OutKast

What kind of prep is recommended for painting the engine bay? My car isn't a show car by any means but I've recent'ly decided to spuce up the bay a little while I've got everything apart. I am going to go with a flat black finish. I chose flat black because it will be much easier to fix scatches I make from working under there. The flat also shows less blemishes than what you would see with high gloss. Also there will not be any issues with matching flat black in the future when I do have to respray an area. Aside from getting all the harnesses/hoses/etc...out of the way I'm looking for any suggestions that you may have. Light sanding? Degreasing?


FYI...I'm going with a black chrome powder coating on the valve covers, fuel rails, TB plate, MSD 6al, and MSD timing retard box.

FacelessZ

If you want to do the job right the first time you'd have to pull the engine...degrease the hell out of it...sand it a bit if it needs it....

CamaroCasanova

Definately de-grease, and lightly sand with 300-400 grit...It depends on how much time and money you want to spend on it...I used prepsol cleaner, some 320 and 400 grit sandpaper, and it was then primed, painted, color sanded and buffed, but that is a whole different story...I wouldn't just paint plain black in there it will look like crap imo.

TDog

Hi,

I'm not sure how beautiful the engine bay has to be for you, but I did a decent job on my z without spending too much cash... Maybe $60 total and I think it looks 300+% better...

I pulled the motor for a 383 rebuild...Cleaned the HECK out of the engine bay and under the hood area...DEGREASE, DEGREASE, etc... I cleaned so much that a lot of the old and abused paint went with the OIL and DIRT

Then I bought 6 LARGE CANS of the Chevy Artic White touch up paint from the Dealership...I made sure to properly mask everything and watch for overspray and paints runs...I used only 5 of the cans and put about 2 to 3 coats on the engine bay area including the under side of the hood...

Here's a BEFORE pic of the underneath of the hood...after cleaning...
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...10933853KVnhxO
Here's a AFTER pic of the underneath...well...minus one coat...I did put on one more coat after this picture...and I also bought a new hood liner...Looks sweet now....
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...10933763eKXqmc

Here's the BEFORE for the ENGINE BAY...
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...10933514GKApjf
Here's the AFTER of the Engine Bay...again this is minus one more coat...
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...10933404iyeACE

Take care and...if you go another route it could be very time consuming and costly...but would definitely look even better...

I'm pleased with my DYI...project...maybe you could give it a try...

TDog

OutKast

Check the link below for what I've done so far. Working on the drivers side now then I'll start gettin picky and get down to a little detail....but not too much. I'm hoping to finish it up tomorrow so more pics to come.

used a vacuum with a brush attachment to such all the sand and leaves out. Hit it with some degreaser and a green scrubber followed by a little wipe down with Simple Green. Rinsed down with a sponge and water. Sanded with 300 grit, vacuum as much dust away as possible, then hit it one more time with the sponge rinse and sprayed it from the can.



http://bedford.no-ip.org/images/my_e...fore_pass1.jpg
http://bedford.no-ip.org/images/my_e...fore_pass2.jpg
http://bedford.no-ip.org/images/my_e...aint_pass1.jpg
http://bedford.no-ip.org/images/my_e...aint_pass2.jpg
http://bedford.no-ip.org/images/my_e...aint_pass3.jpg
http://bedford.no-ip.org/images/my_e...aint_pass4.jpg

94_Camaro_LT-1

I recently just did mine flat black while the motor was out and it turned out great (I think) with just basic sanding paper and primer ... Check out the before and after pics on my website (page 6) heres the final product. goodluck

OutKast

Thanks...I'm very happy with the way it's turning out. Yours looks good but it's hard to tell alot of detail from the your pic. Then again...hopefully flat black is hiding all the little details I don't want to see