Engines Out! Now, what can I paint, what shouldn't I paint and what colour...

[Ben Lessani]

I managed to get the engine out my car (single handed may I add), I've gone over the whole block with a wire brush and its all rust and oil free.

All I want to know is, what are good colours to paint it (my car is black), what can I paint:

Hoses (does a rubber paint exist?)
Head
Block
Alternator
Water Pump
G/Box

And no, I'm not polishing anything to a chrome finish!

[hobbiniho]

how about red  a nice red and black combo 

[Mew]

If i were you:

Black

block, cam cover, sump

Silver

head, gearbox, alternator, water pump, inlet manifold

[Agreeable Slick]

bear in mind if you paint the inlet black then it will absorb the heat from the engine.

This will result in you getting warm air into your engine, rendering any hopeful performance gain through an panel filter etc will be rendered useless.

[Uruk Hai]

Exactly what Mew said and I would try and get the paint that has the hardest and longest lasting finish, I know you can get propper engine paint, laquer ect but I think poeple on here have used Hamerite on engines (correct me if I'm wrong ?) but it might be worth you doing a bit af research into what suites you and your budget best. Good luck and try and get some pics on here so we can see the end result !

[Jay]

I do Like hobbiniho's idea , red and black always go together well.

[dubslug]

my blocks painted black,
gearbox is silver
heads unpainted
ive painted any other parts silver too or will be

[Ben Lessani]

I've been browsing round the net and most folk tend to agree that you can paint an engine with ordinary Hammerite without issue.

Given that my seats are yellow leather - I think I'm going to be a bit different and paint:

Callipers - Yellow
Engine Bay - Gloss Hammerite Black (its green currently)

...I'll keep thinking about the rest.

[samjac68]

if you want to clean the block so its a perfectly clean aluminium, go on yell.co.uk, search for 'industrial cleaning products' ring one and specifically ask for concentrated alkali cleaner

mix it 50:50 with water n put it in a spray bottle, spray it on, leave it a minute, it foams up, bit of scrubbing with a scouring pad and you have perfectly clean aluminium

tis good for cleaning oil off the drive too, use latex gloves tho or youll have no skin left!

sam

[Ben Lessani]

Yey, I was going to create an engine removal thread whilst doing the work, but I couldn't find my camera charger, but I managed to find it! So I can document everything from now on.

I painted the block black, and the head and rocker yellow (but that looks a little iffy, so I might do it black). I got my dremel out and went to town on the alternator and got it to a very shiny bare metal - but I did this with my window wipers and they just rusted straight away, so I'm not sure what to use to protect the metal, maybe laquer? Otherwise I'll just paint it yellow.

I haven't done the engine bay yet because thats going to be a lot of work, and a lot of Hammerite. From now on I will be posting photos to death on my project thread.