Thread: which primer and paint?

So. My trans went out a couple weeks ago. So I pulled the engine and trany out. Then I remembered I have to replace the rack. So I took that off and then said f**k it. So everything is out of the front end. Im going to send the sub frame and a bunch of other things to get blasted and coated... Im going to paint the engine bay and I wanted to know if anyone knows which primer and paint I should use. Thanks.

Oh yeah..... im also doing a crazy wire tuck and pcm, fuse box, and battery relocation.

You should polish out the subframe that would look tits

I did not use primer on mine when I painted the entire engine bay. I used a piss ton of degreaser, scouring pads, and elbow grease. Taped everything up that I needed to, and then wiped everything down really well with some prep solvent (rubbing alcohol)

I used Rustoleum Professional Enamel in gloss black. Came out flawless.



I remember clear-coating it, but I can't remember what I used, probably Rustoleum, but not 100% sure.

Didn't take any good pictures of it. But this was a before picture (probably a 6month before, but it still works)


and this is the only after picture I have that shows it off any

that website doesn't have my color. Im never getting rid of the car so I was thinking black..... idk. Haha that would take years if I used my dremel. Wow. That looks great.

Cleanest engine bay I've ever witnessed I way jelly. Can't go wrong with black... Any car can pull a black bay off and best of all easy to hide dirt and clean!

Ha, thanks RED.

I was really impressed with the Rustoleum. Went on easily, had great coverage, held up super well, and never faded/showed any scratches. I guess if it's meant to go on tractors and **** like that, it's more than happy to be in an engine bay.

Just mask off your fenders and radiator really well, and make sure to spray your headlight brackets (I didn't when I did the whole bay, and it stuck out so badly I had to retape everything and spray them)

Black is a good color. Helps hide wiring/brackets and makes your engine the focus point. I'm planning on doing that to my white GTP here soon.

Id love a black bay just not motivated to pull the motor and trans to do it.

I didn't pull the motor/trans when I painted mine. That pic with the motor out is from when the first motor blew, way before I painted it.

Hmm maybe I'll knock this out soon.

Thanks and I also hate you for the idea lol

Body color out of a aerosol can is going to look strange ^_^

^

Plus it was that color from the factory. Yes, it looks classier, but with my car, class is one of the last things I'm going for.

Not to mention if your spraying it yourself... You have to deal with reducers and orange peel etc... Screw all that.

Rattlecan ftw!

In all seriousness, if you do good prep work, spray evenly, and do a good final sanding and buff, you can make rattlecan look damn good.


And spazzz has it right, aluminum foil works awesome for covering stuff to paint that doesnt need to necessarily be taped.

You really have me considering doing this soon lol.. My bay looks crappy from all the modding and dropping tools etc it's scratched pretty bad.

And let's not forget older cars tend to have black bays from the factory.. What looks crappy is when everything outside of the bay isn't body color.. Like door jams etc.. Or overspray on the calipers and struts etc

Yep.

You can do it all in one day pretty easily. I let mine sit for a day before I drove it any though. Just take everything off that you can, ziptie anything else out of the way and have at it. Only things I can remember that were a big help were:

Remove the rear hood/trim seal. It should come right off, as opposed to taping it off.
Remove all the warning labels/stickers. By now you will have your belt routing committed to memory.
Tape your fenders off really well. I taped mine on the fender itself (look at the bottom pic, where it goes from that semi-gloss to the super shiny black)
BOMB the firewall. That matting stuff isn't worth the hassle to take off or tape. Just spray it.

Yup that's what I'm thinking the cars parked now atm anyways so now would be the best time for me to pull this off plus the the sc off currently.. Batteries out of the car. Coolant overflow tank is out etc etc so the bays pretty bare and I would be pulling the headers off soon to modify them so that's even less crap to worry about

Black is simple, easy to match, easy to clean and hide dirt sounds like a lot of winning to me