ENGINE PAINT
 

Do I have to use high heat engine paint on my block or can I use the car paint? I am painting my motor body color and I am not sure if it will burn off block. If I do have to use high temp paint, does anyone know if anybody makes high heat paint in any color if I give them color number? Also, do I need to prime it first?
Thanks,
Bill

I built 53 chevy truck your my boss & painted the block the same color paint as the body & has not burned off, discolored in any way. I say go for it

How long ago, how much do you drive it,and did you prime it first?

I painted my engine body color. I used one good wet coat of epoxy primer, three coats of base, and two coats of clear. Looks great accept where i get water from washing it in the nooks of the intake and then it boils it. As long as you dont that, you should be good to go. Been on there 3 years now. Coincedently it damn near matches the correct engine color. Here is a pic before dropping it in. Dont have any after ones, but it looks almost as good.

Looks real nice, the clear coat is sweet. Does anyone make an epoxy primer in spray cans?
How well do the heads hold up? I am going to get the exhaust ports jet hot coated to try and keep them a little cooler.

SEM makes a very nice durable etching primer in spray cans, don't get to over zelous with primer build up, two thin coats should be plenty otherwise like any painted surface it will flake off in time.

Tim john---

I dont know of any in a spray can. But if you have access to a compressor and even a cheap spray gun its no biggy. Your gunna need both of those to paint the car body color anyway. Epoxy has a great chemical boding property.

use light coats of everything..to much paint on and it will come off faster..when priming put just a dusting layer on to grab the color. same with clear 1 good coat is plenty..

Be careful telling someone to paint in a dusting. Likely to dry spray when you dust, and that doesnt stick well either. But I agree, one coat of clear is plenty, you wont need uv protection under the hood.

As for the body color, I have it in spray cans already. Thanks all for your input. I am glad I waited and thanks Tim I will look the primer up. By the way Tim, I love the M-20, she is a beauty just to look at.
Thanks,
Bill

Well since there is an epoxy primer in a can, could I get away with only epoxy primer to protect the block and other external parts until after it is built? Will that be enough to protect it from rust but not mess up paint when being put together?

I dont know how epoxy in a can is, but the regular mixed stuff has to be topcoated before the cure window is up (usually 3 days). So you may have to spray epoxy on, then spray a primer/surfacer over it within the cure window. Most regular primers dont have a recoat window, so you could leave it in that til your ready. I think if it were me I would just spray Picklex or Ospho on it til you were ready, then scuff it all down with a scotchbrite, then your epoxy/primer/paint.

What do those two things do? If I have to paint it and touch up after build, I will if thats thr best thing to do.

If you dont mind spraying it twice, the best way would epoxy followed by regular primer. But check the can of epoxy, I dont know if it even has to have primer sprayed right over it. i know when you are working with a mixed system, it has to be topcoated within a window.

But once you have the epoxy and primer sprayed, it can sit as long as you want.

Those two things are rust inhibitors. More used on panels that have rust to turn them to oxide. I feel it would be an extra step that isnt needed because you will still have to spray epoxy and primer anyway.

Or you can take a chance and just wait til its done and spray paint right on the steel.... but I wouldnt.

Epoxy and primer is the way to go if you want good looking lasting results with auto paint.

I will go the epoxy primer way and I will see if it needs a primer topcoat. That seems like the best way to go. Thanks for all your help, I appreciate it.
Bill