"Fixing" a painted engine

[Vicinity]

The engine in my car is painted... yellow.



I don't personally care for painted engines, but I bought the car like this. This paint is flaking, very badly. How can I get rid the paint of safely and not worry about the block rusting badly? I was thinking of scotch brite padding it, but I'm too worried about the block rusting.

[elitecustombody]

aircraft paint stripper in aerosol can, I'm assuming the engine is out of the car

[LateNight72]

aircraft paint stripper in aerosol can, I'm assuming the engine is out of the car

That works, or a wire-wheel on a grinder also does, but will tear up gaskets.

Eitherway, as long as you strip and repaint it in a reasonable time, say a couple days max, you won't have to worry about rust.

[JRouche]

Yup, the aircraft stripper is some aggressive stuff. It will eat the paint off. Problem with the spray can stripper is it gets EVERYWHERE.

Another option is Jasco paint stripper. Not the enviro friendly stuff. The mean stuff in the gold can. It can be brushed on with a paint brush (wear gloves and use eye protection, and good ventilation).

It will bubble all the paint and primer off, if they primed it, sounds like they didnt.

And even still you will need to have the engine removed. But you wont have to mask it as much when you brush the stripper on.

Neutralize the stripper with a water wash down and mild soap. The soap is for any of the stripper that is mixed with any oils or greases on the block. You dont want the stripper setting on the block, held on with oil or grease.

Once the block is bare metal prime it (after its completely dried) with a good metal primer. I like to wipe all the metal down with acetone. Makes for a super dry surface that will grab the primer. My favorite primer is a Frazee industrial metal primer for everything except body panels. It can be applied with a brush and doesnt leave any streaks. And more importantly, its tough as nails. It loves bare metal and most paints love the surface it provides. And the engine heat wont make it flaky and dry, the heat will just cure it even further. Its red, kinda reminds me of the "red lead" primer we used in the Navy. That stuff was some super primer. But no, no lead in this primer.

Then for a color coat its up to you. There are so many decent paints out there. Many folks have their own preference.

But really!! The primer is what holds the color coat on the engine. Prime it with a DTM (direct to metal) primer so you have a solid sub-base. And dont linger too long between the primer coat and color coat. Color it up as soon as you can within the primers window. Too long and the primer gets dirty and if its really long the primers top surface will start to fail. Then you are talking about alot of sanding. Pian in the butt for an engine. Almost easier to strip it all down again and start over.

But what you are trying to do is just a limp fix, and its gonna be alot of work. All the parting lines of the block (block to heads, block to accessories, block to everything). All those lines that arent block will be difficult. You will have to mask the lines. But more importantly you will have to clean those lines after stripping. Make sure to remove all the stripper from the parting lines. A fine wire brush and the soap solution is what I have used.

But its doable. I have painted machinery with all the accessories in place. Much more difficult then if you can remove all the accessories and mask it off.

So.. If yer looking at the engine, in all its flaky yellow glory while its still in the car, thinking about a way to cure it in the car. I dont think its gonna happen.

So if you decide to remove the engine, the hard part is done. Might make it a two fold project and remove the accesories and do a freashing up of the engine.

WOW!!! See how some flaky paint can lead to an engine rebuild. ERRRRR!! Welcome to my world. One bone is connected to another. Before you know it you are REALLY deep into the car and it turns into a 20 year project car.

Im kinda anal, I see one thing that doesnt look right and I start peeling the paint. Before I know it there isnt any paint left.

Whats spooky is I only go to 50% of what might be considers "correct" There are guys, alot of them here that go to 80-90% They are sick!!! Crazy sick, but in a good way.. Then.. Now kidding. There are the 100% folks. And lemme say, these guys are prolly on meds. You dont want to be around them when they are off their meds. LOL But I will admit, they produce some of the best cars to be seen. But god forbid you should have to be a part of their working environment.

So... look for a 20-30% job, dont kill yerself over it. Make it look good and drive it. JR

[67 455 Bird ragtop]

If you can take the time and not mess anything up pull the motor and use the aircraft striper. With the the motor out you can use a 1-1 1/2" paint brush to apply the stripper. Then paint as you desire. Stripping/painting a motor in a car is a huge PITA.

[MonzaRacer]

Try mixing brake fluid with flour, brush it on and let sit, keep wetting it till paint buckles then wash it off, wont hurt gaskets or chrome for the most part, and will buckle just about any paint out there, after you wash it spray it with good degreaser, then wash again, blow dry after that then repaint as needed.
If you save spray tips and the wands from different brands of brake and carb cleaner, then you can spray paint if they will interchange on paint cans (this is why you save all of them in a coffee can ) It also works if you try to paint something in a remote place.

[Happyfunballs]

I've heard of alot of stuff, but this is the first time I've heard of mixing brake fluid and flour. Sounds so crazy it just might work.

[Vicinity]

Well, since most of these almost require the engine to be removed from the car, I think I'll wait til I get it square and everything else set so I can have a weekend just dedicated to pulling the engine and cleaning it.

I really want to avoid a PAINTED engine, but I guess it has to be painted to prevent rust.

[MonzaRacer]

if you want it to look like cast iron , clean it then paint it cast blast, then hit it with flat or semi gloss epoxy clear.
I usually have my engines on stand and use cheap walmart black and after a coat light it with propane torch, it heats paint some, pulls out the voc and helps make it tougher , ie less peeling.

[BonzoHansen]

If it's out of the car....EZ Off oven cleaner will strip all the paint off it.