Engine Paint Help!

lhpegram

lhpegram

New Member
Sorry guys, another engine paint question.
I'm in a crunch for time to get my engine painted and back together!

I have bathed my cylinder heads and engine cases in a solvent tank, scotch-brited them and blasted them with walnut shells.

I'm now wondering which paint to use:

a. Duplicolor engine paint
b. VHT Engine enamel
c. VHT case and barrel (heads) specific paint

I'd like to use flat black which the VHT case and barrel specific only comes in satin and I don't know anything about Duplicolor.

Any and all suggestions welcome!

Also, thoughts on necessity of primer?

Cheers
 
All the engine enamels I have used do not require a primer.

If your engine is in pieces, it's a good idea to bake the individual parts after paint to cure them before re-assembly. Otherwise you'll have a billion fingerprints all over your motor :eek:

Heating the parts / engine before paint with a heat gun helps the adhesion process too ;)
 
I'd say use VHT. The dupicolor on my bike chips easy. I used VHT Wrinkle finish on mine. You might be able to see the texture in the picture below. But if not it gave the engine a flat black textured finish.

My only suggest is don't lay down too many coats. The engine needs to ventilate still. In addition as said earlier, no primer before.
IMG_4268.jpg

IMG_1429.JPG
 
Awesome! Thanks guys.
Everybody I've talked to says forget the primer...wonder when primeris a good fit?
I'll post pics in the next couple of days
 
lhpegram said:
Awesome! Thanks guys.
Everybody I've talked to says forget the primer...wonder when primeris a good fit?
I'll post pics in the next couple of days
Click to expand...

Engine paints are chemically designed differently then body paint for high heat. Primer would just defeat that purpose or give you a crappy finished product. Primer really come into effect with body paints like lacquer which generally run thinner.
 
Engine paints have ceramic in them, it acts as an insulator for the paint, preventing it from damage from the heat. As stated, primer just gives you a crappy surface finish and would negate the heat resistant properties of the ceramic. The only important thing is to make sure whatever you are painting has absolutely no oil, grease, dirt etc on it or it will ruin the paint job.
 
Noted. All good to know!

Of course VHT suggests using primer...guess they're naturally most interested in selling their product.
 
lhpegram said:
Noted. All good to know!

Of course VHT suggests using primer...guess they're naturally most interested in selling their product.
Click to expand...

To avoid primer you might want to sandblaster the engine if possible. Obviously you should mask and plug holes. If you can't sandblast it would helpful to score the surface as best as you can with sandpaper or steel wool so the paint will have places to stick to. Also start off with a light dusting coat. This will allow the second and third coat to stick better without running. And don't forget to degrease the sucker good before you paint. Good luck! :)
 
And for decreasing, don't use carb cleaner. It leaves a residue, I tried it and it didn't work so well. I ended up with industrial mold decreased from where I work, and the vht paint. And also +1 to what the other guys said. Good luck!
 
Anyone who bothers to read the back of the Duplicolor can will be able to see (in the very first paragraph) that a primer is required with the paint. My experience with the stuff when used on aluminum is that if you don't use the primer the paint chips very easily and if you do use the primer it dosn't chip at all.

If you want to degrease your parts before painting - which is absolutely essential for a lasting paint job - you can go to any automotive paint store and buy a gallon of degreaser, it comes in both water and solvent based versions, it is inexpensive, and it is compatible with automotive paints. Why you would want to use anything else is a mystery to me.

I believe, though I'm not certain about this (you can look it up, I'm not going to bother) that the VHT brand of engine paint differs from the Duplicolor in that the VHT has to be heat cured but the Duplicolor doesn't. That gives me the immediate impression that the VHT stuff is probably a more durable paint. I can't say that it is or isn't, because I've only used VHT brand engine paint on steel parts, where it has held up well. My experience with Duplicolor engine paints has been limited to its use on cool parts (wheel hubs and insets in engine covers). In these uses, as mentioned above, when primer wasn't used the paint chipped badly and easily. When it was used the paint held up. Paint makers don't tell you to use the primer to sucker you out of your hard earned money, they do it because the stuff is necessary. Would you take you gas tank down to bare metal and then paint it without using any primer and expect the paint job to hold up?
 
my94f2 said:
thats a sexy motor. vht all the way. i hate duplicolor. also the brake caliper paint works awesome too. and contains ceramic.
Click to expand...

thanks. I actually used red caliper paint on the starter cover. great minds think alike i guess. lol
 
looks good . it explains that ultra shiney finish. How did they keep the chroming from getting inside the valve cover?
 
Kong said:
If you want to degrease your parts before painting - which is absolutely essential for a lasting paint job - you can go to any automotive paint store and buy a gallon of degreaser, it comes in both water and solvent based versions, it is inexpensive, and it is compatible with automotive paints. Why you would want to use anything else is a mystery to me.
Click to expand...


Some degreasers will leave a residue. Brake cleaner, prep-sol and acetone doesn't.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DTT Light or Dark

  • DTT Light
    • www.jadusmotorcycleparts.com
    www.lostapostle.ca/
    www.sparckmoto.com

    Spread the Love

    Back
    Top Bottom