Amateur engine bay painting
12-16-2018, 08:59 PM
#1
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Amateur engine bay painting Hey everyone so I have a 1998 cayenne red camaro Z28 and I figured why pay someone else to paint my engine bay when I can try and do it myself. Save money and learn some skills
12-16-2018, 09:29 PM
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Mind you this I’m 18 and this is my first time trying any type of body work. I made some templates out of cardboard and cut out 16 gauge sheet metal And welded the top and hammer and dollied and welded as I got the curve of the piece correct. I also welded the seam and grinded everything smooth
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09-27-2019, 01:56 PM
#12
I know this post was along time ago but can you give us some info on materials used. My motor is gone and paint isn’t that bad just kinda dull but would love to have a fresh coat.
09-27-2019, 07:51 PM
#13
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Pressure wash for grease removal and general purpose cleanliness. I'd then get a 400 grit sanding pad in a drill chuck and scuff up every place you wish to paint. Anything grittier than 400 will leave scratch marks that'll be tough to fill with primer / base coat / clear. You don't really need a paint booth but definitely use caution with overspray. Your neighbors may not care for your choice of colors.
Then wipe it all down with lots . . . I mean lots, of Prep Sol or some other kind of degreaser. Given that an engine bay is tough to clean, you gotta' work a little harder here. Car wax, Armor All, maybe Rain-X, you name it, anything with silicone in it that has ever been applied to your old paint in its past can push your new paint to orange peel, fish eye or some other ugly paint flaw unless you clean it up first.
Then buy a cheap paint gun off EBay, Amazon or your local automotive paint store. Mine cost $24.99 with free shipping and had a 1.5 millimeter nozzle if I remember correctly, maybe two mm. Then buy some cheap acrylic water based paint from Hobby Lobby or Michaels and thin it with water by about half. Power up your compressor. You are going to need a fairly hefty compressor unless you like painting in squirt squeezes of the paint gun trigger as the line pressure drops.
Then practice on a big sheet of cardboard stood upright. Fiddle with the big flow **** directly above the handle. Notice how the spray changes pattern as the pressure drops off. Practice, practice, practice. Painting with this paint is cheap fun, good practice and you can't go wrong here. Run an oil and water separator on your air line if you want.
Then clean your gun. Clean it again and then one more time. Clean it inside and out. Take it apart, all of its removable parts. Then go buy your real primer, paint, reducer, activator and a big jug of lacquer thinner (for gun cleaning) heavy duty rubber gloves (again, for gun cleaning) and ask questions at the paint store. They know that people can be first time painters.
Oh yea . . . buy a cartridge-equipped NIOSH certified mask to breathe with while spraying. These paints have a form of cyanide in them . . . quite nasty and can kill you. Your paint job ain't worth that.
Mask off vast areas of your vehicle so that you don't hit it all with overspray. These compressors, guns and nozzles can really push paint far from where you are aiming.
Then go paint. Follow the mixing ratio instructions. Follow the instructions on how quickly that you can and must follow up with additional coats.
Then clean your paint gun again, again and again. Otherwise, it'll be unusable next time.
You might and probably will make a mistake here. But so what?? Its the engine compartment. You had some fun and learned a new skill.
Rick
Then wipe it all down with lots . . . I mean lots, of Prep Sol or some other kind of degreaser. Given that an engine bay is tough to clean, you gotta' work a little harder here. Car wax, Armor All, maybe Rain-X, you name it, anything with silicone in it that has ever been applied to your old paint in its past can push your new paint to orange peel, fish eye or some other ugly paint flaw unless you clean it up first.
Then buy a cheap paint gun off EBay, Amazon or your local automotive paint store. Mine cost $24.99 with free shipping and had a 1.5 millimeter nozzle if I remember correctly, maybe two mm. Then buy some cheap acrylic water based paint from Hobby Lobby or Michaels and thin it with water by about half. Power up your compressor. You are going to need a fairly hefty compressor unless you like painting in squirt squeezes of the paint gun trigger as the line pressure drops.
Then practice on a big sheet of cardboard stood upright. Fiddle with the big flow **** directly above the handle. Notice how the spray changes pattern as the pressure drops off. Practice, practice, practice. Painting with this paint is cheap fun, good practice and you can't go wrong here. Run an oil and water separator on your air line if you want.
Then clean your gun. Clean it again and then one more time. Clean it inside and out. Take it apart, all of its removable parts. Then go buy your real primer, paint, reducer, activator and a big jug of lacquer thinner (for gun cleaning) heavy duty rubber gloves (again, for gun cleaning) and ask questions at the paint store. They know that people can be first time painters.
Oh yea . . . buy a cartridge-equipped NIOSH certified mask to breathe with while spraying. These paints have a form of cyanide in them . . . quite nasty and can kill you. Your paint job ain't worth that.
Mask off vast areas of your vehicle so that you don't hit it all with overspray. These compressors, guns and nozzles can really push paint far from where you are aiming.
Then go paint. Follow the mixing ratio instructions. Follow the instructions on how quickly that you can and must follow up with additional coats.
Then clean your paint gun again, again and again. Otherwise, it'll be unusable next time.
You might and probably will make a mistake here. But so what?? Its the engine compartment. You had some fun and learned a new skill.
Rick
Last edited by B52bombardier1; 09-27-2019 at 08:02 PM.
09-29-2019, 06:18 AM
#14
Wow thanks for all the info and directions on this project. Sounds pretty complicated and I will just let someone do it that knows how to. Don’t have a safe enough place to spray in all reality..