Clean up and paint engine bay.
 

Everyone has told me to do paint last but I want my engine compartment resprayed and detailed as well. That will require removal of the engine and I am not real thrilled about my engine dangling over my new paint job. My car will be driven to the shop and dropped off so I can't pull the engine have them detail the engine compartment and then set the motor back in cause that would add another 1500 to 2000 to the price. What did you guys do?

I hope this doesnt come off the wrong way. If you cant do things yourself then you have to pay, Are you painting the engine also ? Then why are you taking it out just because it's easier ? Are you spraying frame also or just painting inner fenders and firewall? There are ways to do things to get the results you want. If you get in a hurry or try to cut cost you can usually tell by the result. I disassemble my whole car painted subframe engine compartment then put engine in, but I think you can do a reasonable job with the engine in and spray cans in a couple of weekends. Whats it worth to you? Are you going for a show car or a nice driver.

My concern is an engine dangling over a freshly painted car/engine bay on a cherry picker. Just seems like a recipe for chips and scratches

Although I haven't done a car in a few years, to avoid problems and to get the best quality job I did the following: I took the car to the paint shop completely disassembled. Sure it means you can't 'drive' it to the paint shop, but $50-100 more to get a quality job. I keep the engine, tranny, etc. at my shop and detail it and their components and have them ready to drop in when the car is ready. The car comes back in pieces; fenders, inner fenders, hood, etc. are off. That makes it easy to drop the engine and transmission back in. With those back in and the drivetrain buttoned up I build the front sheetmetal back up. Then the rest of the car. This makes for a clean, neat job. No masking tape, etc. You might have to hire a little extra help but it will be worth it.

If you don't want to pay them to do it, then there's only one choice....pull the engine, do the bay, put it back in and then drive it to the body shop. Actually, it would be better to pull the entire front clip along with the engine. That way, you get access to everything under the hood.

I would decide how far you want to go. If it's just a nice driver you can do a really nice job with high quality spray paint (like Eastwood).

If the car is numbers matching or you are doing a high end restoration then it probably makes sense to pull the motor. If it's just a driver then I would read up on the best way to detail an installed motor. I usually pull the fender wells, brackets, etc and paint them off the car. Then I use aluminum foil, a lot of tape and old spark plugs to paint the block and heads. Taking your time and good products usually yield good results.

FWIW I pulled the 350 and installed the 400 in my 72 bird and ended up chipping the paint in one spot. I would have rather shot myself in the foot!