Engine Bay Paint?

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Mazda 6s Lapis Blue / Mazda3 5-door Sunlight Sliver
Sup everyone. Just wanted to know what paint to buy so I can paint the engine and battery covers. I have seen some of the previous threads on this, but those people used "body shop grade" paints. Is there something you can get at PepBoys? Does it need to be heat resistant? I've seen Dupli-Color Enamels, but I think that is more for painting the metal engine blocks. If anyone has some links and brand names...
 
Negative on body paints......use Hi temp paint....it is marked either 500 degrees or 1000 degres from any car parts store like pepboys autozone advanced auto parts....depending on the area wal-mart...I say get a foam brush and spray it on the brush and wipe on so it doesn't run to much...also sanding the area you are painting is your friend...
 
I understand the painting routine (i.e. clean, prime, sand, paint, sand, paint, paint, clear). I was wondering what type of paint works best to use on the plastic engine/battery covers on the new Mz3. I don't think a brush would work that well. Does the paint have to be 500-1000 degree heat resistant? The covers are plastic and don't touch the engine directly...
 
next time you drive in the heat hard open your hood and touch that plactic part and then tell us again that it doesnt get that hot. hahaha trust him. get heat resistant.. and as much as possible. 500 should be sufficient, but why take any chances?
 
Sir. SpeedALot said:
anyone try this with any store bought spray paint...what did you use...?
engine bay gets hot...maybe not 1000 degrees but idling in rush hour with a/c rinning cause there is no wind hot. You can try regular paint but wal-mart even sels the paint but it's in the car section not the household paint. I used clear to make the engine bay reallly glossy on my last car...havn't the time to redo that on the 6. You can try the non heat resistant paint if you so choose.
 
*giggle* engine covors

Hehe, something about engine covors makes me giggle. As if it's trying to ease our mind by not letting us see the complicated mess of wires, pipes and hoses going into the top of the engine ("I'm not an engine, I'm a pretty plastic thing that makes your car go forward :-D") ... and also giving the impression that "you should know what you are doing before you try and take this off... otherwise what you will see will scare you.

If I ever get around to painting my engine covor, I'd probably fingerpaint something like "P-P-P-Powerhouse!!!" in the p-p-p-powerbook! style (complete with misspelled labels like intake!, Wire!, Oil!, This thing!!1!)
 
not trying to cancel out what you are saying (In No Way) but if he is in georgia and with the fans on in almost constant state from a/c it only gets to about 212F? I guess that is about right since I did hook a oven thermomiter up to my old cars engine to see how hot it was when I was doing my 3-4 hr commutes....it didn't get past 135...and kept sending engine stays cold too long codes but the t-stat wasn't broken... I guess it'l do for the plastic cover but what about the actual metal parts?


and as for the cover...it does hide all the exposed wires..reason I left it on there is cause the valvecover is so plain and un attractive(notcool) (sleep)
 
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Oh yeah... by all means use engine paint for the metal parts.

The conduction of heat through metal parts makes them hotter than plastic parts that are heated by convection. Even so, nothing but your exhast manifold should exceed around 212. Most thermostats open at 195, so engine temperatures rarely get much higher than that.

And besides that, engine paint doesn't like to stick to plastic and isn't flexible.
 
Thanks Goldwig. Those were the kind of responces I was looking for. I'm not trying to paint the engine block, just the "plastic" covers (Some people really get off topic). And PeteyBoy, not to flame your rant, but have you ever looked under the hood of any high-end sports car lately...because they all have engine covers! Someone must think they look better than looking at all the wires. Anyway, I will be painting the covers soon and will post pics.
 
Sir. SpeedALot said:
And PeteyBoy, not to flame your rant, but have you ever looked under the hood of any high-end sports car lately...because they all have engine covers! Someone must think they look better than looking at all the wires. Anyway, I will be painting the covers soon and will post pics.

I understand that most if not all new cars have them now... and they do make things look better (and probably help keep wires and hoses in the proper place too). I wasn't ranting as much as just noting the difference between my 88 camry (with "TOYOTA 2000" and "16 valve" etched into the valve covor above and below the red ignition wires in true 80's style ) and the engine covors of todays cars.

Also, when me and my friend Richard first saw the covor of my '99 golf, we just started joking "look, I'm not an engine, I'm a pretty plastic Go-thingy!"

Either way, I still think finger-painting the engine covor to say "P-P-P-Powerhouse" right above the "16 -valve variable valve timing" would be fun. I'm not angry... just crazy/silly.


Good luck making it look snazzy and such!
 
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