painting aluminum heads

[doug glenn]

whats the best technique to painting aluminum heads engine color ?

 

[benno440]

clean heads, apply paint. dry time, Admire

 

[68 HEMI GTS]

scotch brite the flat/smooth areas

 

[super-bee_ski]

Do we put a "self-etching" primer on?
Or, any type of primer?

 

[khryslerkid]

I've never painted an aluminum head or manifold before but in the industries I've worked in, we have always cleaned and applied a etching primer first, when painting aluminum. Just my experience...

 

[benno440]

if its an enamel engine paint primer is not needed and being rough surface of a cast aluminium primer is not needed, just clean, scotchbrite if you wish and spray the paint on. i painted my ally heads, in a high temp aluminium colour as the raw aluminium was looking crap and wanteed to protect them a bit more.

 

[sleepar]

Lacquer thinner wash 600 grit paper another wash in thinner... mask out the manifold gaskets Deck and plug holes... hi temp primer and paint bake in oven for 2 hour @250° pull tape... search my threads "I've been talking.." second thread on my profile...

 

[benno440]

^^ overkill

 

[Detroit Iron]

Lacquer thinner wash 600 grit paper another wash in thinner... mask out the manifold gaskets Deck and plug holes... hi temp primer and paint bake in oven for 2 hour @250° pull tape... search my threads "I've been talking.." second thread on my profile...

This is all good, because paint DOES release from aluminum over time, so yeah over kill is a good thing in my opinion. The only thing I don't understand is the baking in the oven. First of all, it brings toxic fumes into the house. Second... it cooks on the car anyway. Right?

 

[bm02tj]

Zinc chromate primer is best if you can find it for aluminum

 

[barnfind]

scotchbrite or 400 grit with dawn, rinse, dry, mask, wipe down with naptha or thinner, tack, chromate primer, paint, heed warnings when using chromate.