Engine bay paint

str12-340 said
Believe me, Doc, if I can do it, you can do it! I sprayed the engine bay, the trunk and the inside shell before I sent it to the paint shop. Saved me a lot of money - I know since I asked what they would charge to do all that. Even with the pricey spray cans I saved about $2000, and I can guarantee you it's a better job than the factory turned out in those parts of the car. I'm sure that the metallic Plum Crazy is probably comparable to the metallic turquoise that you would be shooting as far as difficulty. You can't tell where the body shop paint and my work starts and stops. An old body man told me never to paint under the hood with base coat/ clear coat, so he painted under the hood of the Dart in my avatar with single stage and then the rest of the car in bc/cc. The clear coat can yellow over time when subjected to engine heat especially on the inner fenders near the exhaust.

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Yup! No reason not to give it a go. Good paint in a can, or go buy a spray gun and practice on some junk first. It's a skill and toolset you'll appreciate having in the future. If you can paint a fence, you can paint an engine bay. It's not hard to DIY the internals. Just be sure to keep track of color codes and product used so the body shop can choose their steps wisely when finishing.

Learning to fit sheetmetal and remove dings and dents is a whole other level, and not something everyone is comfortable learning or doing. Pros know how to get it done and done proper. But all the stuff you don't see from outside is fair game IMO.

Also, strip and repaint or seal and repaint over the copper first. If you don't, normal body flex is likely to crack your paint at some point and eventually you'll be under the hood and seeing copper through cracks, chips, and rub marks. Copper will show super obvious through turquoise, so I wouldn't even entertain only painting after assembly.