I'm thinking about painting my engine to protect it from rust and corrosion and to restore its origional shine. I have some questions about what the engine block is made of and how to paint it. Before I dive into it though, I want to get the opinions of the veteran mustang modders here .

Here goes then...

What is the engine block made of? It looks like cast aluminum?

How should i clean it off before i paint it? I already used 160 grit to clean rust and corrosion off. I realy dont want to use a hose on it. I know someone who did that and had $800 of repairs due to water damage, not worth it...

Can someone tell me what this thing is ontop of the engine. I know its a dumb question but its my first RWD and this part is usuialy covered. It has several curved pipes leading down from the air intake/throttle body. Does this thing seperate the air into the cylinders? Poor photo, but it was dark out.


How hot does the engine block get max, ~500F? I was thinking of Duplicolor High Heat paint (Silver) instead of their engine enamel.

The big question then... How difficult is it to paint an engine block in car. I'll probably spray paint the big stuff and use a paintbrush the details.

 

I think painting the actual block while its in the car would be tough without overspray. That is the upper intake manifold your looking at. It does distribute the air to the lower intake then heads then the actual cylinders. You could take off the upper intake and it would be much easier to paint.

 

Clean the block with anything from a wire wheel to a degreaser.
Normal high temp paint works just fine for adding some color.

Someone did that much damage using a hose? What did they do, run it in the air intake to try and clean the inside!?!? I hose mine off all the time.

I painted my block (out of the car) after a quick once over with a wire wheel, a good grease cutting soap and some time to air dry.




The upper intake will take very well to a good polish job. I like the look over a painted version - but that's just me.

 

by the looks of your question plz do not break the engine down. clean it with some degreaser and if you want you can pressure wash the engine, just cover the alt and coil pack.

 

I like that polish job LilRoush, what did you use to polish it with? standard car polish?

 

I think its a little more indepth than that.

 

I think I breathed in the paint a little....

 

....wow. I have to agree with stangant here, don't try to do anything too serious. Polishing your engine components like LilRoush did takes more than just some car polish. You have too grind the metal and smooth it out/shine it up. It is a bit of work, and not something you want to try on your own.

 

Yeah if you think its done with car polish you have alot more research to do.

 

All mine is was a few hours with a wire wheel drill bit and some elbow grease. Intake, alt, pulley brackets, heads, and even the exhaust manifolds......

You could get the upper intake to look like that without removing it.