Im in the process of getting my engine swap complete along with gauges and some electrical work. My cars in the shop right now being worked on so i decided to paint some of the body parts. Before I dropped my engine in, i sand blasted my complete engine bay and repainted it black with eastwood rust encapsulator then the underhood black topped with rustoleum clear. Since everything is off the car right now like the hood, bumper, bumper impact, fenders, etc i decided to match everything to the engine. So i bought some paint stripper and painted the bumper impact, then moved to the hood hinges, and finally to the inside portion of the hood. Since im on a timed schedule and needed paint i went to home depot and bought rustoleum primer and gloss black. It was the high performance series, or as it said on the can. After hearing my buddy talk about heat it got me thinking if this paint will holdup. On both the primer and gloss black paint it said "do not apply on surfaces exceeding 200 F or on galvinized steel. Will this be a problem?

 

if underhood temps get high, it could bake off the paint.

 

Thats what i was thinking. Even though this stuff dries like a rock after a week im still worried, should of used vht header paint, is there anything i could do to prevent this IF it were to happen or to prevent it in general?

 

do whatever you can to keep underhood temps down. with it being on parts that only come in contact with ambeint underhood temps it could wind up being perfectly fine. the warning for the 200F temp, is not to apply it directly to a surface that reaches 200F. meaning, dont paint your engine/bbq with it.

 

Right, i see. At first i had the headers wrapped in header heat wrap and since this is a new engine and it had to have the cam break in etc, it was never actaully started. First start after 20 min the engine catches fire due to the header wrap having some flammable fluid on it. I mean with this paint completely cured with about a week an a half of time, whats the chances of it happening? High or low?

 

you should be fine, i painted the entire engine bay of my 86 with typical rattle can rustoleum and its held up just fine. I have had zero paint issues.

FWIW, the cars stock paint is not hi-temp rated either is it? and it doesnt burn

 

Thats atleast good to hear, what ever was painted there back in the day held up pretty good. When stripping it the old stuff off, it wasnt going to come off without remover. Just to ask, you dont have anything under the engine bay keeping heat out right?

 

Your bay will be fine, factory does not use anything other than whats on the outside, relax and keep going, post some pics

 

The gloss will begin to dull sooner than later then it'll begin to loose adhesion and breakdown. Typical of Rustoleum, especially under higher temps. The factory uses a thermoset paint and is much more tolerable to heat.

 

Okay I will get technical for you, Rustoleum is a 1K paint and base coat clear coat system is a 2k, the differance is the 2 K uses a activator to help in the curing process. We use hardners and reducers in automotive paints trust me your rattle can will be fine for years to come, I have touched up engine bays with them b-4

 

I can always respray it if anything were to happen. Just a few other questions, do i really need to put back that underhood cover? also for the weather stripping piece how about with that? Im trying to get the underhood as empty as possible

 

Also i have another question. I went out today to check on the hood and it still feels like the hoods wet, like if i touch it my finger print will indent into the hood. I painted it on sunday, does it need like another week? Would you recommend spraying the rustoleum clear over it?

 

It should be dry, did you use light coats?

 

Yes, about 5 light coats until it was covered. Is it okay to use the clear? Or would you not recommend it?