Any tips on painting engine compartment?

Well, Im half way stripping my car and I am in the near future gonna paint my 59 galaxies engine compartment. Im not taking the body off the frame because of Ive never done this before, and have nobody to guide me through it. Come to think about it. I dont even know if my teach would let me do this!Anyway, I was just wondering if anybody had any tips on Cleaning up the engine compartment. Anything really....painting, cleaning... Whatever u might find helpful. Im kinda jumping into this restoration and its my first. So im kinda Expecting some crap to go wrong in the middle of it. Oh and by the way. I was thinking about painting the car a nice color on the outside. But a simple 2 stage black would b fine.(because I can fix it if its 2 stage.) And I want to be able to spray it out of a spray gun. I really am confused with this crap and Im hoping I can get some good ideas!

 

When attempting to mask off wiring etc, the easiest method is to wrap it in aluminum foil instead of pissing about with tape etc.

 

Fortunately, I have a friend thats gonna do the wiring for me (I pray, Because It was Old and noodle-y and was cut out.) But, Why in tin foil? If ur not pulling my leg.

 

For masking areas I use shopping bags and tape the edges. Aluminum foil works but rips easy and the wife may hurt you for stealing it.

 

Easy to wrap it around the wires etc & then crush it into shape.

 

with foil you can just wrap it around certain parts and wires. than having to tape up the entire part.

degrease the engine compartment. use Gunk rinse it off. let it dry and do it again but this time scrub it with a scotch brite. that way your removing the dirt and scrubbing it too. you'll have to do this a few times.

 

i used to always use gunk but then i found out about non reduced cleaners that are sold by the gallon, way cheaper and way more effective, i use the stuff that comes in a purple container from napa, i cant rember the name of it for the life of me though. and just cause i want it to go faster i dont reduce it, but just be carefull to only to get where you want it.

 

yup that purple stuff works better. i thinks it's call purple lightning. fully concentrated it could remove some paint too.

 

Ha, Damn women!

 

I like the idea of the scotch brite pads. Ive got a box of these for scuffing the surface before painting. (Red ones r my bestest friend.) Thanks sunshine!

Im anticipating it doing this! Would make my life easier!

 

Sorry, I jumbled up that one. Thanks low springs 2! Fellow school member!

 

I just am finishing the engine compartment on my 50 Chevy, and the new motor is getting closer to going in. I spent about an hour wiping everything down with lacquer thinner, then doing it again until the gunk and nasty crap is gone. Then go crazy with a red scotch brite pad, wire brush where needed and some 150 grit to feather out any scratches. Primed with a spray bomb to cover any bare meatl, and I'm sure I will be called on it-but put 4 good coats of Rustoleum gloss black everywhere. It has adhesion promoters, and fisheye removers already built in so that it's more user friendly. The results so far look awesome!!!! I will be posting pics in the next day or 2, the price was right at 4 bucks a can and things are fresh and I am completely happy with everything....except for cleaning parts. Good luck!

 

That purple degreaser also eats up enamel paint.... Be carefull!!

 

i always just used lacquer thinner and rags of scotch-brite pads.most of the time you can just about strip it down to bare metal doing this.then after everything dries just hit it with some primer and paint.if you just try to spray bomb it without hitting it with some primer sometimes it likes to fish-eye.

 

When painting with a gun I like to isolate the firewall from the frame. I paint the frame first then mask the frame and do the firewall. It might sound funny but with all the upside down painting and little crevis's it can get overwhelming.

 

Its a little more work I guess but I have had good results with Tide and a brush in an engine bay. You mix it a little thicker than a bubble bath and go to town with it.

 

+1 for Purple Power. It removes grease and old paint, doesn't stink and rinses easily. EDIT: and like Retro says, keep it off your skin. I invest in bulk boxes of rubber gloves. Use heavy duty aluminum foil, it wraps easily around wiring harnesses, steering box, tie rods, etc that you don't want painted. Cheap aluminum foil tears and falls off when hit by compressed air. I remove the hood and hinges too if you really want to get into the corners, ideally the engine is already out but you can work around it in most big cars.

 

I did the old tin foil trick on the clutch linkage, OD cable and the steering column. I touched up the over spray on the frame with the old rattle can semi-gloss black before dropping in the engine.. This is a driver and not a show car. I use the rubberized undercoating for the floor to clean it up behind the trans hump and underneath. It will be cleaner looking than most of the weekend warriors at the cruise nights and that is all that I am after. I don't want to be afraid to drive it because it might rain.

The inner fender wells and core support are already semi-gloss black and waiting to be bolted in with clean bolts that will show that the engine compartment wasn't just sprayed all one monolithic color.

 

Regarding the purple degreaser ... works great but it's some hostile shit!
Don't get it on your hands for any extended period unless you want to spend a few weeks watching a new layer of skin grow.
Ask me how I know.

 

I have used aircraft remover with lots of success, it gets the old paint and the grease in one fell swoop.

If you don't care about the old finish, aircraft remover makes a great cleaner/degreaser.

 

I like oven cleaner. Removes crap and paint, leaves a nice bare metal surface. You were gonna prime, weren't you?

Do it at a pressure style car wash bay.

 

Its killin me that Im gonna be sprayin around my control arms and stuff seeing how I took a lot of crap out of the engine compartment. But I wanna cruise the damn thing and my teachers will be anal about me taking so long. So Im just hopin for the best. Tommy and fordors look like they came out pretty damn good!

 

Whats aircraft remover? I'm an aircraft mechanic and never heard that term. Do you mean MEK? (methyl ethyl keytone) or Tolulene? Don't breathe in either of those or get them on your skin but yeah, they'll take off old crud and paint down to bare metal with scotch brite and a little time.

 

Thanks. I was in my local Napa store yesterday and looked for the Purple power stuff after reading this post. It was on sale! A gallon of the concentrate was 4 bucks. I haven't tried it yet but I doubt I can find much fault with it for 4 bucks.

 

I and several shops I sell to use Bill Hirsch chassis black in the engine compartment. It's sprayable but it is also brushable and with a foam brush, you cannot tell that it wasn't sprayed from a gun. It sprays out great and the best part of that is nothing else to buy (hardener, reducer, etc) It's a great satin black and was designed to be original color.

Here's a pic of the engine bay recently completed in a 53 Pontiac. This was sprayed, original factory stamp A taped to keep it.



As far as cleaning, dawn, oven cleaner, purple stuff, engine degreaser...all with varying degrees of success.

 

Shove it on a trailer and take her over to the local quarter car wash late some night, load it up with "Gunk" have a few beers then blow the engine bay down.
I have heard people do this.

Just saying

 

use the foam type engine cleaner-not for super greasy motors. I use self clinging type food wrap with some masking tape. also, for quick work or touch up I use old towels of different sizes to cover motor and odd stuff. plain newspaper with masking tape along top of fenders. you mention a paint job-do some engine compartment detail, but wait to finish after you paint car. easy for overspray to get most anywhere. if you use rattle can spray paint the kind with a fan spray pattern really helps on large areas.

 

super clean is the shit i use

 

I can't say if this stufff is actually used on aircraft, but Aircraft Remover is the trade name that I use.

When I have used this on engine compartments it takes the paint off right now with little effort, more durable paint and/or multiple layers can be more work.

 

X2 for oven cleaner.

Don;t use the expensive stuff. go to your local 99 cents store and buy the real cheap stuff. It works better.

be careful though. The cheap stuff will choke a horse.... but it works.