Painting my A4

[HOTFLASH]

This is vary basic....Any tips for painting my engine? How to prep it? Do I remove component parts first? How to protect for overspray, etc? Spray or brush? Does ambient temp make a difference? How to paint the bottom of pan? I do not know much about painting metal, especially oily metal.

[Kurt]

Use a wire brush to remove rust and flaking paint first. Then I use acetone to clean areas I am going to paint - it dries quickly, removes oil and leaves no residue. Use newspaper, dropcloths, blue painters tape or whatever to cover areas you don't want to paint. Obviously, you don't want to paint electrical connections/connectors. I, personally, don't like to paint my carb. I use a high temp automotive paint - Chrysler Blue is what I like as it is very resiliant and doesn't tend to flake off -- no primer needed either. Whatever you do, keep your motor painted as marine environments promote rust and rust can spread very quickly.

[Kurt]

Ahh - forgot to mention -- in areas where you have rust, it is a good idea to apply some Skyco Ospho (or other rust inhibitor/primer) with a brush prior to painting.

[HOTFLASH]

Thanks re A4 painting tips

Thanks!

Mary

[Kelly]

Hello Mary,

Just for encouragement, here are a couple of photos of my current project: painting the A4. I second Kurt's advice for the process.

This work is taking place in my garage so is much easier than trying to do it in the boat, but the steps are the same.

My coats are as follows: one coat of rust inhibitor, one coat of rust resistant engine paint primer and two or three coats of engine paint. I prepped the motor like Kurt.

Good luck!!

Kelly

[HOTFLASH]

Pictures, worth a thousand----

The photos are a great help! Sounds like I have to remove the alternator, starter, coil, distributor, pump, carb, etc but leave plugs in so as not to allow paint in the cylinders and replace plugs after the job, and mask off any orifices left. But how about the exhaust manifold? And the plate (is that the "jacket") on the starboard side?

Do I spray or do I brush? Sounds like Don brushes his paint.

Mary

[Kelly]

Mary,

I opted to remove everything I could, including the manifold and water jacket side plate. I had planned on cleaning out everything as best I could so this improved access greatly. I also wanted to put in new gaskets and get an overall look at the engine systems. So, removing these items is not necessary, it just makes prepping and painting a bit easier.

I spray my paint mostly because it was only available in spray cans. The rust treatment has to be applied by brush. Otherwise, the choice is yours.

Two more photos of the process...

Sincerely,
Kelly

[Administrator]

Great thread!

Thanks for the pictures, Kelly!

Bill

[rigspelt]

Before I embark on my engine-painting over the winter (some parts in shop, some on engine in boat), how does this plan look? I cobbled it together from all kinds of places over the past few weeks.

- Send parts to a pro cleaning shop if possible and get them back wrapped in poly.
- Other parts or engine in boat: scrape, brass brush, brass wool and emery to remove as much rust and scale as possible.
- Vacuum.
- Clean and initial degrease: Wash with hot water and soap or TSP.
- Rinse and dry.
- Final degrease: Wipe with acetone, keep acetone away from gaskets and plastics.
- Mask non-paint areas. Put old spark plugs in the plug holes.
- For areas with unremoveable rust: Stright-Mackay Git-Rust seems to be like Ospho, which I can't find. CanTire sells Rust Check Rust Converter. Convert red rust to stable black iron phosphate, or sulfite, or tannate, depending on the product. Very confusing choice. I'm going with RCRC.
- Primer: Rustoleum heavy rust primer for MMI Universal Bronze (which I cannot get), or Dupli-Color primer as instructed. Although I understand that primer adds nothing to Duplicolor enamel, especially if rust converter treatment used?
- Paint choice: Moyer Marine sells both spray and brush Universal bronze (about $18), but cannot ship it to Canada. Dupli-Color engine enamel widely available in Canada but not in a bronze color, although they do have 500 degree "Universal Gold", and "Cummins Diesel Gold" (darker). Neither have any of that nice bronze red in them. Spray or brush engine enamel, 500 degree for engine (except manifold), 1400 degree for exhaust and manifold, 2-3 light coats.
- Enamel re-coat window: "After spraying the first coat of an enamel, apply second coat within 1-2 hours or wait 5-7 days for the coating to cure. The paint may wrinkle or lift when resprayed during this curing period."

Here is my "before" shot. I'll add an "after" eventually. From the front the paint looks pretty good, but there are some flaked and slightly rusty starts on the sides.