Just painted the engine bay

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jhdeval

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I am excited and I wanna show my work off a bit. I posted this over at slantsix.org and got good responses.



There is some orange peel and a bit of runs on the firewall but it is an engine bay so I don't know if I am going to color sand or not.
 
I does look good. What are the plans for the top of the inner fenders?
C
 
I am going to paint them also I did not do them at the same time because I did not pull everything off. If you look at the drivers side you will see I left just about everything still up there but I just really did not want to pull everything off.
 
I had never shot paint out of a real paint gun myself till a month ago. Looks great. Keep out the good work.
 
jefflock if it makes ya feel any better this was the first time I shot color and clear. I have done the rest of the car in primer.
 
Update just painted the engine sill and passenger fender. My clear keeps showing up with orange peel it isn't bad but it is obvious. Is there something I am doing wrong? If so what can I do?

Also look for opinion on color choice and overall work. This is my first time on any of this.

Front Corner


Back Corner


Close Up
 
There are several reasons you are getting orange peel. First off what brand of clear are you shooting, what if any reducer are you using, what psi are you shooting it at? Orange peel can be knocked down and buffed out so its not that big of a deal. Me myself I don't reduce the brand of clear I use. Hit it with some 1500 then 2000 buff it out and call it good enough. It also from the looks of the fender is really dry. Slow down your passes play with the psi and volume and you may see a difference.
 
I am using Shopline from PPG with no reducer. I shoot at 20 PSI at the gun with a 6-8 inches from the surface. I have tried 4-6 and 8-10 also but it did not seem to help.

Could a hot humid day affect if I get orange peel or not? Yesterday was a very hot and humid day.
 
Todays paints contain so much additive for UV protection that some orange peel in the clear coat is the norm. Dont take my word for this , go from one new car lot to the next and look for it.
There is a devil in the details of painting the engine bay. There are a handful of small spots where the paint gets scratched away to ensure chassis ground paths.
GM does have the prettiest blues. Years ago they had the prettiest greens in the charts too.
 
it looks like the primer under it wasn't smooth. like others have said , your air pressure is too low, I set my regulator at 45-55 psi. it also looks like you need to use 1:8 mix of reducer because it appears to have went on dry. just my thoughts.....
 
When I said 20 PSI that was with the trigger pulled but static at the gun is 45. I can try and bring it up though. I can try some reducer also.

73AbodEE when you say 1:8 do you mean 8 parts reducer to normal mix of clear/hardener (4:1) ?
 
RedFish said:
Todays paints contain so much additive for UV protection that some orange peel in the clear coat is the norm. Dont take my word for this , go from one new car lot to the next and look for it.
There is a devil in the details of painting the engine bay. There are a handful of small spots where the paint gets scratched away to ensure chassis ground paths.
GM does have the prettiest blues. Years ago they had the prettiest greens in the charts too.
Click to expand...

But wet sanding it would knock it back smooth right? How many coats should I put down to have enough material to work with for wet sanding?
 
jhdeval said:
When I said 20 PSI that was with the trigger pulled but static at the gun is 45. I can try and bring it up though. I can try some reducer also.

73AbodEE when you say 1:8 do you mean 8 parts reducer to normal mix of clear/hardener (4:1) ?
Click to expand...

is that a single stage or BC/CC? I mix my SS 1 part reducer 1/2 part hardener to 8 parts paint.

30 -40 psi should be good for bs/cc . if you are mixing 1 part hardener to 4 parts clear, you could try adding 1/2 part medium reducer to thin it out some and get a wetter flow. it also may be you are moving to fast. it is a fine line between going to slow and causing runs. do you have any flat panels you can practice on? I always spray something flat to get my gun dialed in and air pressure right before I put it on the car. I am not a professional, this is just my experience. I like using a little reducer so the paint will lay flat before it starts to dry. also , prep is everything, I wet sand with 220 to smooth it all out and at the same time giving the paint something to grab onto. then I use a good grease remover and wipe it all down with a lint free cloth. you will get it , it just takes practice and getting your settings and technic right. this sounds crazy but I also attach a piece of chain to the body and let it hang onto the ground to elimate the possibility of static electricity that will draw dust into the paint/clear. I also wet down the floor so im not kicking up dust
 
Good advice. I think I may be premature in my initial thought though. Looking at it this morning it looks WAY smoother. This is a shot taken from about 2 inches from the surface.

 
jhdeval said:
Good advice. I think I may be premature in my initial thought though. Looking at it this morning it looks WAY smoother. This is a shot taken from about 2 inches from the surface.
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that doesn't look too bad, like Redfish says , there is always a certain amount of orange peel from the factory. the question is , are YOU happy with it lol
 
I found out the hard way that light has a lot to do with how orange peel appears.. for instance even after the scuff and buff on my Dart, there still seemed to be too much orange peel.. my friends told me the lights in the garage made it look worse... took it out in the sun, and you could barely notice it at all.. weird..
 
lol I think that may be the issue I made sure my garage lights (florescents) were off and no flash so it is ONLY natural light coming in from the open garage door.

As far as am I happy? I think so. Considering I am using cheap equipment with very little skill. This is my first time painting with an HVLP. I am happy that I have the process down and that I know I can fix problems that crop up also. When I first hit the color I had a run went from the door clear to the head light. I wet sanded the next morning painted again and then cleared and you could not see the runs anywhere.
 
jhdeval said:
lol I think that may be the issue I made sure my garage lights (florescents) were off and no flash so it is ONLY natural light coming in from the open garage door.

As far as am I happy? I think so. Considering I am using cheap equipment with very little skill. This is my first time painting with an HVLP. I am happy that I have the process down and that I know I can fix problems that crop up also. When I first hit the color I had a run went from the door clear to the head light. I wet sanded the next morning painted again and then cleared and you could not see the runs anywhere.
Click to expand...

I don't car what anyone says , cheap equipment can produce great results. once you have some "gun time" it can be fun and satisfying. you will only get better. it really helps to have an extra hood or fender around to practice on
 
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