How to get the finished look???

[zach103]

so i decided to paint the engine.. i gota a nice black spray paint for engines.. but i want that nice shiny look .. how can i do that??

 

[oops!]

Re: How to get the finished look???

the shiny look comes from hi gloss paint....

and remember....when painting....it all depends on the surface prep.

mask all the bolt heads

 

[drewpster]

Re: How to get the finished look???

Its been awhile sense I have bought any engine paint off the shelf. In the past, all the spray can stuff dried sort of semi-gloss. It would dry to a clean shine but not as shiney as a gloss finish. A good engine paint is designed to hold up to heat. I know the VHT brand was popular at one time. We used to pre-heat exhaust headers and use it to paint them in the old days.
I know some show car guys were using body paint to do engines to get them to shine up. But I am sure that was only on the trailered show cars as the paint would lose its shine, or even bubble and come off with engine heat.

 

[fixb52s]

Re: How to get the finished look???

My father paints engines with automotive finishes in his show/driver cars. Of course, it is a lot of work. He grinds the block smooth (not required, but a smooth flathead is sweet), ensures it is CLEAN, and just shoots it with self etching primer prior to paint. The trick is to ensure there is no traces of any oils on the metal.

He has been doing this for years and puts a lot of miles on these engines with no problems. The block, heads and manifolds don't get so hot to burn the paint. Of course exhaust headers have to have a high temp coating, and he gets these Jet-Hot coated.​

 

[wca_tim]

Re: How to get the finished look???

A well known local engine builder told me to use dupont nason single stage urethane... it works great, very shiny, easy to apply (If you're reasonably competent), and comes out great! Once completely cured it will be very resistant to most solvents, gas, oil, etc... and hold gloss well. I've used it in several colors for engines and parts... black and also candy red metallic this last time... a picture of the engine I just put in my boat should give you an idea. the picts don't do the red any justice at all... The water pump was done with black fullthane as well (same single stage polyurethane...). This done with small, cheap detail gun, small compressor and simple filter type mask with charcoal to deal with the toxic fumes... not hard at all if you follow directions.

Just tape it off, clean / degrease everything really well and shoot it with the nason self-etching (zinc chromate) primer before top coating. Mix everything according to instructions, etc...

and yes, that's undercoating on the oil pan... was recommended for rust protection for the part that sees the bilge / water area most often...

Hope this is helpful