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Thread: Engine Painting - What to use

  1. #1
    Senior Member AJT '33's Avatar
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    Engine Painting - What to use

    My son and I will be starting our build of our FFR 33 Hot Rod in the next couple months and one of the items that we are arguing about is do we paint the engine and transmission or not. I definitely want to paint it and my son does not, I'll more than likely trump him however if the process does not hold up once the engine get hot or peels over time, I'm not doing it. Regardless, can anyone point us or provide insight into painting the engine block and transmission? To give a little insight the car will have a Steam Punk theme feel to it using coppers, brasses, bronzes and of course the base color will be black. The paint details will be subtle against the main black color of the car. We would appreciate any and all input that all you very experienced people may have. Thanks!!!

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    use base clear coat paint holds up fine, have painted many motors with this to match the body color. motors do not get that hot. the way it was explained to me when I asked a painter, he said o think how hot a black gets in the sun all day in Arizona with outside temps of 120 degrees.

  3. #3
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    For me it would depend on whether the engine block and heads are aluminum or iron. Iron needs paint or it will rust. Painting aluminum is merely decoration.

    Adequate preparation can be a problem. Getting the entire exterior of an engine adequately prepped without contaminating the inside can be tricky.

    My car has an aluminum block and head LS3 and an aluminum 4L65E trans I wasn't about to waste my time painting either one. You can't even see the transmission. I did have some steel motor mounts and a steel AC compressor mount so I painted those parts with silver engine enamel to go with the bare aluminum.

    If you really want a proper prep, every square inch should be sanded and/or etched. When I painted my frame, I did a fair amount of grinding to dress up some ugly welds, but most of the prep consisting of applying phosphoric acid etching solution, to prep it for epoxy primer and satin black urethane paint.

    If I was going to paint an engine, I'd just use some spray cans of engine enamel, but if it's not prepped properly, it won't adhere for very long. Peeling paint may look worse than none at all.

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    Seasoned Citizen NAZ's Avatar
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    Dave is on the money -- prep is paramount if you want the paint to hold up, especially on aluminum. For aluminum etching the best acid to use is hydrofluoric acid (HF); note the spelling -- I'm not talking about hydrochloric acid, that's used in swimming pools to adjust pH. Both Sharkhide and Eastwood make a HF based aluminum cleaner that comes in a spray bottle. CAUTION: this is the most dangerous acid you will ever use so proper PPE is a must and a running water hose nearby for emergency use should be available. It etches all metals (and even glass) and is what we used at Anheuser-Busch to clean and etch aluminum cans before the labels and inside coatings are applied. To really make paint stick to aluminum use zinc chromate primer which is still available in rattle cans or for use in spray guns (not sure about California -- seems anything that works is banned there). Zinc chromate sticks to aluminum better than anything I've seen.

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    Senior Member AJT '33's Avatar
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    I appreciate your inputs they are very helpful. What I take form all of this is that a prep and proper products will be the biggest items to be applied. I will need to further research the correct and best paint products such that I am not tearing out the motor and transmission during the winter months and redoing it. Much appreciated everyone!

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    Local engine builder here (Golen in NH) recommended to me to use Duplicolor engine paint and primer. I also used their clear coat and followed their instructions. My Jeep engine had just been rebuilt by Golen and was very clean already (not even filled with oil yet) so getting it clean enough was not too much of a challenge. The paint went on real nice from the can with the engine in the stand. Easy to rotate it to get top and bottom nice and even. Gloss clear coat finished it off great. The Jeep has been running for a month with no signs of discoloring or rubbing off, etc. I figure if the engine builder uses Duplicolor it must be decent at least! I have always heard that duplicolor makes good paint too (high solid content).

    I'd do it again. Engine looks awesome.

    I prepped by cleaning with brake cleaner (top to bottom) and a real careful masking job for all the gasket surfaces. Then went around with small paint brush to get spots that werent fully covered by gaskets once manifolds were installed. We used a metal file to 'cut' off masking tape around the edges... works real nice and I find easier than using a knife. Just a few light passes with the file over the edge where you want the masking tape to end, and it is cut off nicely. (And the resulting masked line is perfect.)
    Last edited by ben1272; 08-25-2017 at 11:23 AM.

  7. #7
    Senior Member AJT '33's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ben1272 View Post
    Local engine builder here (Golen in NH) recommended to me to use Duplicolor engine paint and primer. I also used their clear coat and followed their instructions. My Jeep engine had just been rebuilt by Golen and was very clean already (not even filled with oil yet) so getting it clean enough was not too much of a challenge. The paint went on real nice from the can with the engine in the stand. Easy to rotate it to get top and bottom nice and even. Gloss clear coat finished it off great. The Jeep has been running for a month with no signs of discoloring or rubbing off, etc. I figure if the engine builder uses Duplicolor it must be decent at least! I have always heard that duplicolor makes good paint too (high solid content).

    I'd do it again. Engine looks awesome.

    I prepped by cleaning with brake cleaner (top to bottom) and a real careful masking job for all the gasket surfaces. Then went around with small paint brush to get spots that werent fully covered by gaskets once manifolds were installed. We used a metal file to 'cut' off masking tape around the edges... works real nice and I find easier than using a knife. Just a few light passes with the file over the edge where you want the masking tape to end, and it is cut off nicely. (And the resulting masked line is perfect.)
    Hey Ben, very much appreciate the further input. I have done some research since I posted this and Duplicolor as well as VHT Engine Paints have been way out in the forefront. Was your block steel or aluminum, I assume it was aluminum. As well did you use the type with ceramic in it? Again I appreciate everyone's input in this, thank you very much!
    Last edited by AJT '33; 08-28-2017 at 01:57 PM.

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    Just a follow up to the NAZ post about using HF acid.
    Lots of our customers use it in semiconductor applications, like NAZ said it's dangerous.
    If you get it on your skin it goes right thru it and starts to desolve the bone.

  9. #9
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    I build engines for bulk container ships. All we use is POR15. I have 6000 miles on my engine and is has no sign of fading.

  10. #10
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    I will have tosecond por15 . That stuff is brutal . I used the engine formulation . It works great on suspension parts which will see a lot of wear n tear.

  11. #11
    Brandon #9196 TexasAviator's Avatar
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    Used rattle can engine paint. Went with ford corporate blue. It's a tough hard enamel that won't scratch or peel. Really tough and semi gloss finish.

    Quote Originally Posted by TexasAviator View Post




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