Engine Swap clean up .Paint details .:dunno:

[-$MOKIN-]

I have to swap another motor in soon and want to clean the nastiness off of the manifold and do some touch up work with paint on the motor .If i had a sandblaster it would be nice .
I am looking for ideas on some things i need to paint on my motor.

By williamsmchad at 2011-02-14

I know i need to do the valve cover for sure. I need some ideas on color and also on what kind of paint and how to get the silver H and lines on it.

Im also stuck at how to clean the exhaust manifold up real good.
I was thinking of hitting it real hard with a wire brush and throwing some paint on her. But of course im a idiot when it comes to paint.

Then painting the old manifold heat guard and putting it back on. Ive noticed that without the guard it looks real nasty. So im hoping it covers it up allot.

What paint should i use ?
Can i even paint the manifold?

Any Pointers on anything or some ideas would be great.. Im not trying to Rice it out really but i was considering getting a air intake on it maybe.
I want it to look new this time after i get done putting it in.

[YK86]

This has been kind of my specialty the past couple years. I do a few swaps/rebuilds a year and everyone likes to have their engine bays looking like a new car after dumping money into a new drivetrain or rebuild.


I usually do everything with the motor stripped as much as possible (no brackets, no crank pulley/timing covers/exhaust manifold/etc) and motor out of the car. Make sure any exposed holes such as the exhaust ports on the head are blocked off so water can't get in directly (I usually use rags).


The first important step is getting it really clean. Paint doesn't stick well to oil and grime. I like to use Simple Green and a toothbrush. For those really gummed up parts (usually under the exhaust manifold/under the distributor), I use heavy duty engine degreaser. Let it dry well.


For the block, head, tranny, manifold cover, and exhaust manifold, I like to use Duplicolor high temp paint (aluminum color). Its a nice somewhat stock aluminum looking color that isn't too glossy or overly metallic. I also use this on the PS pump, distributor, alternator with all the key parts like pulleys, plugs, cap and rotor, tags taped off or removed.


For the valve cover, if it's been painted like yours or the original paint is starting to flake off, I would either get it sandblasted or use a can of aircraft grade paint stripper. After I have a good base to paint on, I use Plasticote wrinkle paint in whatever color. That gives it the nice stock wrinkled paint look. Just paint over the whole thing. You can bake it in the oven if you want it to set quickly or just air dry it. Once the paint has set, I use a block and some sandpaper to remove all the paint from the raised lettering. You don't have to use a block but a block will allow you to just sand the raised parts safely. Maybe start with 320 to get most of the paint off and go up in grit. Depending on the look you want, you can keep going up to even 1500grit or more to get a polished look.


For the PS brackets or engine mounts, I use high temp matte (or low gloss) black. It's a nice color in between flat and gloss black if you want to go for the factory look.


For the intake manifold, I usually just use brake cleaner to get the brownish film off around the injectors and a bit of aluminum wheel polish to bring back the original color. If it's discolored, I remove all the coolant hoses, injectors, etc and go over it with the aluminum paint.


With the drivetrain out of the car, it's a great time to clean up the engine bay too. If you don't mind the area under the car getting wet (if you are working outside), spraying down with Simple Green and water will do the trick. If you don't want your work area getting wet, I just use a wet rag with a bucket of diluted Simple Green to rinse it.


Plastic parts such as intake tubing, timing covers, vacuum box, coolant hoses, can be cleaned up with interior protectant.


There's probably going to be cracked/dangling electrical tape on the engine harness too. Now's a good time to rewrap it with fresh tape. I like to "end" the wrap near a clamping point. This way, the clamp that holds the harness to the motor will keep the tape from peeling off over time.


Here's 2 examples I did using the method above. A f22a6 in a friend's 91 Accord, and an H22 in a 93 Accord. It can be time consuming but with a bit of patience, you'll have a great looking engine bay. Your engine bay and intake manifold looks clean already so I'd focus on the other stuff.





BTW, it doesn't have to be Duplicolor paint but I like the nozzles on it (easy to apply and sprays wide so you don't get runs) and it doesn't discolor on even super high temp places like the exhaust manifold.

[87roach]

Great reply!

[Dr_Snooz]

Excellent post! Very thorough and useful. Your work looks great in those pics.

[HON-DUH]

YK86, how much do you charge to clean up the engine bay?

Your results are fantastic!

[charliekuney]

This thread needs a sticky!

[YK86]

Thanks for the kind words. Nothing beats having nice comments from fellow enthusiasts! And the look on the owner's face when I pop the hood for the first time after finishing a rebuild/swap on their car is great too.

As for how much I charge, I actually don't charge that much. They already pay me good money to do the rebuild or swap and as long as they give me time to work on it (I do this on the side after work or on my days off), I take the time to make it look mint.

Also, this can only be done to this extent with the motor and tranny out of the car and a patient owner that won't call me a day after dropping the car off asking if it's done yet lol.

This was my old beater CRX. I did a full engine bay paint repaint with a can of Tremclad gloss white while the drivetrain was out. The previous owner repainted the car white but left the engine bay yellow which bothered me to no end.

[charliekuney]

I will drive to BC just to have you pull my motor and tranny JUST to have you clean it. What part of BC are you in? I'm in Seattle, and I have a passport now...

[YK86]

Haha, wow. I live in Langley near the Lynden border. I actually go to Seattle once in a while to catch a Mariner's game and also hit Bellingham quite often to get cheap gas or go shopping.

[HON-DUH]

BC is pretty fucking far...

Man those engine bays look SICK!

Do you only use Simple Green, for the most part?

[charliekuney]

Haha, wow. I live in Langley near the Lynden border. I actually go to Seattle once in a while to catch a Mariner's game and also hit Bellingham quite often to get cheap gas or go shopping.

Bellingham is close, Seattle is closer. I'm good with either.

[87roach]

Clean.

Look's like I have my work cut out for me to impress.

[YK86]

BC is pretty fucking far...

Man those engine bays look SICK!

Do you only use Simple Green, for the most part?

LOL. Where do you live? I use engine degreaser to clean the really dirty parts first. Then clean everything with Simple Green. You COULD use Simple Green for everything but its just faster using degreaser for the dirty areas.

Bellingham is close, Seattle is closer. I'm good with either.

It take me about 30min to get to Bellingham if there is no wait at the border. So where exactly do you live? I went down to Lacey way back for a 3geez meet. That was almost 11 years ago I think!

Clean.

Look's like I have my work cut out for me to impress.

Bah, the motor in your sig looks nice, I'm sure the rest of the motor looks good too. Just takes patience. Most people are too focused on getting the motor back in and running. Spending an extra day cleaning it up makes all the difference!

[-$MOKIN-]

YK 86 YOUR AWESOME.


Thank you for the advice and im totally going to take your advice and get her as clean as i can...
I seen that you said to spray the distributor and ps pump .never thought of painting them.
Any pointers on painting my bolt heads i have a lot of corroded ones in there..

So lemme break it down.

Pull my motor out...
Get my new motor on the floor .
Strip it down to the long block.
Clean it with simple green and engine degresser.
Paint block and head..
Paint all brackets .
Paint valve cover , Distributor , ps pump , exhaust manifold and cover , alternator.( AC compressor?)
Paint all pullys, mounts and wire harness clamps.
Redo the wires harness shield .

Jump in engine bay. and clean with simple green and degreeser.
Attack corrosion with a wire brush and some paint.
Clean all hose lines and plastic pieces with armor all .
Degrease the tranny..(since im not pulling it out im just swapping long blocks )
Take out any corroded bolt and paint the top of them .
I also need to paint the battery plate it sits on. Looks Dirty .
I am not going to be able to paint my tranny. But i clean the heck out of it.


If there are some things i missed tell me.
And thank you for your reply ..Like you said just another day of taking parts off then cleaning them and painting them will really make a big difference in the over all look on the engine. I can get it to look pretty much new if i take my time.

And yes my engine is stock...lol but its going to look like its new when im done.
This going to be my 4th time doing a motor in a 3 gee but its going to be the first time i didn't rush to get it done then try to clean it up afterwards.

Thanks again YK 86 Your the man



OOps forgot one thing ..On my intake manifold Where the PGI sticker is on it .It doesnt look good at all and id like to have it looking nice again .So can i just sand it down and replace the sticker? Not for sure if i can get the sticker or not.

[YK86]

Glad I could be of help. For me, I honestly like pulling the whole tranny and motor as one unit. I find it takes me longer to seperate the 2 in the engine bay and also a hassle trying to line everything back up when it's time to install the motor back in. I use a clean bucket to catch the ATF so I can reuse it if it's still fresh. Obviously, it's up to you but having the tranny out of the car will also allow you to clean and paint it better and also change the output seals if it's never been done.

For the PS pump and stuff like that, if it's still clean or has the original color/look to it after a good clean, I tend to leave it. Like the distributor for the h22 (in the pic above) was still new so I left it.

For the rusty bolts and stuff, I'm anal so I like to go out to the junkyard and get a bag full of clean bolts/nuts/harness clamps. All Hondas use similar bolts so I just take the nice looking ones from a bunch of cars. For the colored bolts (like for the fender), I grab them from a car with the same color or atleast a similar color.

You can paint the old ones, but the rust always comes back and paint on the corner of the the head tends to chip off when you go to tighten then on the car. Wire brushing it would help a lot, but I don't feel like spending a few hours doing that when I can just grab new ones from the junkyard.

For things like the exhaust manifold nuts and washers that are rusty on any car, I actually give it a quick spray with the aluminum paint after it's installed, then put the heat shield back on. If you've painted the block a different color, use a towel or something between the manifold and block to prevent overspray onto the block.

For the EFI plate, they no longer sell it (I was looking for it too way back). Since you have the 88/89 with the dual runners, you COULD grab just the top part from the junkyard. Aside from that, there isn't much you can do.

For the battery plate, the actual metal bracket can always use a good repaint, but the plastic tray I wouldn't recommend painting. It's too flexible and I can see the paint just flaking off after a while.

I think you've got everything else covered. If I've missed anything, let me know.

[-$MOKIN-]

ITS COMING ALONG!!!!



By williamsmchad at 2011-05-06

By williamsmchad at 2011-05-06

[YK86]

Very nice!

[-$MOKIN-]

Very nice!

ThaNks YK86....

The paint does real good ......I Painted as much as i could so far. Now the worse thing is my intake.Lol when before it was the cleanest...
I did alot of cleaning on the firewall and left it degreasing a couple areas tonight..
One more go around with my tooth brush on it tomorrow and i have to clean the tranny real good.
Then i swap the motor in... Cant wait...

[YK86]

Did you use the Duplicolor? I did another 4th gen a couple weeks ago. The black wrinkle paint, matte black, and aluminum all turned out great as usual with a nice spray pattern to make it easy to apply.

I painted an h22 valve cover red with wrinkle too but I didn't like it as much. Too runny and the spray pattern was horrible to the point it was starting to piss me off. Maybe it was just a bad can.

[-$MOKIN-]

I think i got the duplicolor im not sure i got the hottest silVer i could its like 2000 DEGREES or something..And the black is jsut a semi gloss no wrinkle paint..
But its cominG along real good...I got the motor ready did the wire harness and it looked pretty much new too...


Also haven't even pulled the other motor out yet...But its ready ..I just have to do the mounts and the tranny bolts up top...I got stuck on a stripped bolt that i had to file down took me like 2 hours to do.


By williamsmchad at 2011-05-07

By williamsmchad at 2011-05-07

[1813mdw]

lookin good, man. you still in michigan?

[-$MOKIN-]

lookin good, man. You still in michigan?

yup yup

[-$MOKIN-]

By williamsmchad at 2011-05-11



THANKS YOU...

Its finished ....Not as cool as YK86 buts its pretty clean and im happy ..Runs good...A couPle minor things to touch up on...


So what do ya think ? DID I DO GOOD OR WHAT IM HAPPY WITH MY SELF

[mykwikcoupe]

what colors and paint types did you use. I like how clean it turned out. Looks almost new

[Dr_Snooz]

Very nice! It looks really good.