repainting engine bay??

[ohioshodude]

not sure where to put this, so mods feel free to move this. anyways i'd like to repaint my engine bay. it looks good but nothing like it use to. i could get the paint on the strut towards and radiator support to look as shiny as the paint on the rest of the car. but time and 180k miles have taken their toll. i'm farily handy with a paint gun and think i could do the job myself but what is the best way to go about it i guess is my question. i'm just not sure how to start without getting red everywhere.

 

[Slo-Sho]

The BEST way to do it?...Drop the motor and tranny.

 

[jelloslug]

Like this:

Seriously you should:
1) Take the hood off.
2) Remove what you can around the painted sections of the engine bay.
3) Degrease the painted surfaces and rough them up a bit.
4) Get some good automotive masking tape (the green 3M tape works well) and some plastic and mask off everything. Pay close attention to detail here. Extra time spent prepping will make the job go by faster and look much better.
5) If you are spraying with a jam gun or a full sized gun cover the entire car. (trust me on this )
6) Spray away!

I used the same base coat/clear coat system that I'm going to use on the rest of the car. A single coat acrylic enamel would do just fine though.

 

[ohioshodude]

thanks, thats what i was looking for. i want mine to look like that again, shiny everwhere (ok blue in a red cars would look odd, hehe) i'm not not sure how easy it's going to be to spray with the engine still in the car. maybe i'll do this when i remove the tranny, as i'm also thinking of tearing the engine down. thanks guys.