I'm wanting to paint my engine before I put it back in my 65 coupe, but I've got a slight problem. This engine has 82k orginal miles and I don't want to tear it apart to hot tank it.
Has anyone had any experience preping a block for paint w/o hot tanking it? Will a wire wheel work?
Look into the stiff 3M drill pads. Those things work GREAT for stripping paint and paint prep.
To strip grease get a gallon of Castrol Super Clean or one of the ripoffs. Spray it on, wet it down a little, scrub, give it 20 minutes, hose off (preferably powerwash). As a note, it works better in warm weather.
Then, clean it up with the wire wheels and 3M discs and prime and paint.
I've got to do the same to a fresh rebuild that wasn't prepped when they painted it. No way am I tearing down a fresh engine!
I've had good luck using Brake-Kleen. The same stuff is sold under about a zillion different names (electric motor cleaner, etc) so look for the common chemical. The nice thing about it is that it eats grease and oil immediately, but doesn't leave any residue. Another product I've used with great results is called Oil Eater. My wife bought a gallon at Costco and it works like nobodys business and it's biodegradeable. If you can find it, I'd try it first, then hit it with Brake-Kleen to get whatever residue it leaves, then just hit it with hot soap and water, then blow it off with air and prime and paint.
I don't primer my engines. I think that sounds funny. I do degrease it first and clean it off well, blow dry and then paint. I put 2-3 thin coats.
Does primer make for better adhesion on an engine? I'm thinking about the heating and cooling factor. I don't think primer can stand up to the heat over time.
I've used everything from rattle can primer to two-part epoxy primer with no failures ever. Your motor simply doesn't get that hot, with the exception of the area around the exhaust ports.
I painted the entire block with the heads bolted on with ZeroRust and the paint has yet to flake off after 10k miles. I have a few places of discoloration due to gasoline but that is only from the spray bomb Ford Blue paint. The ZeroRust is still intact even around the exhaust ports of my cast iron heads. No overheating problems or anything to mention, just some good sticking base coat for the spray paint to stick too! POR15 also makes engine paint but i've heard they have had color matching problems (blue was wayyyy off). HTH