CGT80
1/2 ton status
I had to pull the engine and trans from my 79 Chevy C20 pickup. It had 27k miles on the engine and trans and I painted the engine bay when they were out last (2 years ago). I used POR 15 and chassis black over part/all of that. I can't remember if I hit everything with the chassis black or if I did the brackets with an undercoat of POR, but I think I did.
The POR 15 seems to be very tough. On some of the engine brackets, glass bead didn't even take all of the POR 15 off. The top coat was either chassis black or spray can engine enamel and it came off easy. Some of the top coat in the engine bay is very brittle and didn't bond well with the base layer of POR 15. I think I brushed the finish coat and sprayed the base coat. The bare metal was prepped according to POR directions and with their products. The frame and suspension still look good, but the sheet metal of the engine bay looked like crap and the inner fenders turned flat before I even got the engine in.
I figured that I might as well paint the engine bay while it was empty. I was just going to wash and rattle can the engine bay this time. After washing, I decided that I might as well sand it a bit so the new paint sticks. After I got into the sanding, I decided that I might as well smooth out the big areas of paint. Well, it isn't that hard to pull battery trays, radiator, fuel canisters, added on fuse blocks, battery isolator, msd timing retard box, ac vacuum can, blower motor, windshield wiper motor, and wiring for lights while I was at it. It just made it easier to get to the paint for sanding.
This afternoon I was busting my butt trying to sand the inner fenders while standing in the engine bay. I looked at that fender from about where the headers would sit, and realized that the only thing keeping it in there was 10 or so bolts. I had already removed all the crap that was bolted to them. It also appears that they don't align the outside fenders or provide a lot of support, so I could probably pull them pretty easily and sand and paint them outside of the truck. I figured this out after spending hours sanding a large portion of them.
Well................I might as well. It took ten minutes to pull the first inner fender and then the wheel. That was easy and now I have better access to the inside of the outer fender. I can now see the bottom of the AC box, which needs resealed. This is kind of how this fender removal started. I might as well............reseal all the way around that ac box before I paint. The second inner fender took less time to take off, after I removed the tire, of course.
I have been knocking down the stupid tar like texture that is on part of the firewall. I don't think it helps noise that much and it looks like crap. I have dynomat extreme to use on the inside of the firewall (if I ever finish that up).
I was going to rattle can the engine bay with VHT gloss black engine enamel. It worked well on my tstat housing and my brackets have always looked good with engine enamel. I didn't want to break out my conventional binks 1qt cup gun or have that amount of overspray. I spent 17 years painting houses and industrial buildings, along with doing many other trades. I have shot stain and lacquer for cabinets, doors, roll up doors, etc. I have sprayed many hundreds of gallons of paint with an airless, so I have a half decent spray technique.
I painted the interior of my truck with my binks and left over single stage urethane from having macco paint the exterior of my truck (they did a crap job). It looked good, but it ran a couple hours after spraying it. I did it on 4th of July weekend and it was 105 degrees outside. I have a feeling the paint was lacking something. They claimed to put the thinner in with the paint and then had a can of hardener. I mixed it like they said. I didn't have the same problem when I bought my own paint.
If I am putting all of the work into the prep of my engine bay, I might as well..................use some good paint.
My neighbor painted his own mustang and had advice from his buddy who works as a painter for lexus. It turned out nice, not perfect, but damn nice. He said to just shoot it with my gun and urethane. Maybe he is right and I am just being lazy.
What kind of primer and paint should I use for my engine bay?
What sheen should I go with? Semi gloss, high gloss? I hated the faded black on my fenders, but I don't know how much I liked the high gloss finish. Once it got dirty it was iffy looking.
Will urethane or any other auto paint hold up to brake fluid?
My truck is a working truck, but looks pretty good. I keep everything up and it has a ton of upgrades. It is damn near virgin sheet metal compared to the rust that the East coat guys get. I have one little bubble on the bottom of my passenger door and a few paint chips. The exterior paint is 10 years old and is just getting tiny pin head size specks of rust. I never waxed it and it was a cheap paint job by maco. The little rust that you might find underneath will just about wipe off with a rag. There will be very little bare metal or rust when I am done sanding. There are spots here and there where I sanded through all the layers and down to metal. This isn't a show truck and the sheet metal in the engine bay is wavy from the factory. I won't be able to even sand all of it to be like a baby's butt. I have hit most of it with 80 grit paper by hand and I am working on going over all of it with 220 grit to smooth it out. I probably have at least $8k into the engine and accessories and I want the engine bay to look like it is worthy of such a mouse.
Thanks guys!
The POR 15 seems to be very tough. On some of the engine brackets, glass bead didn't even take all of the POR 15 off. The top coat was either chassis black or spray can engine enamel and it came off easy. Some of the top coat in the engine bay is very brittle and didn't bond well with the base layer of POR 15. I think I brushed the finish coat and sprayed the base coat. The bare metal was prepped according to POR directions and with their products. The frame and suspension still look good, but the sheet metal of the engine bay looked like crap and the inner fenders turned flat before I even got the engine in.
I figured that I might as well paint the engine bay while it was empty. I was just going to wash and rattle can the engine bay this time. After washing, I decided that I might as well sand it a bit so the new paint sticks. After I got into the sanding, I decided that I might as well smooth out the big areas of paint. Well, it isn't that hard to pull battery trays, radiator, fuel canisters, added on fuse blocks, battery isolator, msd timing retard box, ac vacuum can, blower motor, windshield wiper motor, and wiring for lights while I was at it. It just made it easier to get to the paint for sanding.
This afternoon I was busting my butt trying to sand the inner fenders while standing in the engine bay. I looked at that fender from about where the headers would sit, and realized that the only thing keeping it in there was 10 or so bolts. I had already removed all the crap that was bolted to them. It also appears that they don't align the outside fenders or provide a lot of support, so I could probably pull them pretty easily and sand and paint them outside of the truck. I figured this out after spending hours sanding a large portion of them.
Well................I might as well. It took ten minutes to pull the first inner fender and then the wheel. That was easy and now I have better access to the inside of the outer fender. I can now see the bottom of the AC box, which needs resealed. This is kind of how this fender removal started. I might as well............reseal all the way around that ac box before I paint. The second inner fender took less time to take off, after I removed the tire, of course.
I have been knocking down the stupid tar like texture that is on part of the firewall. I don't think it helps noise that much and it looks like crap. I have dynomat extreme to use on the inside of the firewall (if I ever finish that up).
I was going to rattle can the engine bay with VHT gloss black engine enamel. It worked well on my tstat housing and my brackets have always looked good with engine enamel. I didn't want to break out my conventional binks 1qt cup gun or have that amount of overspray. I spent 17 years painting houses and industrial buildings, along with doing many other trades. I have shot stain and lacquer for cabinets, doors, roll up doors, etc. I have sprayed many hundreds of gallons of paint with an airless, so I have a half decent spray technique.
I painted the interior of my truck with my binks and left over single stage urethane from having macco paint the exterior of my truck (they did a crap job). It looked good, but it ran a couple hours after spraying it. I did it on 4th of July weekend and it was 105 degrees outside. I have a feeling the paint was lacking something. They claimed to put the thinner in with the paint and then had a can of hardener. I mixed it like they said. I didn't have the same problem when I bought my own paint.
If I am putting all of the work into the prep of my engine bay, I might as well..................use some good paint.
My neighbor painted his own mustang and had advice from his buddy who works as a painter for lexus. It turned out nice, not perfect, but damn nice. He said to just shoot it with my gun and urethane. Maybe he is right and I am just being lazy.
What kind of primer and paint should I use for my engine bay?
What sheen should I go with? Semi gloss, high gloss? I hated the faded black on my fenders, but I don't know how much I liked the high gloss finish. Once it got dirty it was iffy looking.
Will urethane or any other auto paint hold up to brake fluid?
My truck is a working truck, but looks pretty good. I keep everything up and it has a ton of upgrades. It is damn near virgin sheet metal compared to the rust that the East coat guys get. I have one little bubble on the bottom of my passenger door and a few paint chips. The exterior paint is 10 years old and is just getting tiny pin head size specks of rust. I never waxed it and it was a cheap paint job by maco. The little rust that you might find underneath will just about wipe off with a rag. There will be very little bare metal or rust when I am done sanding. There are spots here and there where I sanded through all the layers and down to metal. This isn't a show truck and the sheet metal in the engine bay is wavy from the factory. I won't be able to even sand all of it to be like a baby's butt. I have hit most of it with 80 grit paper by hand and I am working on going over all of it with 220 grit to smooth it out. I probably have at least $8k into the engine and accessories and I want the engine bay to look like it is worthy of such a mouse.
Thanks guys!
