I'm re-doing my whole car this winter and while i have the engine and everything else out under the hood i might as well paint it to match my car. the car's gonna be black eventually and i was just wondering what your opinions would be on the engine compartment color. obviously black but flat or gloss? i've heard flat because it doesn't show as much of the imperfections, but it is an engine compartment and it's going to have imperfections!! what do ya'll think?

 

Well in my opinion defintely flat. Ive seen gloss and to me it looks like crap

 

anybody got any pictures of the two?

 

personally id go with gloss,that way itll look nice & clean all the time,but its your ride

 

do it semi gloss.

 

Go gloss, or semi-gloss. You will not be happy with flat, I can tell you from experience. You cannot get a picture of it without it looking grey. It also looks real close to grey in person, no matter how many coats you use. If you're truly set on black, go with gloss, or semi-gloss.

I'm thinking of re-doing mine in the spring and it took forever the first time.

Mathius

 

mine is gloos black and it doesnt show imperfections or too much dirt...i personally think it will look better than flat black.

 

flat would give impression of worn, dirty and old engine compartment.
Gloss would look more like a new car, needs to be taken care better than flat though.I'd say Definetly gloss but its your ride and not my business if you paint it lime-green

 

I would def go with gloss black dude.

 

is what I have used for years not shiney but not as dull as flat. Have recieved great service from the satin color and can touch up without looking like a patch job. That is important in a engine bay when you scrape something working on one of these cars!! IMHO

 

I think gloss or semi-gloss would look good.

 

i would def. go with a gloss black or even betetr a semi gloss. Good luck show us some pics when you are done.

 

if your car is black i would go with gloss black. thats what i did. the pic isn't that good but you get the idea.

 

Hey heavy chevy your car is almost exactly how i want mine to look like after it's done in the spring. your car is IMO one of the best thirdgens on here. i will have almost the same engine combo except in a 350. my props to you and that beautiful car!!:hail:

 

thanks alot.

 

since i have factory 1984 paint i choose to go with the semi-gloss, figured it wouldn't make my fenders and hood look less shiney then. It worked out great and isn't to bad to clean. I would recommend the semi-gloss if your paint isn't exactly up to snuff.

 

gloss black!

 

I did mine in satin black like the older cars did.

 

semi gloss.... and heres why:


gloss looks great... but if you scratch it, its harder to fix that one part without it looking fixed...

flat gives the impression of dirty, even when clean... athough you can rattle can over it if you scratch it and theres no prob.


semi gloss hides imperfections, is easily fixed with rattle can if you scrape it, yet it looks clean and new... without being over shiny and screaming, "hey look at me, i rattle painted everything underhood!!"

 

another vote for semi-gloss. The factory under hood black is not all that glossy. I had a black z and the engine compartment was in a semi-gloss from the factory.

 

The engine bay is a difficult area to prep & paint properly because of the tight shapes. If you do gloss black, it needs to be prepped perfectly or it'll look terrible.

But... even if it's prepped perfectly, you may still want to go with flat black because it makes touch-up so easy. I did mine flat black because I knew I'd wind up scratching things during future modifications. The flat black is SUPER easy to touch up when you scratch it. Just sand and hit it again in that spot. I don't like the appearance of the flat black as much as a semi-gloss, but it's ease of maintance made it well worth it.

 

post a pic of your under hood and show em.....

 

Semigloss works great, if you're using spraycans. If you have a gun though, I'd use whatever paint you're going to use on the exterior of the car. Either way its much easier with the engine and everything else out, but when we did Redraif's engine compartment in semigloss the engine was still in (though without intake/heads/accessories). I'd still like it better bodycolor, but it has won nearly every national show its been in with the spray painted engine compartment . It is easy to touch up, so its good on a car that's "in progress".

 

How do you guys paint an engine bay with semi-gloss?
Do you just rattlecan it, or do you go to a bodyshop?
If rattlecan, I want to do mine, and is wet sanding recommended if one chooses rattlecan?

 

here is my engine bay,

Semi-Gloss POR-15

a more recent shot,

 

 

:hail: :hail:

 

We use ratlcans on Redraif's (Krylon). We primed a few spots and wetsanded to smooth out some of the rough areas, and used a scotchbrite pad on the harder to reach areas.