Painted my engine with POR 15 enamel

[Shaky]

I put some color on the engine this weekend using the POR 15 system. I saw a lot of threads on other forums with people raving about it so I thought I'd try it out. It was a fair amount of work.

After cleaning it real good it was time for the zinc phosphate treatment. Here's what it looked like after it dried:

[Shaky]

Next up was application of the POR 15. I took the valve cover and side covers off so I could get under the fasteners and behind the gaskets a little.

[Shaky]

The instructions say to wait until there's still "finger drag" on the POR and then start painting. Their enamel is different than anything I've used before. They say it has very high solid content.

The can says that it has "A full coat will cover completely with excellent color depth". Well, if I put it on too thick it drooled all over, so the first coat did not cover completely at all. It's tough to tell from the pictures but there's bare spots and all the cast lines stick out.

[Shaky]

The second coat went on 24 hours later. It filled any gaps in the paint, but was still a pain in the patootie to work with. Too little and it doesn't coagulate, too much and it runs.

POR says that it self levels. Too a point this was true for me (I think it filled in my "Chevrolet" script). But it still liked to drool in some spots. The pics actually look way better than it turned out - I'll try to get some daylight pics without the flash at some point. You can sort of see it in the side shot.

Anybody else try it?

[Dan in Pasadena]

I've not really heard of POR-15 being used on engines. I thought it was primarily for rusty metal like frames. Does the packaging say anything about heat resistance?

[Shaky]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

I've not really heard of POR-15 being used on engines. I thought it was primarily for rusty metal like frames. Does the packaging say anything about heat resistance?

Here's their engine painting kit:

http://www.por15.com/ENGINE-PAINTING...ductinfo/EPKA/

Here's an example of one of the threads from other forums I saw:

http://www.stangnet.com/mustang-foru...cs-course.html

[Dan in Pasadena]

Hmmm, I didn't know they made that. Thanks for the tip. I was planning on just using VHT. Originally in Chevy orange but lately I've been thinking more and more of redoing my engine's existing black paint with Endurashine intake and old school finned valve covers.

[lolife99]

I got the same results as you.
It looks better on the cast block and heads,... than it does on the sheetmetal parts.
I hope it holds up well.

[Shaky]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Hmmm, I didn't know they made that. Thanks for the tip. I was planning on just using VHT. Originally in Chevy orange but lately I've been thinking more and more of redoing my engine's existing black paint with Endurashine intake and old school finned valve covers.

I think the next time I do an engine I'm just going to use good epoxy primer and urethane top coat. I thought it was going to be less work because I was brushing it on, but that wasn't so. I had to mask the engine anyway, so spraying would've saved time.

[Shaky]

Originally Posted by lolife99

I got the same results as you.
It looks better on the cast block and heads,... than it does on the sheetmetal parts.
I hope it holds up well.

I get the feeling it's going to be durable, but it's tough to work with. I pity the machine shop that does the next rebuild on this engine. They're going to get a surprise when they try to strip it.

[Chevy Fleetside]

Epoxy Primer. Basecoat, topcoat.
I will say that your engine looks really good though. You can see the paint is nice. Nothing it easy..

[Shaky]

Originally Posted by Chevy Fleetside

Epoxy Primer. Basecoat, topcoat.
I will say that your engine looks really good though. You can see the paint is nice. Nothing it easy..

Yeah - I think the way you went is the best. However, the POR enamel is seriously tough. I spoke to a guy I know who used to be a body man. He just did the engine on his '67 Camaro. He thinned the POR enamel with mid-temp thinner and sprayed it.

I'm impressed with how tough the paint is. Here's a drop that fell on top of the head. It's oily up there and the paint still stuck. It was also tough to get off the cement floor.

[Shaky]

Originally Posted by lolife99

I got the same results as you.
It looks better on the cast block and heads,... than it does on the sheetmetal parts.
I hope it holds up well.

This pretty much sums up the results when using a brush. You can sorta see in this picture how it drooled on the front cover but did OK on the cast iron.