I'll be doing an engine swap in the next couple months, and I want to re-paint the engine black to a nice neutral color... or maybe use a rhinoliner type bedliner product...

My question is.. what paint to use.. those bed-liner products would be nice and durable, and good looking, but might chip/melt/burn with the heat of the rotary...

Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

If you search for Zbrown, he has a nice PPG OMNI 2 part primer in his bay that is extremely durable. It takes a pint and you can get it anywhere PPG paint is sold.

P.S. I plan on painting my bay with this stuff soon too.

 

Can you throw up a link to this paint? I'm having a hard time finding anything on "the goog".

 

Not 100% but I believe this is it http://www.ppgcarpaint.com/products.php?ItemId=85

Those are the colors available. You also need the catalyst for it.

 

I'm no painter, but I've done a few bays myself. Almost anything will look better than faded, chipped, scratched original paint. I usually like to go back with the current body color, or gloss black. Those rubberized bedliners and undercoatings would look like ****, IMO. Just go with a gloss black and you won\t be disappointed.

The biggest deal is getting everything out of the way, keeping up with what bolt and clip goes where, etc. There is a LOT more little bullshit in the enginebay than you think. Even knowing a lot about what I am doing, and exactly where everything goes, it is a good 3 day process for me to paint a bay with no engine in the car. Of course you're gonna wanna do the underside of the hood, too.

You can forget sanding all those cracks and crevices, so I generally sandblast/sodablast the bay once it's stripped, then rinse it all off well, blow it out with compressed air, and go over it once more by hand with clean towels.

Here's some pics if what you're up against.

This was my turbo vert...when I got it from the DPO, it had flat black high temp engine paint all over the bay, which did not suit me. I sandblasted and then used a pint each (probably a little too much, enough for 3 coats each) of base and clear from the local paint shop for about 100 bucks. Note that I left some of the key plumbing in place to save time and keep from creating more work.

 

Here was my FD, with faded stock silver paint that didnt match new stock OR new aftermarket paint that I went with. Same procedure on this one except I used wal mart rattle can black with wal mart rattle can clear. Results were still great. Since I was going black this time, I wasnt as picky about what all to remove, since black on blackwires/boots/etc really doesnt look bad. I also went with a primer (walmart spraycan) since I didnt want the paint to be likely to peel off due to heat, and I knew I'd be working on it a lot so I wanted the paint to be more resistant to chipping.

 

 

That looks really good! So yeah.. bedliner is out of the question now... I thought about it and it would probably collect more dirt/crap than anything else. I'll be doing gloss black. The car is White Crystal right now.. but I'll be getting it painted black. So.. my MAIN concern is that I get to the areas that they won't paint when I get the car done. And hell, it doesn't even have to look SUPER professional.. long as its black and will last long enough to my next rebuild.

My question is.... I don't have access to a soda/sand blaster (I probably could if 100% neccesary)... however, how possible would it be to paint over the existing paint? I know its kinda ghetto, but... do I care? only a little.

Thanks for the advice!

 

IF you can't blast, the next best thing would be a generous spray down/soak down in greased lightning, followed by a pressure wash, and a wipe down by hand. Be sure it is nice and dry before painting, obviously.

 

Obviously.... Okay, that sounds pretty good.. The black on your FD looks awesome! So.. what about heat? Should I get a high-temp engine paint or anything like that?

 

Ooh.. also.. Why didn't you take your fenders/bumper/headlight covers off when you did it? Its not THAT hard, and seems like it would make things 100% easier.

 

Just go with regular old paint like you'd use anywhere else. The high temp engine paints tend to not look nealry as good, in addition to being very thick and running easily. Trust me, I use them daily on painting rebuild blocks. Theyre fine for engines and even engine parts, but not for body panels.

No reason to remove the fenders, headlights, etc...simply mask them off. Takes 3 minutes. Besides, you want to paint up to and including the inner fender lips, because usually that paint is in rough condition. Start masking right where the hood meets the fender.

 

Well, I'm not worried about that section of paint.. I'll be getting a paint job soon.. they SHOULD remove the fenders to paint them.... if they don't... its smackdown time.

 

i painted mine with the famous roll on rustoleum paint that people have been painting the outside of their cars with recently. I just brushed the **** on and it came out shiny & thick with a nice texture and its super durable. It doesnt look like it was brushed on at all either, its smooth vurry sexy. in addition, if anything gets scratched i can just dab some more paint on. It was super easy to do because i could paint around everything.

 

What kind of prep-work did you do?

 

i just used some like windex and a roll of paper towels to wipe it down, clean it, and get the dirt off. it took me like a day. i did have the engine out at the time though which helped.

 

i always use Rustoleum brand rattle can paint for my engine bays... altho the cheap walmart stuff works very well too! i just really like how the rustoleum paint levels off. everything ends up insanely smooth and glossy. here's a couple pics of my old V8 FB engine bay i did. i just degreased the hell out of the bay and lightly sanded some rough spots then layed on 3 coats of rustoleum glossy white from rattle can. it STILL looks this bright after some serious abuse!!!! even around the headers the paint hasn't flaked, peeled, or even faded. also, up until i sold it i degreased the engine bay every weekend and it took it like a champ

 

i also rattle canned my engine bay while engine was out. first cleaned the living crap out of it for two days(power washer helps tremendously for fluid leaks and grime). then scuffed paint with scotch brite pad and sand paper. layed three coats of home depot's finest auto grade primer. two coats of textured flat black and three coats of clear. at first i wanted just the flat look but oils from my fingers were getting into paint. the un cleared paint also scratched very easily so i laid some clear for protection, but not to much to look glossy like wet. i also used POR15 for front subframe cuz its crazy durable and if anything spilled it would be on the subframe.taking off fenders also makes it easier to paint without getting overspray everywhere, and it wraps underneath for a more finished look. getting in the nooks was the hardest part like under the brake booster. i didn't have any pics of progress but here's the finished product. definitely worth the trouble.

 

I'll actually be swapping out the entire brake system most likely as I'll be doing a 4-pot break conversion while I'm doing this... Just have to find out if the booster/MC/proportioning valve is different between 91 NA w/4-pot and 91 NA w/single pot.

 

And now that I think about it... I'll have the radiator out, brake system, steering column (converting to tilt.. for giggles) and transmission....... The only thing that'll be left in the engine bay is the A/C components.... I sure hope thats easy enough to get out of the way.