I am about to paint the engine bay of my car. I have removed EVERYTHING
from the bay. However, i have never spray painted before, but I have read
several "how to piant your car" books, but have several questions.
(I sent this to the monster list several times but my mail does not get to
the list for some reason)
I plan on sandblasting the entire bay to remove old paint, PO applied
underseal and spray can paint, as well as some miner surface rust. I will
be very gentle on the firewall and sheet metal. All holes are masked (eg
hole int he firewall) and bolt holes protected.
Then I plan on spraying on a primer layer of POR 15 (x2), then an epoxy
primer. I have ordered the colour coat (had to have it specially colour
matched) in urethane.
My questions are:
1) Since the engine bay has lots of nooks and crannies in difficult to reach
places. How does one ensure good paint coverage in those tight corners and
the undersides without overspaying some areas which could results in runs,
orange peel, and sags?? I plan on using a smaler touch-up gun for the
job and the bay is small (its on a midget (yes an MG) that has a SPIT
ENGINE, so I'm making the engine bay all nice for the TR engine!).
In other words, all the books say you MUST keep the gun paralell with the
surface but practially how can one do this when spraying such irregular
surfaces as in an engine bay??
2) Does my preparation schedule sound OK? Of course after sandblasting
I will further degrease and dewax the area with apropriate chemicals. I am
also using clear POR15 (tinted with a small amount of the black POR 15 so
I can see where i have sprayed), as the clear gives a better finish than
black.
3) Any general tips would also be appreciated. The books also say it is
best to use a fresh air ventilated mask because of the highly toxic
isocyanate hardener used with urethanes. I already have a respirator.
4) I also plan on making a tent around the front of the car with clean new
tarps to reduce the dust and crud blowing in (although I will spray only on
a calm day). I will have a vent to also fumes and overspray to escape. Does
this sound like a better idea than doing it in the driveway, or in a clean
garage (I don't really want everything to get overspray).
5) Also the paint is going to be in the engine bay a perfect finish is
NOT as critical as an outside paint job, but I do want to make it look nice
especially after going to the trouble of preparing the area.
Thanks much
Dennis Wilson
Hey its a chilly 65 degrees in AZ, burrr
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