engine painting

[dusterbd]

aight, the new motor is assembled. scruffy looking, but assembled completely.
its going to be blue. heads, intake, water pump and all. my only question is, since i spent the money on the nice black ARP bolts and everything, how do i paint it and not mess up the bolts?
is it safe to pull the bolts, replace them with generic stuff, paint the motor, and then reassemble it, or would i be begging for the car gods to smite me?
also, ive used the POR 15 engine paint in the past. its a major hassle. any other good, durable paints?
thanks.
michael

[dwc43]

I would just paint over them. Black will look out of place and all factory bolts are painted. Mopar makes the original paint that came on your engine. Get a can or two from your dealer. We use it all the time and it looks great and holds up just fine.

[dusterbd]

and on a side note, a thermostat housing, preferably polished aluminum, that doesnt leak? i like the o-ring style for small block chevys. anyone make a mopar equivalent?
michael

[dwc43]

You can get one from Mopar Performance too. Also check with Summit RAcing.

[boboh1]

I have painted three engines in the past and have had great looks and durability from Bill Hirsch Automotive paints. You can order from the web-site.

[jelsr]

Use auto parts engine spray paints like Krylon for instance. They have OEM colors and last quite well. I saw a T-stat housing in Mancini's flyer that looked neat, a 90 deg unit for clearance. (verses straight up)

[pishta]

Is there a brush on engine paint? Or does that web site sell paint that you shoot ? I would like a thick, brushable paint that would fill small textures for everything but the valve covers. Like the motor on the cover of this book:

[TrashedCharger]

The texture of your engine depends on how clean you get it when it's time to paint and how it was casted.

The engine on the cover of that Hot Rod magazine was spray painted. Just pick up 2 cans of chrysler blue from any auto parts store that resists 500 degrees of temperature breakdown. I would use a good degreaser like simple green with a coarse wire sponge to clean the block or simply sand blast the assembled engine with all of the critical areas well masked.

If you like your black bolts and want them to stand out, just throw some masking tape around the sides of the hex head and fold the tape down onto the top of the bolt head.

Dupli-Color Engine Enamel works well and seems to last long. I would also use an engine primer for a light coat over your engine for adhesion. It helps the enamel bond to the bare metal and is rated at the same temperature withstanding that the enamel is rated at.

You can try the specialty coatings section of Eastwood's website for their products as well at http://www.eastwood.com/

Just mask off your engine stand with some news paper and get a roll of masking tape for your openings and bolts (if you like).

[pishta]

Anyone powdercoat their motors? Lots of VW/Porsche owners are doing it with great results. Looks like glass.

[HNB racing]

the best thing ive found to clean en engine for painting is starting fluid there will not be any oil residue on the block or any where period

[TrashedCharger]

I'm sure that you can powdercoat an engine and have it look great. That's a good idea, but unless you want to do it yourself and have a heat lamp or a dedicated oven, it gets expensive.

http://www.eastwood.com has a powdercoating gun/ kit for $199 under their specialty coatings section and it shows the guy powdercoating a radiator fan sublime green. Might be worth a look.

The starter fluid would be okay for a degreaser at first, but starting fluid is a combination of either, propellant and a light oil for lubricating properties and can leave a resedue that is unseen and unfelt. Probably won't hurt an aerosol paint, but it's expensive and there are better things to use for the $...

Just use a good degreaser followed by denatured alcohol applied with a clean rag and blown dry.