G'day all,

I'm about to paint my engine bay with some Acrylic from Autobarn. I have repaired all the rust with patches, removed and treated the rust under the battery tray and sanded it down with 320G.

At this point I have a few small patches of bare metal which I will cover with etch primer and then rub down the whole lot with 600G? then apply the Yellow Acylic, probably three coats? not sure yet.

Questions...

Does the whole engine bay need primer or just the patches of bare metal?

Is 600G OK to base and top coat over? or would 800 be better?

Will it need a clear coat after the yellow? I have read yes and no but I'm thinking no as Acrylic should be kinda glossy once dry.

Any tips for painting?

I have all the gear, compressor, gun, reg, water trap, and a spare guard to practice on first.

 

Cheers

etching just the bare metal will be fine, you will likely get a better finish if you undercoat the whole lot, but not required.

 

600 is more than enough.

 

No need for clear if its a non metallic paint, i wouldnt bother.

 

Make the first coat really light and see if you can get some cover in those tight areas. I use less thinners in my paint in the engine bay, less chance of runs. Put more thinners in for a final coat and just spray the main areas to give them good gloss. I also turn the air pressure right down for the tight areas

Mate to be honest withyou I would be doing the engine bay in 2pac,much more durable,I just got mine primed last night,will be ready to paint on Monday(long weekend wooooo) only thing is you'll have to strip all the acrylic off,a lot of work but you'll thank me when in 2 years when it still looks like the day you painted it.

I did consider 2k but from what I understand/read it is harder to paint, requires controlled conditions, and is highly toxic so I think Acrylic will be fine for the engine bay.

I'm doing mine in my garage,will let you know how it turns out on monday

Won't upload photos of how I set my garage up

 

That would be great, put up some pics once its done too.

Cheers!

Throw lots of solvent at the engine bay, the oil & dirt that has got into all the seams and joints will be your enemy.

 

Undercoat is meant to grip the paint beneath better than topcoat, it certainly grips the paint going over it well. So u'coat over seams and joins too.

 

...and as the man said, turn the pressure down so it just does what you need and no more. Take you time and leave it to dry rather than hit awkward corners with too many coats trying to get into that last spot. Even acrylic will run easier than you expect.

this is how its done hahaha only thing is add a window with a fan sucking out(put a blanket or something in front of it to stop overspray lol)

$80 well spent i think,used it to dig all the old sealer out and it kinda worked like a scaler on the rust along all the seams and it also allowed me to sand 95% of engine with it using the sander attachment(alot of sandpaper lol) i used 5inch velcro discs p150 which i got for nothing but not expensive for box.then i went over that with an orbital sander with p320 only the parts that arent covered up,,rust converter on all the seams then wiped whole engine bay down 3 times,twice with thinners and then final wipe with 70% metho 30% water mix,,then your 2pac primer over the top of that,,it was still factory paint on mine which is a baked enamel so 2pac can go straight over which meant i didnt have to take all the factory paint off only where i had too,see if you go acrylic then you wanna go 2pac in the future your gunna have to strip all of the acrylic off and i meant all of it,not very fun at all haha,as far as spraying 2pac go on youtube theres gotta be videos on how to spray 2pac,do a couple test panels,youll get it,,but a pretty sure 2pac is illegal to spray without a proper filtration system so i do not indorse this hahaha,, and thats how far ive got so far

Good setup. The door you want is an upside down "T" cut in the wall, and on the inside you tape a plastic sheet about 2M high by 1M wide and it should overlap the "T" easily. That alows air to go inwards, (lifts the flap) and then out your fan window, but the flap stops air going back out through the door.

 

Basic asbestos cocoon...

put in a window this time,with a thermo fan of the ae82 i pulled the motor out of haha,bit of crap in the paint but pretty happy on how it turned out also put new sealer on the seams,was wet rub with p400 and red scotchbrite on the bits i couldnt get with the 400,, 2pac in the engine bay is a must in my opinion

Edited October 7, 201411 yr by bourtoni

Looking fantstic mate. I'm loving the enginuity of your ventilation system.

Looks great! nice work. I have my Acrylic now so just waiting for a day off to paint. I will post pics up too once it's done, still rubbing/prep at the moment.

Edited October 7, 201411 yr by megamannz123

gj mega,,biggest thing make sure its super clean and just take your time