Need advice on engine compartment

[nativetexan]

Hey guys, I was wondering what is the proper steps in repainting the engine compartment a different color. I am going to be taking the engine out soon so i was planning on painting it myself. Any advice on a start-to-finish guideline would be much appreciated.

[Captkaos]

What color are you painting it?  Factory everything was black except the firewall, which was body color.  Are you talking about painting everything body color?

[ccz145a]

I thought the only thing black were the inner fenders and core support. Inside of the fenders and firewall where body color. Am I mistaken?

[Captkaos]

Oops, forgot the fenders...

[hotrod24]

i thought the motors was chevy orange

[ccz145a]

i thought the motors was chevy orange

there's always a smart alec in the crowd 

[choptop]

i thought the motors was chevy orange

there's always a smart alec in the crowd 

Depends on what years for the motor, early ones were orange, next was blue, then the gutless wonders were all black. Mines Caterpillar yellow. Got to be different.

[hotrod24]

what was 78

[2502]

steam clean it before prep to get all the muck out.

[choptop]

what was 78

I believe it was blue

[Fordeatinz71]

i thought the motors was chevy orange

there's always a smart alec in the crowd 

Depends on what years for the motor, early ones were orange, next was blue, then the gutless wonders were all black. Mines Caterpillar yellow. Got to be different.

  my motor's black...lol

[nativetexan]

Yeah the firewall and the fenders are body color. I want to paint it black. The truck will be black eventualy so i thought, since I have the motor out might as well. Two birds kind of a thing. Anyway, I remove everything(?) and then steam clean? What about a good power washer? Then sand and primer? Then put the color on? is that it?

[choptop]

I have found out that some good oven cleaner works wonders in these areas. Spray it on liberally, wait, and wash off with a hose. May have to do it a couple of times, depending on how bad it is.

[78BBSTEPSIDE]

I'm sure you will get a mix of direction in an effort to paint your engine compartment as everyone has different goals and opinions, but the bottom line is that your results are purely based on your effort put forth to meet your goals of a clean engine compartment. Whether you just "scuff and shoot" or sand/strip to bare metal or even media blast some of the items, it just depends on what your needs are. One thing for certain, make sure it is clean and grease free. Good Luck.

[VileZambonie]

scrape all of the grease, grime and undercoating out of there. Powerwash and degrease everything. If you want it to look really good eliminate all unecessary wiring, fill all holes in, and primer all the bare metal. Por-15 the frame, then paint the crossmember etc with a brush. Then spray the entire compartment gloss black. Gloss black engine compartments look the best in my opinion unless you are going to smooth and hide everything.