Engine painting and alternative colors

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Donny

Donny

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Anyone ever paint an engine an alternative color, meaning something different than a usual Mopar engine color, or ever see any decent combos?

I'm thinking of something different for my 69 Dart. Exterior and engine bay will be T5 Copper, but I'm not a huge fan of the turquoise, blue or orange that many engines of the day came in. This is not a numbers matching car, nor stock so keeping it original or traditional isn't a major priority. but I don't want it to clash and be hard on the eyes.

I've seen a few charcoal gray and silvers that have not looked bad, but only seen pics online not in person.

Any thoughts?
 
I paint all of my engine builds Black. Looks great with factory or aftermarket valve covers and intakes. Black goes with everything. I am not a purist obviously.
 
This is how this 440 was painted when we got the project [don't know if it's gonna stay this color. If we go sublime it may stay like this.
 

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I built a 68 Charger that was dark Brown poly with a gold bumblebee stripe and gold paintfogged in the door recess areas. I painted the engine gold and it looked good. The streetrods I built I paint the engines the same color as the car. The last one was a 34 ford 3 window, that I painted black and the 302 was painted black as well.
 
Think outside the box. As important as the color is how you do it and the materials. Once it's assembled clean really well with paint and wax remover or lacquer thinner. Mask and shoot it with an etching catalyzed primer, let it flash and coat with a catalyzed acrylic enamel or urethane single stage. Your motor can be any color you can dream of and the catalyzed paint will stand up to the heat and look great for years.In my 69 Dart I am painting the engine in a couple of weeks. I'll take plenty of pics so I can post here. This car is a blinding Seikens base orange in the engine compartment (body Color). My fear was the engine would get lost if I painted it orange so I have chosen a light charcoal metallic a couple of shades lighter than the alterKtion I installed. The M/T valve covers and the 6 pack lid are painted the matching orange. The intake and water pump are aluminum and will be left that way. The cost to do this your self is probably $200 in materials and you will have materials left over for other stuff. You will also need a touch up gun but for this type of paint work a cheapo works well. The results will be awesome and can not be matched for quality or durability with any spray bomb. It's a little more work but well worth it. Here's the valve cover and lid.
 

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I had a buddy that had a Plum Crazy Challenger and he painted the engine Pather Pink. I thought it looked cool!
 
Funny I just put new wires on and I like the red with gold lettering I'm thinking of painting my motor red even though my car its sub lime lol Christmas mopar
 

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blewbyoutobad said:
Think outside the box. As important as the color is how you do it and the materials. Once it's assembled clean really well with paint and wax remover or lacquer thinner. Mask and shoot it with an etching catalyzed primer, let it flash and coat with a catalyzed acrylic enamel or urethane single stage. Your motor can be any color you can dream of and the catalyzed paint will stand up to the heat and look great for years.In my 69 Dart I am painting the engine in a couple of weeks. I'll take plenty of pics so I can post here. This car is a blinding Seikens base orange in the engine compartment (body Color). My fear was the engine would get lost if I painted it orange so I have chosen a light charcoal metallic a couple of shades lighter than the alterKtion I installed. The M/T valve covers and the 6 pack lid are painted the matching orange. The intake and water pump are aluminum and will be left that way. The cost to do this your self is probably $200 in materials and you will have materials left over for other stuff. You will also need a touch up gun but for this type of paint work a cheapo works well. The results will be awesome and can not be matched for quality or durability with any spray bomb. It's a little more work but well worth it. Here's the valve cover and lid.
Click to expand...

Got pics of them bad boys on an engine? They look awesome
 
the only color ive ever found to be a pain is gloss black, sometimes it makes things very difficult to locate any sort of leaks.....plus, personally i like flat black, makes everything else stand out a little better.
 
My 67 Formula will be painted black with metallic red interior.I am thinking about painting the engine gloss black or gloss red no matter what engine I put in it.
 
the only color ive ever found to be a pain is gloss black, sometimes it makes things very difficult to locate any sort of leaks.....

What he said... the voice of experience. It does look good, but damn near impossible to pinpoint a leak because everything looks "shiny & wet".
C
 
gold and it is a Chrysler engine color. Mark
 

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I paint all mine black with the semi gloss VHT, its scientific that black helps draw heat to the surface.
 
blewbyoutobad said:
Think outside the box. As important as the color is how you do it and the materials. Once it's assembled clean really well with paint and wax remover or lacquer thinner. Mask and shoot it with an etching catalyzed primer, let it flash and coat with a catalyzed acrylic enamel or urethane single stage. Your motor can be any color you can dream of and the catalyzed paint will stand up to the heat and look great for years.In my 69 Dart I am painting the engine in a couple of weeks. I'll take plenty of pics so I can post here. This car is a blinding Seikens base orange in the engine compartment (body Color). My fear was the engine would get lost if I painted it orange so I have chosen a light charcoal metallic a couple of shades lighter than the alterKtion I installed. The M/T valve covers and the 6 pack lid are painted the matching orange. The intake and water pump are aluminum and will be left that way. The cost to do this your self is probably $200 in materials and you will have materials left over for other stuff. You will also need a touch up gun but for this type of paint work a cheapo works well. The results will be awesome and can not be matched for quality or durability with any spray bomb. It's a little more work but well worth it. Here's the valve cover and lid.
Click to expand...

What about using catalyzed acrylic urethane paint? They say it's more durable than enamel, but will it hold up to the heat? Your valve covers look AWESOME by the way. I've been looking for a way to find a paint color that is similar to my car, but will hold up to the heat. It looks like this is the way to go.
 
Best results we have gotten so far was by using epoxy primer and a high solids urethane. Man does that stuff hold up well.

Of course everything has to be super Clean before doing anything.
 
abodyjoe said:
Best results we have gotten so far was by using epoxy primer and a high solids urethane. Man does that stuff hold up well.

Of course everything has to be super Clean before doing anything.
Click to expand...
I wipe everything down with Paint pre-cleaner from Eastwood or RM.


I use Dupli color Furd Gray on my 360 Magnum. I like the industrial look and it brightens the engine compartment up compared to black. You can see leaks easy too. I like HEMI orange but only with white or black cars. Seems weird looking with a blue or red car.
 

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clinteg said:
What about using catalyzed acrylic urethane paint? They say it's more durable than enamel, but will it hold up to the heat? Your valve covers look AWESOME by the way. I've been looking for a way to find a paint color that is similar to my car, but will hold up to the heat. It looks like this is the way to go.
Click to expand...

Clinteg
Yes any of the hardened enamels or urethanes work well.
 
What do you guys think of POR15 products for painting an engine?
 
abodyjoe said:
Best results we have gotten so far was by using epoxy primer and a high solids urethane. Man does that stuff hold up well.

Of course everything has to be super Clean before doing anything.
Click to expand...

X2
Engine body color is the way I would go. I'm knocking all the casting marks off my engine to smooth it out. Going to look tits.
 
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