How do you "physically" paint an engine bay?

65Rob · Nov 18, 2012

This isn't a how do you paint question, I've painted lots of cars but I've never painted a tiny little engine bay and I can't wrap my head around it? I'm not some giant of a man but my shoulders barely fit between the shock towers so I'm not sure how to spray without my arse or something else getting into the paint. I don't have the wingspan of an NBA player so I can't spray too much from the outside, looks like it needs to be an inside job. How do you guys do this, short of doing it in two stages which is a bit of a pain. Worse yet, it's a restomod so the engine bay will be body color, meaning I can't get away with a half assed technique. It's a 65 so it's as tight in there as it gets.

Any suggestions and tips would be greatly appreciated.

iskwezm · Nov 18, 2012

I just used a detail gun and sprayed everything easily within reach

BuckeyeDemon · Nov 19, 2012

i used the small cup system on my full size gun to spray the engine compartment and the inside of the trunk. you can spray upside down with this setup. i also removed the regulator at the gun by setting the pressure at the wall regulator. smaller hose and removal of the coupler helps too.

65Rob · Nov 19, 2012

I have the 3M system as well so as I said it isn't the actual spraying that's the issue, it's the process. I figure I can start on my back on a creeper to spray the firewall extension/trans tunnel, then sit up in there and spray the fireall, one inner and the rad support, stand up and do the top of those three. The question is how to spray the last panel, (the 2nd inner fender) without leaning into the paint on the other panels or dragging your hoses into it (I use a fresh air sytem so that's an extra hose to get in the way) I was hoping to do it in one shot, not do 3/4 of it, then mask off and do the last panel.

BuckeyeDemon · Nov 19, 2012

i was able to spray the engine compartment in one shot as the car sits in the following picture. i am fortunate to be tall though at 6'2".

65Rob · Nov 19, 2012

So you sprayed it from the outside reaching over it for the most part? I'm half a foot shorter than you so that won't work. At least I have to primer it first so that will give me a very good idea on what I can and can't do. Although knowing my luck I won't have any problem with the primer but will bump into the paint a bunch of times.

BuckeyeDemon · Nov 19, 2012

i sprayed it all from the outside. try making some sort of structure (like flat blocks to help you reach if that's the issue.

65Rob · Nov 19, 2012

Thanks, I'll see what I can figure out, my arms aren't long enough even if I stand on a platform so I'll have to do the bottom 1/3 or 1/2 from inside the bay or at least under it.

BuckeyeDemon · Nov 19, 2012

are your fenders on?

65Rob · Nov 19, 2012

No they're off and I think I can do it from the outside as long as I do the trans tunnel and subframe from under it. I just dummy tried it and I can reach to the bottom of the inner fenders reasonably well so I should be ok. Thanks for talking me into it, just seemed awkward from the outside so I really wasn't thinking of doing it that way.

mtaqua · Nov 19, 2012

When I did mine everything was off the front (I assume yours is too). I supported the front end underneath the cab of the car (I think it was slightly aft of where the front subframe ends. I inclined it some to so I could crawl underneath the core support without rubbing. Used a small gun, and did the inside corners first and worked my way out. I also had a step ladder to reach over the sides too, and from what I remember most of the engine compartment was sprayed from the outside (just the inside corners and tunnel I think I sprayed from the inside, and then the bottom of the frame was while laying on the ground).

candphall · Nov 19, 2012

I would try to find a monkey that's also a painter.

zookeeper · Nov 19, 2012

It's a pain in the butt to be sure, but I knocked my fan width down a bit when I did the base so that instead of a 6"-8" pattern at 6" distance, it was more like a 6" pattern at 12" distance. Without the fenders, that allowed me to reach the inner fenders from outside. I did the firewall sitting on the floor, as well as the areas behind the towers you can't easily reach. I also only got the tops of the frame rails and the vertical part of the firewall. On the vertical parts of the frame rails and the trans tunnel where it breaks under, I back-taped it later and shot it with satin black single stage. Here's a pic that helps show kinda what I ended up with.

65Rob · Nov 19, 2012

mtaqua said:
When I did mine everything was off the front (I assume yours is too). I supported the front end underneath the cab of the car (I think it was slightly aft of where the front subframe ends. I inclined it some to so I could crawl underneath the core support without rubbing. Used a small gun, and did the inside corners first and worked my way out. I also had a step ladder to reach over the sides too, and from what I remember most of the engine compartment was sprayed from the outside (just the inside corners and tunnel I think I sprayed from the inside, and then the bottom of the frame was while laying on the ground).

I have it high enough that getting under it is easy enough. A fair amount has to be sprayed from the inside no matter what, the trans tunnel, sub frame and bottom of the shock towers where they wrap under. Really the whole problem are the shock towers, they are in the way if you are on the inside, and not a lot of room to paint the side by the firewall from either side.

A chimp would be perfect, fairly small but with long arms, could spray it from either side.

65Rob · Nov 19, 2012

zookeeper said:
It's a pain in the butt to be sure, but I knocked my fan width down a bit when I did the base so that instead of a 6"-8" pattern at 6" distance, it was more like a 6" pattern at 12" distance. Without the fenders, that allowed me to reach the inner fenders from outside. I did the firewall sitting on the floor, as well as the areas behind the towers you can't easily reach. I also only got the tops of the frame rails and the vertical part of the firewall. On the vertical parts of the frame rails and the trans tunnel where it breaks under, I back-taped it later and shot it with satin black single stage. Here's a pic that helps show kinda what I ended up with.

You posted at the same time as I just did. So you went with black on the trans tunneléfirewall as it breaks back from the vertical part, if I am reading this correctly. I have been wrestling with where to transition from body color to the satin black I am also using under the car.

zookeeper · Nov 19, 2012

Yes, you are right on about where I did the color separation. It's tough to see, but I went about an inch below the break with the white on the firewall and right on the ridge of the rails. With everything assembled, your eyes really don't even see two colors. It just kinda looks all white because the satin black blends into the shadows under the car. I also did the front cross-member satin black because I didn't want a glaring white cross-member peeking out under the Shelby nose. I think the regular Mustang valance is a bit lower and covers the cross-member.

65Rob · Nov 20, 2012

Now you've got me thinking. I was going to do kind of the inverse of what you did, paint the tops and sides of the subframe body color and the bottom satin black but in your picture the transition looks very natural, I like it. When you say front crossmember do you mean the two 45 degree supports that hold the strut rods? or the rad support? either way that was my next question, to paint the 45 degree supports body color or satin black, I don't think doing the top body color and the sides black would look right on those? the rad support will be pretty much hidden at the bottom on the inside and like you say by the valance on the outside so I think that will be all body color.

zookeeper · Nov 20, 2012

I left my radiator support white because I think it gives it a more detailed look with the white peeking through the grille, but I shot the lower front crossmember and strut supports satin black to hide them. The Shelby valance doesn't cover that whole mess and I thought it would look a little goofy with all the white hanging down under the white valance. Here's a couple pics to help show what I did

In the first pic you can see where I separated the colors in the front, while the second pic shows what I meant about the radiator support showing through. Just a personal quirk of mine, but I like to show off the the cleanliness that comes with a plain white car. In the last pic you can see what I mean by the black hiding all the crap hanging down and making the car look lower.

65Rob · Nov 21, 2012

Thanks for all the pics and explanations, I really like it. I've been really struggling with where to trasition the two colors and I think the way you did yours is the ticket. It looks like you pretty much snapped a line all the way around where the top of the subframe is and anything under it is black. I'm going with your plan, thanks again for the help, and to the others that offered suggestions on how or where to spray it from.

How do you "physically" paint an engine bay?

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