Need to touch up engine bay, what are my options?

[myk r sanchez]

Thanks to everyone’s encouragement, I sprayed SPI epoxy primer today. I used a 1.4mm gun with around 30psi at the gun and after an initial rookie mistake I mostly got the hang of it.

First batch I didn’t mix the solids in very well and it was very thin. Luckily I only mixed a small amount. Second mix was much better and coverage was nice and even. I have a lot to learn working in a small space like and engine bay.

I'm reasonably happy with the results considering it was my first go. This isn't the greatest pic but coverage was good. Tomorrow I start smoothing out my weld areas.


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Way to go, man; I look forward to more progress. Personally, I'll have to rattle can my bay, WITH the engine installed. That's going to be a chore...

 

[funknut]

Way to go, man; I look forward to more progress. Personally, I'll have to rattle can my bay, WITH the engine installed. That's going to be a chore...

I was able to use 2 mil plastic sheet to cover most everything but did use aluminum foil too for tight areas. It's much easier to work with than the blue tape. Super helpful because it's so thin and conforms easily to any curve. If I had to do it with my engine in I would be using a lot of foil, that's for sure.

Good luck!

 

[khryslerkid]

What's the "window" on the epoxy that you used? That's the allowed amount of time that you have to apply the paint that you are going to use. If you go past the window then you'll have to scuff it first.

Tell me you're going to use the original body color in the engine bay.

 

[funknut]

I used SPI epoxy primer and according to their site anything less than 7 days and you don't have to scuff. They recommend waiting 16 hours before applying filler and 48 hours before applying primer.

https://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/perfect-paint-job

I will be spraying it back to red. It isn't the original color (car was 331 'bright red' and the previous owner had it resprayed to Viper Red), but it definitely won't stay black!

 

[funknut]

Paint update! It's REALLY red! It's the same paint code and I opened the old can that the previous owner supplied to check, and they were quite close, but wow it will be interesting to see what it looks like when I unmask and see them side by side. I'm not worried about the color, I just hope I followed the right steps and it sticks around a while.

Earlier this week I sprayed 2 coats of sealer/surfacer and this morning wet sanded with 600 and degreased.

The paint guy was really nice and we ended up deciding on Omni. It was well under half the cost of the regular Deltron. I know it's not apples to apples, but I felt good about the decision. He said it would be really thin, and it was, but it seemed to work well with my gun, so I have no complaints. I'm sure any errors are operator-supplied. ;)

I did one light coat and then 2 'medium' coats. I don't know what I'm doing, but they felt medium to me. Overall I'm happy with the outcome. On my 2nd coat I did get some runs on the driver's inner fender near the battery. Hopefully I can correct it, but even if I can't I think it will be hidden by the battery. Not really sure what I did, but maybe I overdid it near that recessed channel and it held too much paint. I'm right handed, and trying to paint in that front driver's corner was tricky.

I also got some small fish eyes on the pass. fender, but I think they will be hidden by the horns.

So far it looks good, definitely far better than I thought I would be able to do. I'll get some better pics when I unmask it and can get some more light on it. These pics were taken about 30 mins after I finished spraying.

Runs. Hard to see in this pic, but there's about 6 of them.