Hey Guys. I pulled my 305, and I want to prep for the 350. I need some advice on the engine compartment, as I want to make it look good before I put the 350 in.
My plan was
1) mask (what parts should I remove, what parts should i just mask)
2) degrease and clean (what cleaning solution have you guys used before paint)
3) rust stabilizer (por-15?)
4) sand where needed
5) prime (good primer to use?)
6) paint (flat black? satin? what brand?)

 

1) Remove everything you can and mask the rest.
2) Castrol Super CLean and Gunk Foamy Bright are good degreasers that work with water. That castrol stuff is hard on your skin.
3) Sand and grind until no more rust and treat with phosphoric acid based rust killer. Weld new metal in if you need to.
4) Until you can't stand to do it any more, then you're half done
5) Epoxy based primer is what I like (PPG JP375 is what I've been using on my car)
6) whatever you really want, base/clear is what the factory did, sort of They didn't do a very good job on the clear with mine. Lots of missed spots.

 

Sounds good man. thanks for the help.

How many coats of the paint? Whats the normal base? Satin? Flat?

 

I(literally me) would put at least two good coats of epoxy primer first to seal the metal up. Base coat paint is kinda funky and dull looking when it drys, until you put the clear on. It's my understanding that it's usually not shiney, that's what the clear does. If you've never painted anything, be prepared to have to strip it all back off and do it again or to have to fix up a bunch of runs. In my estimation, the engine compartment would be one of the hardest parts of the car to get perfect with all the angles and the tight space. Since I have not done it yet, I could be way off; it might be easy to paint.