The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Painting an engine

There have been a few threads recently about painting an engine and the prep work involved. My question is similiar, but with a twist.

Has anyone painted their engine while it was still in the truck? If so, what method did you use; what have been your results; and would you have any pictures of same?

i have done it before with rattle cans, so yes, it can be done. you need to take as many parts as possible off and I would pull the radiator so you can take the fan off. Take off the intake and exhaust manifolds and generator on the drivers side. You can paint the valve cover and side plate off the engine. take the distributor out or at least remove the cap/wires etc, coil and draft tube. take off or cover the fuel pump etc. the more things you can take off the better chance you have of getting the angle you neeed to apply the paint. you will not get the rear very good and you have a cross member to deal with underneath on the pan. take your time and you can eventually get most of it. i do not have any pictures. sounds like a lot but much easier than pulling the engine!

Ive done it in my '64 GMC, looks pretty good, it was hard to get everything, but do the normal cleaning, wire brushing, and I wiped mine down with paint thinner before I rattle canned it. If you tell me how to post pics, Ill throw one up

Guys, thanks for the response! Great information that I'll certainly put to use.

Did you use a special engine paint? Or just the regular stuff?

(djed50, I see you have a '54 like me; did you paint with the stock color)?

Thanks again!

--John

You may want to mask and tape the fenders,grille,bumper off.You don't want overspray on everything.

Hope this helped

I will use the engine colors available at any parts store. Duplicolor is one brand that comes to mind. A lot of spray dust will float around and land on everything in the area you paint in. Make sure you have your nice stuff covered. It will wipe of OK but it does create a mess.

mowog - i painted my engine before i found out about this website and color codes for different years etc. i painted mine chevy orange using off the shelf engine paint - i think i bought it at wal-mart. good advice about covering things up because you do get a lot of overspray. the previous owner put the quick paint job on the body . i was under the truck one day and noticed some writing on the back of one of the grille pieces. it said "juniper green". i just assume that is the color that it was repainted with which I believe is one of the colors of green that was considered original on a 54 - however, the original paint does show under the fenders etc and other hard to reach places and it appears to be a much deeper darker green than what is on it now. a search for paint codes will show you several colors of green that are available. i just wish the po had put some time into body prep. i eventually will need to get it all stripped down and start over again - rust is coming through the paint etc.

Gentlemen,

Thank you all again for the great advice. I was curious if anyone had tried it, and if it was not advisable. Gathering from the responses, I I will proceed with my plan.

I'm guessing the most challenging part will be getting the engine absolutely clean while it's still in the bay. I'm expecting that to be tedious, but I know it will be absolutely neccessary to be meticulous with that stage.

Again, thanks for all of the input.

--John

mowog - that is the hard part. not "enviromentally sound" but a hot engine and diesel goes a long way in removing oil/sludge followed by any good detergent and a power washer! just got to plug up any "holes" when you turn that power washer on and make sure you have a rain coat on!!!!!!!!!

I'd suggest thinking about using a brushes rather than rattle cans. There's no overspray problem, paint coat thickness is better, rough casting of engine hides brush marks, and, you can do a little at a time. I would use rattle cans on the sheet metal parts (valve covers, oil pan, etc.). I've found the cheap foam brushes work great. That's what I used to paint my exhaust manifolds they look great. Just a thought.

Johnny, thanks for the tip about brushing on the paint. I had wondered if anyone had tried it that way, and if they would do it again.

Great suggestion, and I think you've talked me into trying it that way first. The overspray issue being eliminated is big.

Fantastic advice; Thanks everyone!