So im trying to finish up my engine bay in the 65 and having a really hard time getting it smooth, I primed over some spots I thought were done and once it dried I could just see all the uneven spots...How did you guys get your engine bays smooth, Im only really concerned about the spots that youll see the most, I know that the engine and other components cover alot of it but theres always those spots that ull see.

 

Have you sanded the primer?

(I know, I know...but I had to ask because you didn't mention it)

 

Yes...Yes I did....spent prolly 3 hours on it today and it just doesnt seem to get better. I dont want to use a grinder on it either because of the marks it leaves, Ive hand sanded, palm sander, and air tools...its just not right.

 

It sounds like you might be fighting imperfections in the metal below the paint.
If you don't want to grind it you could always smooth it with a skim coat of body filler and then sand that smooth and reprime.

 

I had the same problem and just put some 80 grit on my palm sander, wentdown to bare metal,, and used the krylon rustproof from kragen or walmart. It sprayed nicely and it was pretty thick. I put like 3 coats though..

 

I used that paint on the metal inside the car, worked great. But wouldnt that be a bad idea using bondo in there?

 

I would vote against bondo. From my experience with it, it doesn't age very well, and you certainly don't want to redo the engine bay every couple of years.

And on a completely unrelated note, squirels love to chew on bondo, I know it doesn't apply to your engine bay, but i made a gigantic bird feeder for my mother once that was completely smooth. Spent hours on all of the joints and countersunk screws so it looked like one solid piece of wood, 1 month later the squirels had eaten most of it.

 

I don't say to bondo the crap out of it ...I said a skim coat only for smoothing...you know like 10 microns thick after final sanding just to level it out. If you have canyons you need to fid the metal first.

 

100 grit, then 220, wet sand with 320, wet sand with 400, then put lots of primer, wet sand, more cats of primer till smooth.....then paint and wet sand with 400 between coats. I got my eng comp perfect about 10-15 coats then I decided to weld up the shock towers and ruined my nice paint job around the towers, thats what I did and you cant even tell I built it up with primer and wet sanded and painted and then dry sanded with 400 and a few more coats. A tip, close your eyes or look away and feel where you sanded, if you cant feel an edge then you got it smooth.