Steps in painting an engine?

So I plan on pulling my engine and tearing it down and giving it a good cleaning and repaint. What steps should I go through when prepping it for paint. i.e. degreaser, sanding, etc. What products work best or if anyone has a homemade concoction for prepping an engine, I'm open to that as well.

And finally, what is the best engine paint made without spending a lot of money (something in a can.) I'm thinking of using an OEM paint used on Mopars for Mopars in a can.

While I'm here, what color should I paint it? I'm thinking of going with the typical orange; thought about black.

Let me know. Thank guy's!:p

well the color suggestions are helpful but I still need cleaning, degreasing and prepping advice.

Scrape all the grease off with the help of degreaser, engine brite works well, supertech degreaser ( wally world brand ) comes out as a foam and works well also. prepping is usally just wash it off. the cans also have prepping instructions so you could check them.

Thanks Matt, I was thinking of using EngineBrite cleaner. As far as the paint goes, I don't have a sandblaster to remove paint so I may just use a power drill and wire brush wheel to get the old paint off.

Still open for suggestions guys.

Quote:

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Originally posted by racerxjj67
Thanks Matt, I was thinking of using EngineBrite cleaner. As far as the paint goes, I don't have a sandblaster to remove paint so I may just use a power drill and wire brush wheel to get the old paint off.

Still open for suggestions guys.

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power drill wire brush should work great.

also.......don't forget to thourly clean block..use oil hole wire brushes....come in various sizes for engine,,,,,to make sure all grit out of engine...also, I have used red rustoleum in the head valleys to seal and make it look cleaner and help oil flow

The good ole easy off oven cleaner works very good on grease, even removes paint to some extent. Just don't put it on aluminum it will eat it up since the easy off has sodium hydroxide it.
Just spray it on and let it sit for a while.

Auto Zone....

....engine-brite degreaser, and Dupli-color engine paint.


Daver.;)

Here's the paint to look for....

....it sprays really well, dries fast, and is cheap to buy. They
make a clear coat for the enamel as well. You can preserve the looks of just about anything with the clear....

....starters, alternators, ect. :D

Daver. ;)

The paint only comes in about a dozen colors. They may
have a Mopar color. This is what the engine looked like
before I got after it ! :(

Daver. :D

Daver - that engine looks awesome! Is the distributor, carb and intake manifold painted? What did you use for degreaser, and what other steps did you take? Wirebrush it?

Thanks

Dave

I just use kerosene and a rag to clean, with the help of various size screwdrivers to get into the nooks and crannies. Knock all the loose paint off. After that, I wipe the engine down with paint thinner. I mask with duct tape and do the fine detailing with a razor blade.

As for paint, I opt for Plasticoat (sp?) because you can do touch up any time and not have to wait a week between coats.

If the engine is real dirty, turn on the radio...you're going to be there a while.

Daver, that stuff you used is nice. I was thinking about redoing my engine and painting it Ford Blue again because I can see where my leaks are but not sure yet. Anyways, you don't live in San Bernardino California do ya? I know we used to call that place san berdoo. I used to live out there about 5 years ago. If so then where exactly in San Bernardino do ya live I know that place really well.

Oh forgot... Get this stuff called ZEP. It works great! Also before you polish parts you can spray it on the metal and it will turn the metal all white, etc and will pull ALL that black outta it and then after it's done with it's job you wash it off, dry it and polish it up real nice. I use it on my engine all the time and it works good. It won't get the 10 year old baked on greese oil or grime off but everything fresh and all the mud, dirt, etc. I got a huge bottle of this stuff and then a spray bottle of it too. Great on rims before you polish them to pull that black out. I did this to the metal around my tail lights and when all the black stuff was out of the metal I could see that the metal was actually galvanized aluminum or whatever because you can see the little patterns in the metal, after that I polished that badboy up and it was like a mirror.

FMX - is it safe on polished aluminum valve cover gaskets? I have the Edelbrock polished aluminum with the groves on the top side. They have black paint down in between the groves.

Once you spray this stuff, do you just hose it off? What do you do with what washes off? Trying to be enviromentally conscious.

Thanks

Dave

Hey daver still got those old valve covers ? from the pic of the dirty engine ?

I am not sure about polished aluminum to tell ya the truth. Let me go test it out this comming week and I will tell ya what it does. I am sure it will turn the polished aluminum a little white or a faded look a bit because it will probably take off the polish film and pull out that black. But yeah let me check it out. And yeah I just wash the dirt, etc down the drain. It doesn't make a mess that's for sure, and won't turn the driveway black or nothing, it will wash away with the water. A wheel shop told my dad about this stuff a few months back and told my dad to spray it on him wheels before he polishes to make it easier and faster to get the wheels to shine. Ever notice when you polish, you look at the rag and it's all black? Well this pulls that out of course (I only said it a million times haha) and then when you polish it will just shine and make the job quicker. I will test it out this week though on my fathers wheels on his truck and see how it does. I will polish them and then spray it on there. You can delute it with water if you wan't but we don't. It's not meant to be deluted but you can. We have industrial cleaner that we delute more that 50/50 and man that stuff is way too strong, it turned my dads 454 motor all white, everything that was aluminum turned white and you try and polish it and buff it, etc it stays white so not good, gotta be careful.
This stuff is great and along with Simple Green which I am sure you have heard of. Simple Green is more for just grease and oil so if you wan't something like that. That stuff has been out for ages and wont harm your paint or nothing.

Everybody seems to have the painting well covered. Thought about detailing the outside of the block ? Like grinding of the casting flash marks where the sand molds met to foem the block mold, you can get at a lot of these marks by using a 4 1/2 inch disc grinder and sander and using a die grinder in some of the harder areas. Now I mean just to grind off these marks flush with the block surface and not into the block, the same with the cylinder heads. also paint everything before it bolts together with the machined surfaces masked off to stop overspray getting onto them.
Nice ford daver came up really well.

PS I would not use black paint on a motor as it will be hard to spot an oil leak.:3dSMILE:

Yeah light colors are good for oil leaks. Black may look nice but wait until you actually have a black block and have to look for oil leaking on your driveway. Plus a light block will show dirt and it will make you keep that engine clean more often like it should be. :D

Daver - you mention clear paint. Is it Duplicolr also, and is it Engine paint? I've been unable to find Clear Duplicolor Engine paint.

For the distributor, did you paint it silver and then cover it with clear?

That engine is sharp! Hope mine looks half as good.

Dave