Painting engine bay
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Teching In
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Painting engine bay Okay, I went over the thread about painting the engine bay while keeping the engine in it. Most of the people in the threads engine bays turned out great. They use duplicolor perfect match for their paint code which is what I was planning on doing. I know I need to clean it really good, sand, prime, sand, and paint. What grit sandpaper would you guys go with? And how many coats of paint? And should I sand between EVERY coat of paint?
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Joined: Oct 2012
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From: Mooresville, NC
All depends on how you want it to look. If you want it to look smooth, and glass-like finish, you are going to have to have a lot of patience and put in a good amount of sanding. If you decide that is the route you want to go, I would start with something like 180 just one pass around the bay to get the old paint off real quick, then go back and do everything with 320. Shoot it with 2 *light* coats of primer then go back and look for areas you feel like needs the most work, then go up to 600, 800, 1000, etc, the higher you go, the more smooth the finish will be. I would say you should do another coat of primer once you have sanded through that first layer of primer. Once you are happy with the sanding, shoot it with a light coat of primer, then a nice even coat to prep for your base. Then you can start applying your base color in *light* even coats until you are ready for clear coat. If you are going for the glassy look then I would shoot it with at least 2-3 coats of clear.
Im not a Pro and I am sure there are plenty of other things to consider but that is how I would do it.
Now if you just want it to be a solid color and have little patience, then simply sand it with 180, then 320, shoot it with primer, sand it with 600 or 800, then 2 base coats, and a clear.
As anybody that has painted before will say, the quality of your prep work will be the single most important factor in the final look of your finished paint. The more time you spend prepping it, the better it will look. Also, always allow the paint to dry before sanding. You can get fast buildup fast drying primer just about anywhere and you can shoot it and be sanding in 15-20 mins or so. And don't forget temperature and humidity will impact the final look as well.
Hope that helps
Im not a Pro and I am sure there are plenty of other things to consider but that is how I would do it.
Now if you just want it to be a solid color and have little patience, then simply sand it with 180, then 320, shoot it with primer, sand it with 600 or 800, then 2 base coats, and a clear.
As anybody that has painted before will say, the quality of your prep work will be the single most important factor in the final look of your finished paint. The more time you spend prepping it, the better it will look. Also, always allow the paint to dry before sanding. You can get fast buildup fast drying primer just about anywhere and you can shoot it and be sanding in 15-20 mins or so. And don't forget temperature and humidity will impact the final look as well.
Hope that helps
