VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Trucks and Vans Engine paint

Yep, and quite a yuckie yellow at that!

So the spray paint from FS is Factory matched and I should get 2 cans for my motor?

Yep! But, I would suggest getting three spray cans, so you will have one on standby in case you run out or you need to do touch up.

If the engine is out of the vehicle and needs a complete paint job, it is highly recommended you buy a pint or quart of the paint and use a spray gun. If you don't have a gun it can be applied with a brush with good results.

The aerosol cans are intended for patch or repair work to a paint job.

With all due respect to Ray's vast experience, my vote is for spray cans over brushing.

with proper care in prep & application, I think you should be able to obtain satisfactory results with any of the three methods mentioned...


epi

Brushing would be the least desirable, and it would be a lot more work than using spray equipment or spray cans. :( :( :(

I agree with both Ray and JYD on this with the engine on a engine stand and plenty of time a good job can be done on the cast part with a brush, the pan, valve cover and side tappet cover will look like it was painted by a Jr. high school kid with a brush. I have seen good jobs done on the cast iron with a brush and the slick parts done well with a rattle can of the same paint like FS, COF and Eastwood sells, just get all the paint from the same vendor, and don't have too high expectations of it looking like one of Jay Lenos' cars.

This is ok for Government work but not for a high class job..

Hey MrMack!!! I am a High School kid!!! No offense taken! I have the motor down to the block and crank with the pistons and I must have put about 50hrs of degreasing and prep work on it. After all of the grease and oil was off I wiped it down 5 times with clean, mineral spirit soaked rags. Then I primed it with a high-temp primer spray can. I got a spray gun set for Christmas, but I only painted my frame in a bodyshop and the bodyguys mixed the paint. I dont think I am good enough yet to spray it with a gun, but I heard that if you use spray cans, it will look just as good as if it were sprayed with a gun. Plus the fact that I want this truck PERFECTLY restored to ORIGINALITY, so the quality of the motor's paint shouldnt be perfect anyhow. Thanks guys, this website is awesome!

Bob,

I'll probably regret jumping into this arena with the three years of discussion that has gone on about what is the correct six cylinder engine color.

You stated that you want this truck to be perfectly restored to original but you haven't said if your intent is to have the vehicle judged at a VCCA event. If not, then there's a product out there in the market place that is real close in color to what you desire, which is a dark blue/gray. I've seen the original blue/gray color over the years and I agree that what Bill Hirsch sells isn't correct.

Take a look in your Pittsburgh Yellow pages and see if you can find a Orr-Lac paint source. Orr-Lac, item #925, (machine gray) is what I'm suggesting you look for. It is an off the shelf paint, blue/gray color, that has passed the VCCA judging test before. Most off the shelf spray paint cans sell between $3 and $5 a can. If you can find it locally, that's a lot less that $15 a can elsewhere.

I am not really concerned with the price, just as long as it isnt very expensive. All I want is a factory match paint. By the way, who is Bill Hirsch?

He is a Packard dude that has been selling the incorrect Chevrolet engine paint for about 30 years and to this day he is still claiming that his paint is correct, when he knows it's not. Bill Hirsch also sells hubcaps and other reproduction parts related to the old car hobby. :( :( :(

Bob, if you haqve a decent paint gun You will do ok, if you feel competent with a spray can set your gun air supply like it instructs in the book, be sure to use an air filter and mosture trap, moisture is the ruination of a good spray job. is it a HVLP gun? The first time have a body man or someone that is experianced to show you how to thin the paint and practice on some old car sheet metal that you have sanded down, again I would suggest useing an etching primer, it don't need to be High Temp for the cast iron engine. The engine paint isn't high temp either.Once you see how easy it is to paint with a gun, you may not want to put it down!
Oh, don't try to blow the paint on with too much volume or pressure, cover it lightly and while it is tacky (15 mins) put on another coat a little heavyer than the tack coat, you will be surprised how well it will look.

Thanks, but I think Ill just spray paint it. I think it would probably take longer to set up than to spray paint it.

Setting up a spray gun is easy. I have been using professional spray equipment for years and it is the only way to go to get a professional and quality job. No one showed me what to do when I first started. I purchased the equipment, read the owner's manual on how to adjust the fluid control and fan width on the gun, read how to mix the paint, and then went to work. The first thing that I sprayed was a 1930 Chevrolet frame. Never had a spray gun in my hand prior to that, but I sprayed the frame and it came out absolutely beautiful. No runs, no drips, no errors. I kinda sorta learned as I went, and I have been spraying continuously since then. After using the spray gun system, I haven't used spray cans on anything! I use my spray equipment so much that I finally upgraded to a commercial 5-horse air compressor and a Binks Model 7 spray gun.

An excellent place to start to learn how to use a spray gun would be on an engine block since it has a rough casting. If you mess up a little, no one can tell because of the rough casting.

Thanks. I never set up a gun before and thought it would be very challenging and take a lot of skill. It was pretty easy painting my frame. I think Ill give it a shot on the bellhousing, but I want the motor to be perfect, so Ill spray paint it. Thanks for all of your tips, I feel a lot more confident now!

A novice with a paint gun can do a better job than a professional with a "rattle-can".

What Raymondo said is so true!!! And, if you want your engine to be "perfect" you should use a spray gun instead of spray cans. It's amazing how simple it is to use a spray gun. Good luck!

Amen to that, Raymundo and JYD have been painting and spraying everything from slow moving G.I.s to fast women! and they are just getting started. LOL

I have already spray paint primed the block. Would it make a difference if I shot the paint on with a spray gun? Also, does Jim Carter's have an accurate engine paint?

The only difference would be in quality. A spray gun does a much better job because of the pressure used, the volume of material, the fan width, the atomization of the paint, and the flow of the paint. The only problem you might have is in the compatibility of the automotive paint top coat with the spray can primer. The two probably are not compatible because most paints in spray cans are of poor quality. Again, on the quality end, you get a better primer job with a spray gun as well.

I don't think Jim Carter has the right stuff. The Filling Station and Chev's of the 40's do.

So I should just spray paint it now?

That all depends upon what kind of spray can primer you used. When using automotive paint you should always use automotive primer as well. Try to spray some engine paint on the block with your spray gun. Just do a small area and see what happens. If the paint doesn't lift or look goofy, you will probably be okay.

You should be ok. I have used rattlecan primer under gun sprayed top coats many times.

I just got two rattle cans from Chevy of the 40’s of the gray engine paint for my 50, 3600 and it is not, blue gray as I expected. It is absolutely charcoal gray just off black and there is no hint of blue in it. I’ve been told that this is the correct color for the engine, yet I see all of you guys talking about the blue/gray in almost every thread here. Did I get a bad batch of something????
The paint that is left on the engine tin, amounts to only a couple of percent of the original, just a few flakes under the grease and dirt. It looks to be black or almost black. The truck is all original as I have talke with the PO’s and they assured me that none of the drive line had ever been replaced. I feel confident in this because nothing seems to be disturbed right down to the original wiring harnesses in excellent condition. And the factory under coating still in place as is call out in the Assembly Manual.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

p.s. Oh, and I forgot to say, that I don't care how much is in the can!!