The paint inside the engine bay is a low gloss/dull color compared to the exterior paint. Since these cars had two stage paint since ‘86, what would be the best way to duplicate the low gloss dull body color paint inside the engine bay? Just use base-coat only?

I noticed on cars (at the junkyard) that had single stage paint from the factory (‘82-‘85), the engine bay paint seemed to be a lot more shinier and better quality than cars with base-coat/clear-coat paint. This wasn’t always the case, but it was generally most of the time. I’m thinking after many years of heat cycling inside the engine compartment, a factory OEM base coat (with very little to no clear coat) would probably get more dull and break down more easily compared to a factory baked on single stage paint.

I know on mine, the original paint inside the engine bay is very dull and you can easily scratch it. With a little wax, it does shine up nicely, though. However, I have some small areas where there is some light corrosion and where the factory E-coat is showing through so I want to repaint the whole engine compartment if I can.

 

hav an '84 T/A. I did some painting in the egfine bay & just used semi-gloss rattle can. good by me.

 

I suspect what GM did was spray the base coat but no clear coat. If that's the case you could easily replicate this as most auto paint shops will custom make your paint and put it in a rattle can. Just buy the base without clear and you should be good for another 35 years.

 

It's base coat with either no clearcoat, or a minimal dusting of clear over the basecoat. GM didn't do anything special in the engine bay to get a low gloss look, they just saved money on the clear and since it was under the hood, it didn't matter.

You could replicate it the same way, or if you want something more durable you could use a matte or satin clear in the engine bay over the basecoat.

 

GM mixed, probably 60% flat + 40% gloss to make a gloss that they thought was satisfactory.

 

Perhaps they did that, but seems that's a lot of extra work and cost to get a specific finish in the engine bay. I don't think GM really cared what the finish in the engine bay was, as long as there was enough primer and paint that it didn't rust. If they wanted it clearcoated for durability, they could have just used the glossy clear.

I've since repainted my engine bay with base/clear, so I can't verify it now. But I recall the original underhood finish to be basecoat metallic gunmetal gray everywhere and then clearcoat into the cowl/fender/hood jambs, radiator support and bumper filler panel. The battery tray/shock towers/firewall/etc. seemed to be bare basecoat with some clear overspray. Seems they were just clearcoating where needed and no more than that.

 

A lot of manufacturers are doing that now... i think Toyota used to put a nice clear coat on their engine compartments but I noticed since earls 2000s they seemed to have stopped on quite a few models. not sure about current vehicles.


If you want the same semi gloss I think any modern day base coat will be better than the stuff GM used in the 80s.... but putting clear on it will make it stronger.


i've used rattle can stuff before but it doesn't hold up for long and isn't very good against nicks and scratches / hitting it with parts / dropping tools etc... but is the best budget wise.

 

used this awhile back and had good results it's color coded to match your color it held up still to today,not too shiny matches very very good.Mines is White WA 8554 got it from Pep Boys