Touching up VHT engine enamel? - EDIT: Now chipping :(

[bgtuth]

Hey guys,

I painted my cleaned and blasted engine last night and as of this morning discovered a few areas that still have a slightly rough/dusty finish where I believe the topcoat is a bit light and the primer is showing through. (Painting aluminium silver VHT engine enamel over VHT gray engine primer pretty damn hard to see hahah )

To cut to the chase. Can I just wait 24 hours to ensure its cured, lightly wet sand then lay more topcoat? I have not baked the paint on yet.

You can see the this primer roughness around the inside of the oil filter cover.

Cheers!

 

[Bert Jan]

Re: Quick question: Touching up VHT engine enamel?

What the can says. Wait 24h and go again. I never sand the vht and have done dozens of them. When it a bit fuzzy you were not close enough to the engine with the nozzle. Good luck!

 

[bgtuth]

Re: Quick question: Touching up VHT engine enamel?

Thanks for you quick reply.

Hahah what I thought would be straight forward is quickly becoming a nightmare, I was just removing some masking tape and it pulled a nice big slice of paint and primer off :'(. If it does not harden in a week, what is the best way to undo my wrong doing? Aircraft stripper, wash hand sand then prime straight after? Any input to how I can go about fixing this?

My process as per cans instructions:

Bead blasted engine exterior > clean wiped down with Isopropyl alcohol > blown off with air > warmed engine up to room temp > light prime > 10mins > light prime > 10mins > med prime >
30mins > light topcoat > 10mins > light topcoat> light topcoat> med topcoat (not heavy enough... didn't want to go overboard)

And it was looking so good

 

[High On Octane]

Sounds like you waited too long to unmask. You want to remove your masking as soon as possible after your final coat, basically where it it dry to the touch but not fully cured. What happens is the paint and primer stick to the edge of the tape, so when you remove the tape, the edges just stick together and the paint pulls away with the tape. Still happens to me every now and then with bumpers and stuff. There isn't a very big window for removing the tape, I'd say 30-40 minutes. Pull it too soon, you risk deforming your fresh paint. Pull it too late and it lifts the paint.