How to paint engine bay?

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myasylum

myasylum

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I will have my engine out soon, and my car is brown, which means my engine bay is brown. I'd like to paint it black. since my engine will be out soon I figured this would be a great time to do this. The this is, if I do this myslef, it will just look cheap and scratch easily.

Can anyone give me some good info on a good way to do this, or what kind of paint? Thanks!!
 
Please, please, please don't paint it black. No matter how nice you do it it will not look as good as body color. I think the body color engine bays are the reason Mopars look so much nicer uner the hood than GM products.

That being said, if you do decide to paint it black, first spray a ton of degreaser on the engine bay and pressure wash it. Next let it dry thouroughly. Then, sand it down with 320. Next, blow of all of your dust and hit it with some wax & grease remover. Prime any spots where you sanded through to metal. Left the primer dry and scuff it. Lastly, spray you paint. If you are going black, you can use a spray bomb it you'd like. I personally like Duplicolor Engine Enamel. It sprays smooth, lays down nicely, and can withstand higher temperatures.
 
challengergary said:
Please, please, please don't paint it black. No matter how nice you do it it will not look as good as body color. I think the body color engine bays are the reason Mopars look so much nicer uner the hood than GM products.

That being said, if you do decide to paint it black, first spray a ton of degreaser on the engine bay and pressure wash it. Next let it dry thouroughly. Then, sand it down with 320. Next, blow of all of your dust and hit it with some wax & grease remover. Prime any spots where you sanded through to metal. Left the primer dry and scuff it. Lastly, spray you paint. If you are going black, you can use a spray bomb it you'd like. I personally like Duplicolor Engine Enamel. It sprays smooth, lays down nicely, and can withstand higher temperatures.
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PLEASE, PLEASE DONT PAINT IT BLACK! I agree with the above:
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Those are from a few years ago.
 
I agree with the above. GM and Ford do black, Chrysler engine rooms are classier and unique.
Even if it doesn't come out perfect, it will still look better than black. And I can't emphasize enough about degreasing it before painting, otherwise you'll get fisheyes. Once you get a colorful engine back in, clean black hoses, shiny valve covers, air filter, and other bling, man...it'll pop! Black is boring!!!

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Oh, one more thing: buy aluminum foil, use to mask brake lines, harnesses, suspension parts. Its easier and quicker than wrapping and taping paper and the end result will be worth it. And cover the rest of the car. You'll be surprised how far an invisible mist of overspray can travel in your garage!
 
I agree, no on the black. I'm currently removing black rattle can paint from my engine bay. Granted I'm painting it black once I'm done, but the rest of the car is going to be black.
 
clifftt said:
Oh, one more thing: buy aluminum foil, use to mask brake lines, harnesses, suspension parts. Its easier and quicker than wrapping and taping paper and the end result will be worth it. And cover the rest of the car. You'll be surprised how far an invisible mist of overspray can travel in your garage!
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Great Advice on the Aluminum Foil!!! Never thought of that but it sure sounds a heckuva lot easier that removing tape! I've been doing this a LONG time and have sprayed dozens of engine compartments and this is the first time I've hard of this and I can guarantee you, I will now include aluminum foil in my shop's supplier cabinet.

Thanks :cheers:
 
You do know that you can go to a paint supply store and have paint mixed into rattle cans that will match the color of the outside of your car..

The work involved would be the same as painting it black....

Just something to think about.
 
Ditto on what everyone said, black looks like crap, unless your car is black. I'm in the process of restoring a 65 Stang vert for my wife and I'm going to paint the shoddy black engine bay body color like it should have been to start with :bootysha:
 
Another problem is if you use cheap spray paint its going to be real hard to clean once its dirty.
 
i am getting ready to paint my duster engine bay body color somebody did it black years ago and it really looks bad. I figured even if i can't match the body perfectly it will still look better then it does now. Plus the cheap black spray bomb paint really holds the dirt!
 
Jamakin said:
i am getting ready to paint my duster engine bay body color somebody did it black years ago and it really looks bad. I figured even if i can't match the body perfectly it will still look better then it does now. Plus the cheap black spray bomb paint really holds the dirt!
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I have a real bad story, someone undercoated mine with black asphalt undercoating. Man, It took me weeks to clean it, but looks ok now. Good luck with whatever you decide

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I am in agreement with everyone else, leave it the body color. Bit if you are determined to paint it black, use the wax & silicone remover BEFORE YOU SAND not after. If you don't all the nasties will get sanded down into the paint and it will be fish eye city when you paint, and that is not a thing you want to have happen.
 
i agree plz dont go black!!!!!
i redid mine and didnt have access to a spray gun but my local parts store also did paint and sold it in spray cans i didnt have to worry about the fish eyes i went overboard and hand sanded the entire compartment down to bare metal then did it in sections 1st the firewall and waited till it dried then taped it off then the fenderwells [ make sure to over lap as you go i went part way out on the fenders when i did the firewall then taped the lip that comes out from the firewall that the inner fenders attaches too to hide the tape line ] just spraying the whole thing at once will make it look like a rattle can job hope this helps
 
Aluminum foil is a must,Its much easier to work with. I just painted my engine bay over X-mas. I had the color matched and put into spray cans.:thumrigh:
 
Mine was rattle can black since around 1980 and looked like crap. So this winter with the engine out I took everything out, wire wheeled it down to bare metal, primed it with rustoleum automotive primer, and painted it body color with spray cans from www.towerpaint.com. Put new engine in twice, dropped wrenches on the finish a couple times, and it seems pretty durable. This is a job any weekend wrencher can do with good results:

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340sFastback said:
Mine was rattle can black since around 1980 and looked like crap. So this winter with the engine out I took everything out, wire wheeled it down to bare metal, primed it with rustoleum automotive primer, and painted it body color with spray cans from www.towerpaint.com. Put new engine in twice, dropped wrenches on the finish a couple times, and it seems pretty durable. This is a job any weekend wrencher can do with good results:
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That turned out nice bro!
 
Whats next, a small block Chevy engine! LOL! Please don't do it black, MoPar is always body color under the hood, I did mine with rattle spray cans!!! SSSHHHHHHHH, don't tell! :toothy10::toothy10::toothy10:

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Cravin'sCuda said:
Aluminum foil is a must,Its much easier to work with. I just painted my engine bay over X-mas. I had the color matched and put into spray cans.:thumrigh:
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Cravin: I thought that was illegal to do in California anymore. I'm just south of you in Concord, who does that up there?
 
No black unless rest of car is black. Got it? (JK. It's your car.)

I shot under hood and trunk area of Demon with single stage body color clear coat. I took most of engine compartment to bare metal to prime. Foil on brake lines and the stuff you won't be able to get out of the way is a great idea. I taped and wished I had thougt/heard about using foil.

I kept a little color and catalyst off to the side when I need touch up. The mixture will pass through a Pre-Val spayer (Home Depot or Lowe's paint dept.) if you have a new propellant can. It's faily thick and will begin to sputter as charge runs low. This makes the Pre-Val only good for touch up.
To actually paint the entire compartment, a rental spray rig works well. Get plenty of stuff to blow the gun clear of paint, otherwise you'll be paying for a rebuild.
 
Hard to justify not going body color.... Napa did my mix into spray cans like I said above. My engine bay was clean but I wanted to touch up some scratches. Seriously... You can't even tell I hit it with a spray bomb. Best part is... I have 4 extra cans of color matched paint left over to use when needed.

I have touches up some trunk floor scratches and fogged over the rock chips on my front, lower valance. I can't even tell so I know others will never notice.
 
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