Seeking advise on engine bay restoration

Thomas76

Thomas76

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My car exterior was painted before I purchased it, but they did not do the engine bay. With the engine out this winter for a swap I thought it would be perfect time to address the eye sore.

Question is what color/sheen to paint it.
Exterior is base/clear metallic Polaris.
I was thinking of color matching in catalytic single stage low gloss, but maybe skip the metal flake.
Thoughts?
 
Here's my Polaris engine thread:

Engine rebuild and engine bay resto thread - 2240284 '72 CS

I'm starting a thread documenting my engine rebuild after sucking a piece of metal down carb throat #2 and the mayhem inside the cylinder that ensued. I'll start with the pics of the head and piston damage as posted in the prior thread which documents finding what happened to cause the...
e9coupe.com e9coupe.com

It's easy to get matching paint/clear which I recommend for looks and ease of cleaning. The paint I used has the smallest flake I could find and matched my exterior in terms of that very well. I hate large flake.

A tedious yet rewarding endeavor.
 
We do this job every year.

Intense degrease, scrub each inch. Scrub each inch 5 times…
Caution with cleaners on fenders.
treat rust areas, sand and prep. Do it twice.
primer
sand
primer
paint
clear coat
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I seriously need to do this. It’s hard enough to do the engine bay, but a PO sprayed undercoating all over the area and under the hood, so it’s a daunting project.
 
Hats off to the guys who do this for a paycheck! I'm at least 40 hours into cleaning and sanding without much to show for it.

Toughest part is the decision making for how far to take it.

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Looks like you are overdoing it.

The goal is a clean smooth surface. Not bare metal.

Get the wires out of the way.
Put them inside a trash bag.

Re-tape after painting.
 
Winkwink

I think I see just hiding in the corner of your engine bay, one of those pesky little monsters called " while-I'm-in-there" ....

Hit it with a hammer, and remind yourself that you wanna drive this spring.

(Someone should have told me)
 
Thomas76 said:
Hats off to the guys who do this for a paycheck! I'm at least 40 hours into cleaning and sanding without much to show for it.

Toughest part is the decision making for how far to take it.

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If it's hard to get off it's a good base and just needs to be sanded smooth. Consider it the primer coat so to speak.
 
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