VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1946-1948 Painting a Fleetline engine

I'd like to paint my 48 Fleetline's engine, which the PO painted a horrible bright blue (even got some on the fan belt.) I see that both Filling Station and Chevs of 40s carry the correct engine paint. I've never painted an engine before, so any advice on how to proceed? I imagine that it needs to be cleaned as well as possible, so what's the best way to accomplish that? Anything that SHOULDN'T be painted on this engine? Also, the paint comes in spray and brush-on - any advantages to either? I would think brushing would be the easiest to get around everything? And how much paint do I need to get - 1 quart? 2 quarts? What about spray - how many cans to spray the engine properly?

Is the engine going to be out of the car, or are you masking everything?

My engine was out of the car. I painted the first two coats on all of the covers and the pan first, while they were off the car. Then I put them on, and painted the block for two coats, not masking off the covers, but not spraying them directly again. It didn't matter about hitting the gaskets, as they were hit when the engine was painted in the factory as well. I painted up the distributor, generator, etc, separately, and attached them after.

I used the spray cans from The Filling Station. At first I bought two, and it took exactly that to do the job... but buy three because you'll want to do touch ups later as well. I've since bought more.

Thanks Brewster - No, unfortunately, the engine will not be out of the car, so I'll have to do as best I can while it's in the engine bay. What did you do to prep the metal?

First, my pressure washer was used. I ordered the cleaner that the Filling station recommended, and it was a B-12 carb cleaner. It did a great job, and even removed the original paint (which matched the FS paint perfectly!) I also used a spray degreaser that I had here. On the covers, I used a light steel wool pad, and wet sanded them as well. I was amazed at how well they cleaned up...

For what it's worth... I would recommend the spray paint. I couldn't imagine brushing it all, and having it come out smooth. It would be nice to have one can of brush paint for small touch ups though..

Thanks Brewster, it looks great. You really profited by painting it while the engine was out of the car. Has anyone here ever painted their engine while it was still in the engine bay. I imagine it's a little tougher, but can still be done OK?

David just to clarify...Get your engine paint from the Filling Station......
painting motor with out removing it...Before I removed mine to have it re-built I did just that but I stripped it down 100%..."Anything that could be removed... I jacked it up as high as possible in a covered location out side "summer time"De-grease and pressure wash several times!!!I masked off the surrounding areas and spayed with my gun...Rattle can should yield the same result...It came out petty good but nothing like removing it

CC,

If Cofthe40's and FS carry the same paint, why recommend FS? You left the reason out so your clarification was not too clear. Please explain your preference for FS.

Thanks,
Charlie

Charlie... in another thread it came up that Cof40's is not carrying the correct paint anymore. Not sure if that's true or not...

Sorry Charlie...The topic started in another forum and JYD had confirmed that COT 40s has changed thier paint and it is no longer correct

For what it is worth, I painted my engine while in the car. I bought a quart of the engine paint then went to my local paint supply store and bought what is called Preval kit. Comes with a small glass bottle (like a baby bottle) and one pressurized cartage that screws on the top of the bottle. Using a 50/50 mix
paint/reducer (I think that was the ratio- you need to experiment a little on that)and proceeded to spray. Don't get as much mist/overspray as the spray cans of paint. You will need more than one pressurized Preval cartage and they sell them separately. One in the initial kit and 2 extra cartages should do the engine. I have used this system for over 10 years when a small area needs painted. Painted a firewall on one of my cars with it and it came out fine.You should end up with paint left in the quart for brush touch up later when needed.

Good luck and have fun with that nice looking car. Just too bad it is not a 47
Dick

Thanks for all the tips. Which brings up another question - is the inside of the engine bay, including the firewall, always painted the same color as the body? That's the way the PO did mine, even painted over the code label, which I assume should be black?

Firewall is body colour, with the tag not painted. The inner fenders and rad shrouds are black.

Thanks - If the code tag wasn't painted, then what was it originally?

The Tag was natural, not painted. However I painted mine Black then when dry I lightly block sanded it leaving the rised letters plain, much easier to read.

I didn't carefully read back through the posts regarding your engine paint job.

If you're going to run the engine, there is no use in a getting high quality paint job on the engine. It won't last very long. Just several miles or so. That's because every gasket that is supposed to keep engine oil from escaping will leak or seep in a short time.

So if that is the case and you just want to clean it up a bit, clean it up both a pressure washer, steam cleaner or whatever you can do.

Take the following off:

a, The pan draft tube
b. The carburetor
c. The generator (leave the bracket in place.
d. The Starter
e. The distributor and the spark plug wires and plugs
f. The fan belt.
g. The upper and lower radiator hoses.
h. The heater hoses at the water pump. (at firewall too. Get them out of the way.
I. Drop the exhaust pipe down out of the way.
j. Protect the fire wall, inner fenders and radiator for overspray. (Cardboard and Butcher paper and tape works great for this).
k. Take off the fan.
l. Clean all the components you have take off and paint them simi-gloss black.
m. Stuff something in all the holes created by parts removal.

Overspray on parts that doe't get painted grey/gray is the killer of a good paint job when the engine is in the car.

Cleaning the engine is key as well.

NOTE: I didn't know that Cof the Forties no longer carried the best color paint for the engine. So follow the advise of others and get it from the FS.

Good luck with the project and send us a picture of before and after. That will be interesting to see.

Charlie