume is a glossy finish, because in the color option list, they have either black, or semi-gloss black. Even if its not glossy, the make Blackcote that I can topcoat it with that is.

Yeah, I have some Rust-Mort from a VW bug project I did with my Dad, and that **** was AMAZING, I only hope that the POR-15 does as good of a job.

~T.J.