PUNISHER VETTE

I'm planning on painting my engine bay on my '69 same color as the body(so far thinking cyber gray).
1. for the uniqueness factor and 2. for the practice spraying I need.

I'm thinking I have a few options and wanted anyones opinions who isn't afraid to give it.

1. Firewall Only
2. Firewall all the way to the radiator support
3. Above + the front facing wall
4. ALL

I like option 3 so far but figure if I'm going that far might as well do 4. Only problem is that's a lot of work sanding smooth the front spoiler when nobody will see that area.



Also. Would I need a tiny touch up kinda gun for the tight corners a regular gun can't get into and spray straight? Maybe this is all a pipe dream

DUB

I HATE to write it....But you left an option out

5. NONE of the above.

Although I can handle when firewalls are painted and floorboards and such. But there is to a point...(in my opinion) where it is taken too far and it actually does not look good. BUT...that is subjective....the main thing is IF you LOVE IT.

It has EVERYTHING to do with WHAT YOU WANT. Do not worry what I think or anyone else thinks.

DUB

PUNISHER VETTE

True. That could be an option. Just leave it this epoxy black and call it good.

BUT... Too many do that I feel...

Plus the Cyber Gray I'm thinking of painting is a darker color and I think will be pretty subtle as an engine bay paint. The flat black metal pieces should look good against it. Probably better than they would look against an already black surface.

I've seen some engine bays painted that are blue or Yellow...and you're right...even for my taste they stand out too much. But I haven't seen a metallic engine bay before...or a darker color grayish one yet..so hard for me to decide without seeing it.

13611

I'm sure you've seen it here on the forum, but just in case... Stinger12's multi-year build (Rookie's first attempt at a restoration) has some good photos of his engine bay in it. He went with a dark blue and silver stripes and carried the color from front to back in the engine compartment. Looks really good. But he put the same effort into the engine compartment prep/paint as he did the exterior of the car.

PUNISHER VETTE

I just looked his up. I'll have to do some researching this evening more on his build. His is "show" quality... I'll settle for nice looking when done.

I've gotten one session of paint/blocking on the firewall already so it'll be close to the attention to detail the outside will get eventually.

PUNISHER VETTE

So. Assuming I'm going to do whatever I think will look good and I'll like...

How does one go about painting an engine bay metallic? Seems like lots of areas a gun won't fit into to be able to spray perpendicular. Then lots of different facing walls.

Lots of dust coatings? Narrow the spray pattern and get all the different facing walls as perpendicular as possible?

I've been spraying with the primmer gun...but that's just primer so it's not all that important how I get it done.

13611

Technique is definitely important. But equally important is having paint at the tip of your gun in any position. It's painting things like this that caused me to get adapters for all of my guns and purchase 3M's PPS. Basically a cup with a flimsy plastic liner. You purge all of the air out of it before spraying and the cup system allows you to spray upside down and still have paint to spray. There's other systems out there, this was just readily available at my local supply store. But then, as you mentioned, constant gun adjustment will be necessary to get nice even coverage on every part of the firewall. And if you get it right, you won't have the paint "dust" that you mentioned here and there in your job.

DUB

Also....as you will find out.....that when painting in areas of the engine compartment...you may come across some areas that are 'pockets'. And when you TRY to apply paint in them...the paint will blow back at you and leave the bottom of the pocket dry sprayed...depending on how severe the pocket actually is.

When I am painting area that have a lot of nooks and crannies and pockets...I change my gun to a straight stream and then control the trigger by feel....but I have been painting for a very long time and have excellent trigger control and know what the paint it going to do. Also I have also used my air brush to get into really tight spots where a normal paint gun....then when it has been coated....I go over it with the normal paint gun.

DUB