Eventualy the next will be to work on the engine bay. So wanted to see if anyone had some advice. I want to smooth , cover holes, and paint the engine bay with aerosol cans. I've painted small stuff and have had great luck with duplicolor enamel paint. I've seen ton of engine bays done with aerosol and came out great.

I emailed duplicolor and this is what they said

Greg,

Thank you for contacting Dupli-Color. We appreciate your inquiry.

I suggest that you use the Engine Enamel line (primer, paint, and clear coat). You will need to remove the rust manually first. Once all of the rust is removed and the surface is clean you can apply the Engine Enamel Primer (DE1612), the Engine Enamel Color Coat (of your choice), and the Engine Enamel Clear Coat (DE1636). I have included a link to our website below where you can learn more about this line and view the available colors (I do not have information on the original color of a Camaro therefore you will have to contact a dealership for that information):

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/enginePaint/

I hope you found this information helpful. If you have any additional questions please email me back.

Sincerely,

Jill
Dupli-Color Product Support.

That sounds basic enough . After more reading I came up with these steps. Not including the # coats or time between.
1) clean and degrease 2) sand off original gloss, remove rust. 3) clean again and wiped down with tac cloth. 4) bondo to even areas ( don't know what type of bondo) . 5) use " self etching duplicolor primer" on bare metal 6) Then duplicolor primer enamel on whole engine bay. 7) wet sand if wanted/optional . 8) clean one last time with tac cloth. 9) base coat 10) and finally clear.

Sounds right ? Only thing not clear to me Cus there so many different thouts is about " sealer" . Some say on bare metal. Some say on primer before base coat. Sorry for the whole story just wanted to share and see if any one had opinions.

Final. I'm not using the original color. The outside is black but was thinking of a dark grey/ gun metal type color .

 

Sounds like you are on the right track. I'm personally not a fan of aerosol cans, but I have seen good results with them. As to your sealer question, people seal bare metal to give the basecoat something to stick to and to keep it from "ringing out" (when you can see the ghost image of your meal, primer, base through the final color). You also use sealer when you are unsure what solvents were used in the original base. This keeps incompatibility issues from occurring. I would replace the self etching primer in your plan with a primer/sealer. As for the filler I recommend Evercoat Rage gold, and Evercoat Easy Sand for finishing. The You should be good to go then! Good luck and post pics.

 

some before and after pics.I just light sanded and sprayed and its holding up well so far.
#ad

#ad

#ad

#ad

 

The high temp engine paint works great as long as prep is good. I personally use the high temp ceramic but it is hard to find. It turns out like glass and doesn't need a clear coat.

 

I heard nothing but good things about evercoat. However I'm going to skip the bondo since I'm on a budget. Not cheaping out. Just not going to need it. Duplicolor emailed me back that there self etching primer and filler primer are rated at 120 degree. So It will not with stand the engine bay tempatures. there enamel primer is all I need for both bare metal and sanded oem paint. So im just going to sand and weld up un- needed holes. Going for a serious wire tuck . Just need to finish the pump install and I'll start the engine bay and front suspension. Will post pics .

Thanks guys for the info and pics posted. Mine engine bay is bare frame right now so should be nice and simple. What do ya think if my idea with a gun metal grey on my black camaro?

 

Gun Metal Gray will be slick. Good luck with the refinishing project. I have used duplicolor products on many things, and it always works out. Just pay special attention to your prep, and you'll be in like Flynn.

 

And welcome to the site!

 

Thanx much!

 

What he said is good. ^

You could also look at an epoxy primer/sealer. That will do both prime and seal. Epoxy has good metal adhesion and sticks really well with proper prepping. Just for future reference Evercoat is an EXCELLANT brand with top notch products. I you are ever needing some serious build, Evercoats "Slick Sand" is an amazing product. You'll need a really big gun tip though... around 2.1 or 2.2 works well.

Have you priced out how much the aerosol is gonna cost you? For not a lot more you could get a good single stage urethane and it will hold up FAR better in the long run. Not to mention lay out way smoother when you spray it.
If you have some rust in hard to reach places where you cant sand it really well, try getting a can of POR15. This stuff is a rust converter and will eliminate any rust you physically cant get to. Just for peace of mind if you have room in the budget.

Good luck man! Pics when its done!

 

Thanks Landon I will add it all up and see. When you guys say "sealer/primer" you mean a product that does both correct? Sorry if thats a dumb question. And that product goes on first then base coat, finally clear. the por15 sounds good but did see people have issues painting over it with some type of paint. Can't remeber if it was laquer or enamel. Will post what I have to work with before I start. Just have to finish the fuel pump Cus I had a little hiccup with it.

 

Yep Greg the sealer/primer is a epoxy primer. Your base and clear will go over the top of that.

 

Ya, like Jim said, it is both.... some products its one and the same, and some products its a primer if its reduced say 2:1 and a sealer if its reduced 1:1... basically that means you just add more reducer to make it the sealer. Not always the case, but sometimes.
I have painted over Por15 before, but I let it dry for several days before I did. Maybe they didnt wait and went right over it while it was still wet. I just let it dry and then scuffed it up. Still holding up great!

 

Thanks guys. I haven't posted pics yet but started to sand the old aerosol black paint down to either metal or oem green it used to be. Post the starting pics when I get a chance

Been reading about the epoxy primer and seems it is a great thing to do. Issue is since I need to stick with aerosol to be in budget. Only three brands make actual epoxy primer . Rust-oleum , east wood, and spray max ( light brown looking can) .
Eastwood has really bad reviews every where I look, rust-oleum told me there epoxy primer will not handle the engine bay heat ( rated at 200 f ) and can't seem to find anything on the spray max brand . Both rust and duplicolor said engine enamel primer , enamel paint and enamel clear coat is all the recommend. So once I'm done sanding and cleaning I'll look more into it.

Landon. Ill give the por15 a shot. So it seems still I'm keeping it simple enamel primer, enamel paint, enamel clear coat. And sticking with gloss black. Saw a pic with a black car and grey engine bay and it clashed really bad. Lol they look good separate but not together .

 

Ok will be posting soon the sanded engine bay. Couldn't get even surfaces , by even mean all oem primer or oem base coat , so ended up sanding off the enamel black with 80 grit , washed with simple green, sanded with 120 grit, then washed with soap , used air gun to dry and clean cloths. Going to end up using por-15 on rust areas, enamel duplicolor brand aerosol paint.

Tomorrow I will wash the engine bay again and wipe down with mineral spirit ( if that's ok to use) . My question is do I have to use a certain grit sand paper before I start to prime? Or is the 120 good or to course?

 

120 is way to course Greg. Use 400 and spray your primer.

 

I used red scotch-brite on mine to scuff everything up a little, then we used something called liquid sandpaper. It basically softens the paint on the car a little to help new paint bond to it. I have not had any flaking or peeling and mine has been done for well over 2 years now.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii72/mickelsonn/transmission%20Am/DSC01691.jpg#ad

 

Ya, 120 is too coarse. A red scotch brite will do really well. That should be all you need. If you were only spraying basecoat, a grey scotchbrite would be all you need, but with going over it with primer, the red pad will be good. I think a red pad is the equivalent of about 320

 

nice paint job.


ok guys i did what ever one suggested now im done with the final primer coats. how long should i wait till i spray the base coat? the instructions through me off. It says i have a 15-30 minute window to spray next coat. max 1 hr. after that i have to wait 1 week to let it cure.

 

I would do whatever the paint manufacturer recommends.

 

The ceramic paint is the best, but they will not sell it here in California because it does not meet the voc compliance. I personally would use PPG's Omni brand at is is far superior to rattle cans and will cost about the same as buying all the various spray cans for your project.