engine paint

i'm really liking this season of gyc - the cars and assembly segments are great. yea, worman is still doing his little "schtick" but it's not as over the top as when the show began. i do like the focus on more minute details of various parts. i hate to admit it, but i do usually learn something from each episode. i consider myself pretty knowledgeable on 68-71 mopars but i do not have anywhere near the information as worman seems to have. i have to tip my hat to him on that point.

this is a little off topic but i'll share anyway. when i re-did my 68 barracuda i purchased a can of reproduction red "Mopar engine paint" from Year One. since i'm an "old school bodyman" from many years ago, i thought i knew what i was doing. i sanded and prep-soled the parts, shook the can for about a minute than applied what i thought was a very nice "rattle can spray job." i went back to some other areas on the car and let the parts "dry" for about an hour. when i went over to pick them up i tested the cardboard overspray just to be safe and it rubbed off on my finger like i had just sprayed it!! the garage temp was around 70 degrees and i couldn't understand what was going on. so i left the parts for another two hours, came back and they were "tacky" but still too wet to pick up. so i left the damn things on the cardboard OVERNIGHT! the next day the parts could be picked up but i still had to be careful not to scratch or fingerprint them. i then put them down and left them for several days. after these parts had "dried" for about 5 days, they were hard and dry to the point of being safe to handle.

a few days after the spray can incident, i found myself down at a local NAPA Auto Parts store BSing with one of the "old geezers" still working there and told him my engine paint story. he started laughing at me which caused me to say: "Why are you laughing at me?" the NAPA guy went on to ask me if i had put a floor fan on the parts after i had painted them. i told him "No." he went on to explain that all spray can paints now are water based and if you don't put a fan on the parts to keep air flowing - they will never dry. STUPID ME - i knew that VOC compound laquer/enamel "gallons/quarts" of mix-up paint had been "outlawed" years ago but i thought the spray cans were still the same. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME AS THEY USED TO BE! - at least the ones Year One sells are not the same.

so for you "youngens" out there (or you old geezers like me who still think they know about painting cars when we really don't any longer) - if you're going to paint engine parts with "hot-paint" OEM factory colors with a "rattle-can" - put a fan on the parts after you paint them. if you do, you won't have to wait a WEEK to reinstall the newly painted parts.

just thought i'd share an embarrassing story....