Painting the engine

Post by **youngun** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 7:26 pm

What is the best way to go about spraying the engine? At the moment its all in bits and im planning to paint parts separetly as that way the assembled engine looks very smart. BUT, whats the best way to go about stripping off old paint, rust etc without uneccesarily getting bits of grit and crap everywhere, especially in the block??

thanks!
YG

Post by **MoggyTech** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 7:40 pm

I would only recommend removing the grease/oil and loose paint, and brush painting an engine. The castings are pretty rough in any case, so spraying isn't going to look much better than a decent brush job.

FWIW I found that JAPLAC British Racing Green could withstand the temperatures of the block and cylinder head with no problems. It's £5.99 for a 400 ml tin from Homebase/B&Q etc. Dries with hardy a brush mark, and very shiny.

I used Hammerite High Heat Black for the manifolds.

If you do decide to remove all the old paint from the block, you will need to seal off everyhole to prevent anything nasty getting into oil and water ways. Even then, the engine should be carefully flushed and all openings blown through with an air line.

Post by **youngun** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 8:29 pm

Thanks for the advice moggy tech, i was originally hoping to brush paint the engine but the paint im using is a very expensive (15 quid for 500ml) metallic gold engine enamel and ive found that brush painting it, no matter how carefully i do it, just leaves a streaky mess!

I rekkon its nitro mors and wire brush time!

Post by **MoggyTech** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 10:49 pm

Yes if it's metalic it will need to be sprayed. Should look cool, a 'Bling' engine

Post by **youngun** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 4:10 pm

Well, not too bling....just a bit of gold, a bit of red and a bit of CHROME!!!!!

Post by **RogerRust** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:01 pm

Take it apart nut from bolt then spray the bits and put it back together!

OK I know .....show off!!

Post by **picky** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:40 pm

Ive always thought a chrome plated engine block and head would look awesome - but would be very expensive!!!

Post by **youngun** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 9:30 pm

And would discolour after the first use.....

Roger, nut and bolt stripping and induvidual part painting is the way forward..it just looks like such a bodge otherwise. In my opinion there is nothing worse than painted bloomin nuts and threads!

Post by **IaininTenbury** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 1:02 pm

youngun wrote: In my opinion there is nothing worse than painted bloomin nuts and threads!

But of course thats exactly what the factory did. Build an engine up and spray the lot green... Always noticable on oil filter cannisters, which have an unpainted strip down the side which was close to the block... I've even seen engines on original cars with the starter and dynamo painted with a thin coat of green all over... Headnuts and thermostat housing nuts were certainly painted over, even if production line changes over the years meant that the electrical bits weren't always painted. It'd be challenge to do one as bad as BMC did really! I mean it was only an engine on a fairly cheap small car.

Btw, Rogers engine looks really nice! Ignore the above please!

Post by **chickenjohn** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 1:04 pm

"It'd be challenge to do one as bad as BMC did really! I mean it was only an engine on a fairly cheap small car. "

that should certainly be to concours spec then! ;-)

Post by **picky** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 1:06 pm

And would discolour after the first use.....

do you mean that it would just get dirty very easily?

Picky

Post by **MoggyTech** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 8:15 pm

picky wrote:Ive always thought a chrome plated engine block and head would look awesome - but would be very expensive!!!

You mean like this

Post by **picky** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 8:24 pm

veerrry nice! standard fuel pump manages to keep that going!?!?

Post by **Welung666** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 8:49 pm

You wish that was under your bonnet

Post by **picky** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 8:57 pm

and your point is?

Post by **flying** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 8:59 pm

nice engine

Post by **Roni** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 10:43 pm

Was it put in there without getting your hands dirty?

Post by **MoggyTech** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 11:49 pm

Welung666 wrote:You wish that was under your bonnet

Yes don't get too excited guys and gals. That's a John Barret custom engine 525 BHP V8. It took me 10 minutes to fit it and didn't even need a spanner, just the PC Mouse. In other words it's a Photoshop special

I don't think I will ever modify my Traveller that far, but it's a nice dream.

Post by **picky** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 12:00 am

haha u got me there!

i was also wondering about the standard radiator cooling that thing... now it all makes sense

Picky

Post by **RogerRust** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:43 am

yep I was completly fooled.

Infact all but the most obvious photoshops get passed me.

I really need to look closer!!