What's up guys? I'm currently restoring an EJ8 I picked up about a year ago when I sold my del sol, and one of the things I've wanted to do lately is a wire tuck and detail the engine bay..

So I've tried wiping down the engine bay with a few different cleaners and nothing has really worked out.. the paint is badly faded, and will scratch off by rubbing my finger nail on it lightly.. I'm guessing it's time to repaint it, so here's my question; can I just drop the engine from the bottom, jack the chassis up, cover the engine and respray the bay with some rattle can Rustoleum enamel paint and clear coat?

I could use some good suggestions.. also i'm a poor college student so professional paint is out of the question.

 

i did mine using duplicolor wheel paint and clear.

came out pretty good. Its chemical resistant and holds up pretty well...

Tested it on old fender with brake fluid and gasoline.

 

looks great man! thanks ... how did you prep it?

 

or you can use the engine paint/clear they sell at autozone as well

 

scuff old paint really good,prime,wet sand primer, paint several coats and then clear...

make sure u clean it really good...i also used a pressure washer with degreaser jus to be extra carefull.

-used wheel paint because it doesnt have the ceramic in it.

-tried the engine enamel from autozone long time ago and it was kinda rough in texture..

gl

 

since the paint you have in there now scratches off with your finger nail you are going to want to strip the whole engine bay and start from scratch.

try a chemical paint stripper if u want to save some time. then hit whats left with a wire wheel on a drill or something

 

if u can get yours hands on a pressure washer it will make it alot eaiser...

use paint stripper and let it sit for a good 5-10 minutes. i find that paint stripper works better in the warmer temps...

jus get a cheapy pressure washer from like wal-mart or somthing...electric one worked fine for me...roughly 1500 psi is good enough...

and spray away..that way you get everything.

yup

 

oh jeez, I can't imagine doing an entire bay with stripper, thats asking for a damn can of worms... It's coming off with your fingernail probably because of the chemical you used to try cleaning your bay, typically honda uses no clearcoat for the underhood of their solid color cars ie. black, white, red, yellow so the factory engine bay paint is prone to softening when certain chemicals are applied. Stripper works in some applications very well but always leaves jagged chunks behind, and I can't fathom what a pita it would be scowering into all the tight nooks and crannys *behind brake lines?!* sanding off the jagged chunks of paint left behind just so a primer could be applied... best option here, use a water hose, and a saturated red scotch brite pad with an abrasive soap like bippy or ajax (3mm scuffit is proffesional version specifically for this, available in body shop supply stores.) Scuffs, cleans, and degreeses in ONE step. You really don't want to take anthing on a car down to bare metal unless absolutely necessary. Factory applied primer is just the best that will ever be applied to your car. <Period.

I also would seriously think twice about painting your bay with any type of aresol. Theres no such thing as a chemical resistant rattle can paint.<Period. Rattle can paints are one part, meaning there is no hardener, there are no epoxy like qualities to anthing out of a rattle can. When rattle can paint dry's it only dry's it does not cure. Meaning the act of paint drying is the vehicle evaporating out of it (vehicle=the solvent that is used to cary the liquid paint from the can to your substrate). If a similar solvent is then re-applied to the dried paint the paint returns to its original state of a liquid. example: elmers school glue is water based, squirt some out, let it dry, get it wet and it returns to original state of liquid. Or lets say some model car paint, let some dry up, whipe it with thinner, its liquid again. Now compare to a true automotive paint, automotive paint is always an epoxy type coating, where the paint doesn't just "dry" it CURES, it undergoes a chemical reaction turning the liquid into a solid permanently. Epoxy type paints can never return to their original liquid state. Epoxy type paint has a surface about 50 times harder than non-catylized paint products. So even if you do a **** job spray painting your bay, its going to look like **** 50 times faster than if it were painted correctly. Case in point, if you use a buffer on an oem paint job it makes the paint shiny, if you take a buffer to something thats been spray painted you will buff through it upon contact.

I know your broke and what not, but don't dick up your engine bay... Rattle can job will look worse than it does now within months. In the mean time, clean your bay with hondabrite or simple green with water, then use any type of "polish" wax product (any wax with polish in its name means it has a micro abrasive agent that removes oxidization and light surface scratches) on your highly visible areas to get shine it up nice.