Painting engine by hand
 

Hey everyone

My L48 engine looks really bad... the paint is flaking off and there is some ugly rust.
It seems that the engine was repainted with black on some spots. The original color is that 'ugly' blue (it's a 77).

The intake will be replaced by a polished aluminum one, so no need to paint that part.

I don't want to (can't) take out the engine just to paint it.
I just want to paint the major visible spots in Chevy orange.
I have a 'garage bridge' (not sure if I'm using the right word), so I can easily paint the underside of the engine, or some other 'hard to reach' spots.

Is there a good quality 'Chevy orange' paint that I can apply with a paintbrush?
Do I have to remove the rust completely to apply the paint?
Do I need to use a primer first?

There may be some 'ready made' Chevy Engine Orange paint-in-a-can out there somewhere. But, it would be easiest to find an auto parts store which also mixes auto paint. Ask them to make up a quart of 500*F engine paint to match Dupli-Color DE 1620. That should get your engine painted with a brush.

Regardless of "how" you paint it, you need to get it clean first. If you engine is fairly clean already, you can probably go to the quarter car wash and first spray it down with the low-pressure tire cleaner. Let it soak a while, then rinse off with hi-psi rinse. Follow with spot-free rinse to keep all residue off. If engine is grimy, buy a couple of cans of GUNK engine degreaser. Shoot the GUNK where needed and let set. Then do the hi-psi rinse and spot-free rinse.

I did mine 'in the car', but masked stuff of with newspaper, drop cloth, and aluminum foil, then sprayed it with Dupli-Color DE 1620. A couple of cans will get the job done.

I can't see you doing a decent job with a paintbrush. A spray can though can come out quite nice. I found my Chevy engine orangine at AutoZone. As advised by 7T1vette you must first thorough clean the engine of all the grease and grime. Probably the first time it's been cleaned in its life span.

You then need to remove all the rust otherwise your paint will not stick and fail quickly. I scrapped, sanded everything I could get to and then use a etching primer after covering everything I could and spray painted the engine. Lots of work but as with many things prepping is the most time consuming and is the most important step. Good luck Ike

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...0e2142e2b4.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...c9a10fcd18.jpg
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There isn't really a lot of engine block that shows except for the very front right around the water pump. You're going to have your valve covers off when you're doing the intake manifold clean them up and spray them while they're on the ground.. Or on a sheet of cardboard. Might want to take the water pump off. Would be the best way to get to the front of the engine to get it cleaned up. the a little bit of the cylinder heads above the exhaust manifolds. Then that's small lip of the block behind the distributor. Everything from the exhaust manifolds down you're not going to see you unless you climb under the car and look up.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...023a421d19.jpg
this is hand painted.. POR15 chevy red

I cant count how many engines ive painted or helped paint with just brushes and perhaps spray bombs,

I hate chevy orange, flame me i dont care, in my 66 i stripped everything off the engine had cleaned it several times and painted just the block with small brushes, black, looked great never flaked off,
If you do top stuff like valve covers and intakes spray bomb them

:iagree:
I used POR-15 Chevy Orange on Sparty. Worked great.

There is something to be said for black. But then, most of my engines are Mercruisers...

Use an airbrush! I did my 78, whose engine sounds like what you describe, missing paint and flaking. I had leaks as well and wanted to replace the gaskets. I stripped everything off, including timing chain cover and valve covers then airbrushed the engine. This allowed me to control the spray. Oh...I painted it that ugly blue. I posted everything in a discussion thread here with pictures.

As stated by 7T1 above, I masked using aluminum foil and even made a manifold mask, having removed the EGR and the carb. I used old paneling and just cut it to size including drilling the holes to secure it. I have air tools and used an air tool that uses rods to clean paint from metal...forget what its called but it works great and got into the corners.

Another tip is to wipe the engine down with acetone to get all or any oily surfaces. I wire wheeled my motor when it was on a stand down to the cast but forgot to wipe it with acetone. Now although it was clean paint is peeling. Now I will have to do what you are doing.

RVZIO

I painted mine by hand with a 1"brush hours and hours of prep first.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...38dd89d18a.jpg

The air tool with pins-fingers-rods is called a paint chipper...

Correct Color?
 

Just wondering what the correct color is for a 69 engine? I see that Por 15 has Chevy orange and a Chevy red. Did certain years have slightly different colors? Thanks.

The only two colors used from the factory on C-3 Corvettes were 1968-1977E Chevy Orange; and 1977L-82 they used Chevy Blue. According to Flint Engine records the change took place between August 23rd, and September 7, 1976. For 1969 Flint would have painted it Chevy Orange.
I hope that helps. :thumbs:
David

It looks like chevy orange...?

The GM Corporate Blue is a fine color, and exclusive to a few years. C4 and up, all GM engines are black. All crate engines are black or orange. Every hot rod you see will have another boring orange engine in it. Embrace the blue and be unique!

A needle scaler might be what you want, but hopefully you can get away with a wire wheel at the end of a drill, after you degrease and clean it of course.

yup, i meant chevy orange..... thx

Did you use a primer from POR15, or some other brand, or just the Chevy orange POR15 paint?