Paint choices
 

I am wanting to improve the overall look of my engine bay by painting certain parts.

What type of paint for things like the Timing belt cover, Turbo Heat sheild, Radiator, Intake Penlum and other removable parts? Also wanting to remove brackets, and other metal/plastic parts holding things in place to brighten them up or whatnot.

Does the heat coat paints w/ cermaic actually help bring down engine bay temps?

What type of temperature rating does the paint need on each of these parts?

Any brand names out there that are worth the extra $$? I want to do this once and do it right so not worried about the price of any of it.

Any general tips or rules of thumb? This will be my first time painting anything like this so i will be testing it out on random scraps 1st.

Trying to stick to a blue/black/ and metal look throughout the engine bay. Anyone know the paint that is the closest to Hose Techniques Vacumm lines, i do not want a buncha diff shades of blue, just one

Well I'm not so sure about the other stuff but I can give you a couple of tips on painting. The best way to paint in my opinion is have the object your painting hanging. That way you can hold the spray can horizontal and keep a consistent flow.

Before you start make sure there is nothing around that you don't want paint to get on, even if you don't think paint will reach it, chances are it could, so cover anything important or go somewhere where it wont matter. I would suggest somewhere that doesn't vary in temperature vary much as well. When you decide to tear apart all the stuff to paint, I would get some brake cleaner and wire brushes so you can clean and prep the stuff for paint.

When you start you want to start the spray before you hit the object, then move along it in one swoop and then let off after the spray leaves the object. Don't try to paint the entire object in one shot, take a few light coats over the object then put it somewhere to dry, even if it looks like crap. I say this because it is really easy to foul up a good start in painting by trying to put another coat on to soon and ending up with runs or accidentally touching the wet paint.

If you have a few objects that need to be the same color then I would put a light coat on one, move it aside, put a light coat on the next, etc. until you have a good light base coat on everything. That will keep a consistent amount of paint on the objects and will give you a more stable base for the final coats. Try not to expect to have everything done in one sitting, the way that best works for me is to do light coats, then let it dry for a few hours or overnight, then repeat until everything looks 100%. I may be annoying by repeating the light coats remark but that, in my opinion, is the most important part of painting besides the prep work.

I would say the hardest objects to paint are cylinders, because it is so easy to get runs that you don't see until its to late you end up sanding and respraying. Good luck!! If I remember anything more I will let you know, and If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask, sorry I couldn't help you on your other questions.

Very helpful, plan on doing it very slowly. And what you suggest seems to be a good way to paint it evenly. Not worried about time, i have a 08 corolla that gets me around well enough till i am done with my Supra.

So wire brushs and brake cleaner to clean the surfaces before painting...

What would you suggest to cover intake ports on my penlum so i dont get paint on the inside ?

Ahh, good you have a daily so you can work on the Supra, that is the best way to do anything I think. I have my Rangers so if the Supra goes down I have back ups.

What I would do for that, if you plan to paint the mating surfaces, is put painters tape around the inside wall leaving a inch or two beyond the opening. Then put some paper in there, just don't push it to far, lol. It should look like wads of paper surrounded by tape. If you do that you should be fine.

If you do not plan on painting the mating surfaces then just put painters tape strait along the flat mating surfaces.

Make sure when you clean the parts with the brake cleaner that your not on grass, cus it will kill the grass quick, lol I learned that the hard way! It also has a heluva punch to it when you first get a whif.

By the way, the intake plenum on our cars, is what I think is the hardest to paint neatly. I would suggest some real fine sandpaper and primer for it, I have seen a few people try to paint them with spray cans and the paint looked horrible, because they didn't take the time to prep it.

As for the sandpaper, I would go from a medium to high grit number, I would start at maybe 800 or 1200, if 800 seems to coarse then go with 1200, lightly sand it all, then move onto a higher grit number, the higher the number the finer the finish. I would only use 800 if there is a lot of dirt and debris that the brake cleaner and wire brush wont get off, if there isn't much there then start with 1200.

Now I am not absolutely sure about what primer to get but since the plenum is aluminum, I think any kind of metal primer should do fine. After you get the cleaning and sanding done, then start the primer, paint the primer down just as if it was your final coats, take your time and it will turn out great!!

Good luck!!

Here are two pics of the tape ideas:
http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/2...0520to9.th.jpghttp://img389.imageshack.us/img389/7...0522bj5.th.jpg

Ill post picks of how it turns out.... I think 500F should be good enough for the intake parts and ill go with 1200 on the heat shld over the turbo and prolly just 500 on radiator... hope it works out lol

Ok going to start painting tomorrrow...

Anything else i should know? lol pulling my car apart further than i ever have before. Trying to do this once. and right we will see how that works out lol

Wife just got me a Air compressor for my birthday so i was wondering if there where any sander/polisher tools that would help with this process or is doing it by hand the way to go?

Well having a air compressor will help with prepping everything. You can use the spray nozells to help remove dust and debre from the stuff you are painting.

I'm pretty sure you can get a air tool that is like a dremel for polishing, but for sanding, something like that which spins at high rpms is not so good for prep work of this sort, because it is real easy to take to much material off and you have a end result that looks bad. Good luck!

Hmm ok, how much is too much?

What exactly is my goal while sanding it? Just to remove a light layer? Or am i trying to smooth out everything?

Well you want to sand all of the existing paint, rust, dirt, grime, and debre off to a decently smooth surface. That will allow the new paint to adhere easier to the surface you are painting. As long as you prep it and lay a decent coat of primer on it the paint should be good. I also forgot to mention when laying primer you can use a high grit sandpaper on it to help get a smoother finish for the actual paint in the end.


What I meant by taking to much off is when you have a high rpm sander it will take a lot more material off quicker than sanding it by hand, you can use a sander such as that but in my opinion sanding it by hand is a more controllable way of sanding. I have used a high rpm sander and ruined things I was working on because the sander took to much off.

Either way good luck, and make sure to post some pics of your progress.

First attempt at painting.... I had the can way to close and it puddled bad so i wiped it off and resprayed. It looked much better untill i got to the last coat and noticed something.... Little clother fibers embedded into the paint haha im an idiot ;)

http://usera.imagecave.com/mkiii_sup...shldbefore.JPG
http://usera.imagecave.com/mkiii_sup...shldsanded.JPG
http://usera.imagecave.com/mkiii_sup...shldprimed.JPG
http://usera.imagecave.com/mkiii_sup...atshldoops.JPG


After a little bit of sanding to get the fibers off and one last coat.
http://usera.imagecave.com/mkiii_sup...atshlddone.JPG