Coating or Painting 5.0 Mustang Under Hood Aluminum Parts

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tricyclerob
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Coating or Painting 5.0 Mustang Under Hood Aluminum Parts

Post by tricyclerob »

I've been doing a under hood restoration and all of the aluminum parts looked pretty bad.

I tried glass bead blasting and they looked way too white. Definitely did not look original and every touch left a mark. I tried media blast but that didn't clean them enough. I tried bead blasting, followed up by media blast, still no go. I tried bead blast followed by Eastwood Bare Metal Clear and they looked gray. [almost like Ford under hood grey used on older model valve covers].

I was attempting to match to a OEM/NOS Ford water pump I had bought.
I then figured I was going to need to find a paint. I've used Eastwood products in the past, especially "AlumaBlast". Tried that first and it almost looked like a green tint compared to the water pump.

So, I made some test cards, first spraying a coat of Eastwood Gray Self-Etching Primer, then 2 coats of each paint on each strip.

I tested;
Eastwood Silver Argent
Eastwood Detail Silver
VHT Cast Aluminum
VHT Universal Aluminum
Eastwood AlumiBlast
Rust-oleum Silver Metalic
and
Por15 Detail Paint/Stainless Steel.

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By far, the closest match was the Por15 Detail Paint/Stainless Steel. Most of the other samples had far too much metal flake to look natural. Or they were too bright and "silvery" looking.

I'm not sure if it will show in the photos, but in person it was a very close match.


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I hope this helps someone else.

I guess I should add, "your results may vary…"

robj

Note: The pump has not been painted.
1993 Cobra # 613
sc-rcode
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Re: Coating or Painting 5.0 Mustang Under Hood Aluminum Part

Post by sc-rcode »

Nice write up and thanks for posting the pics.
I had used a ford cast gray a few years ago,but it looks like your findings were a closer match by the pics.And not sure if it is even available anymore.


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tricyclerob
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Re: Coating or Painting 5.0 Mustang Under Hood Parts

Post by tricyclerob »

I guess I should have called this thread "Under Hood Paint and Restoration".

Anyway got a little done tonight, bead blast and paint A/C compressor brackets.

It looked like both brackets were more or less bare steel that had a grayish color. They were actually mostly surface rust but on the back of the large bracket there was a spot that was un-rusted.

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I tried a few of my samples and it appeared the the Por-15 Detail Paint /Cast Iron Gray was the closest match.

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Finished job.


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I'm putting all the scuzzy parts on one table, bagged and /or tagged. When they are finished, they move to the second table. When the first table is empty, and the second table full, I guess it will be time to reassemble.

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Re: Coating or Painting 5.0 Mustang Under Hood Aluminum Part

Post by Z282SLO »

sc-rcode wrote:Nice write up and thanks for posting the pics.
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Re: Coating or Painting 5.0 Mustang Under Hood Aluminum Part

Post by tricyclerob »

Painting Firewall and Inner Fenders;
I'm definitely not going for " concours" under the hood, but a high[er] level of driver restoration. Mine has been a driver, and will always be a driver, but I want to make it at least a nice looking, original driver.

Went to the auto paint store and bought a quart of black/ebony acrylic enamel with hardener for the firewall, cross member and inner fenders.
The can indicates , Ford, OEM code; UA,NN,UAWA, etc..

The clerk said it was a 100% gloss, single stage paint, so to be honest, I probably could have used a high quality, gloss black in a spray can. Looking at my underhood, I was thinking it could have been a 80-90% gloss, but I guess that's just age.

The fun part is going to be getting everything out of the way on the inner fenders and firewall without disassembling the whole thing.
The next goal is to remove the headers and the steering rack and disconnect the motor mounts so hopefully I can raise the engine enough to paint the cross member at the same time. I'm also decided to paint the block "cast iron" so it will help getting to that as well.
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Re: Coating or Painting 5.0 Mustang Under Hood Aluminum Part

Post by 1993cobra »

its goimg to be too shiney
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Re: Coating or Painting 5.0 Mustang Under Hood Aluminum Part

Post by tricyclerob »

I'm wondering why you think it will be too shiny?

Don't get me wrong, I thought the under hood paint was about 80% gloss, but I looked at numerous photos of engine compartments of low mileage cars and the paint appeared pretty shiny. A little hard to tell with the black cars, but the red ones look quite shiny.

I used the paint code for under hood paint in a single stage off the chart in a previous discussion. The guy said it was a gloss. I've painted some parts with Eastwood Under Hood Black and the spot I cleaned up is definitely shinier that that.

Do you have any suggestions?

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Re: Coating or Painting 5.0 Mustang Under Hood Aluminum Part

Post by Z282SLO »

I thought the Admin was referring to your decision to paint the engine block.
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Re: Coating or Painting 5.0 Mustang Under Hood Aluminum Part

Post by tricyclerob »

"I thought the Admin was referring to your decision to paint the engine block."

Ohhh, maybe he was. I was really having some difficulty figuring out the gloss level of the inner fender/firewall paint so I assumed he was referring to that.

Maybe he'll chime back in.

Engine block;
As it's really not going to be "concours" and after all the work I'm going through to clean up under the hood, I don't think I can live with looking under there and seeing the rusty block. For the block I'm going with one of the paints that duplicates the clean cast iron look, probably Eastwoods "Brake Gray". It has that look and is a little flatter then some of the others I've tested.

I'm just about finished removing parts. This weekend I'm shooting to finish removing the steering rack, headers, master cylinder, power brake booster and the motor mounts.

Oil pan;
Anyone know it the oil pan can be removed by raising the motor up as far as it will go and the motor mounts removed front the crossmember?

Thanks,
robj
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Re: Coating or Painting 5.0 Mustang Under Hood Aluminum Part

Post by Ysi91 »

Oil pan;
Anyone know it the oil pan can be removed by raising the motor up as far as it will go and the motor mounts removed front the crossmember?

Thanks,
robj[/quote]

You will not be able to raise the engine high enough to remove the oil pan. Only way to remove oil pan with engine in the car is to remove the k-member. If you do that, you will have to support the engine. I would just remove the engine to do the painting you want to do. It would be much easier.
Last edited by Ysi91 on Sat Oct 31, 2015 7:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Coating or Painting 5.0 Mustang Under Hood Aluminum Part

Post by specracer »

Another option for aluminum is vapor blasting. I'd never heard of it, saw some parts that were done, and it's a perfect restoration to factory new. It addresses all the negatives of other media blasting. I have no affiliation with this vendor, but it discusses what the process is.

http://arnoldsdesign.com/Vapor-Blasting.html
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Re: Coating or Painting 5.0 Mustang Under Hood Aluminum Part

Post by tricyclerob »

Vapor Blasting:
I had looked into vapor blasting about 10-12 years ago when I restored a '59 BMW motorcycle. It is definitely THE way to go. But, although it takes the metal to a better than factory new appearance, it doesn't do anything to protect the metal.
Fine on a motorcycle where you can get to everything to maintain the shine, or on a concours car that doesn't get driven much but on something you're going to drive, maybe not so much.
It is a terrific process and the parts end up looking outstanding. The downside is, the parts usually need to be completely disassembled and shipped out as there are only 5-6 places in the entire country that do this. In the UK, they're everywhere

I think i may end up pulling the engine. I was really trying to avoid that as around here, this happens;
.
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I was trying to avoid making the Mustang THAT kind of project. It was a little different as the jeep went on a rotisserie for all new floor pans.

But with the Mustang I'm not too far from having the engine out, basically the starter and the bell housing bolts is all that's left. It sure would make painting everything much easier. I think oil weeping from either the pan or the rear main seal has tipped the scale toward pulling the engine.

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Engine Bay Paint:
My garage buddy stopped by and we had a few beers discussing the engine bay paint. We removed some parts trying to find virgin paint but that didn't help much. I just don't think it was 100% gloss. I'm going to spray a test panel of the paint I bought and if it is too shiny I'll take it back and have them add some flattening agent. Probably back to about 70-80% gloss.
I was a little amazed in how much of the under hood was not painted at all but was the gray metal coating.

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I guess to be "correct" I should try to duplicate that, but screw that, I'm pretty sure I'm going to paint the entire thing. Maybe the guy on the line decided to do a really good job that morning.

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Re: Coating or Painting 5.0 Mustang Under Hood Aluminum Part

Post by tricyclerob »

Some progress made. Like pulling a loose tooth.

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Now the real cleaning up begins.

I had a slight delay in the work. When moving the engine lift to the lower bay of the shop by myself on Saturday, I was attempting slide it down the 2 steps and the upper part dropped about 2 feet onto my foot. It cut through the top of my tennis shoe, my sock to my foot. Two steri-strips later I was pasted back together. Finally able to put weight on it today, but very lucky I didn't fare much worse.

Note to self, wear leather shoes when working on the car. I should know better.
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Re: Coating or Painting 5.0 Mustang Under Hood Aluminum Part

Post by Z282SLO »

Glad to hear your mishap was relatively minor. Keep up the thread and pics of your progress!
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Re: Coating or Painting 5.0 Mustang Under Hood Aluminum Part

Post by tricyclerob »

1. Engine Block Paint:

Having made the decision to paint the block "bare cast iron" and having sprayed test cards on about 8 brands of "Cast Iron Grey", I settled on VHT Cast Iron Grey Engine Enamel as the closest match to the unrusted area I found under the bell housing area.

Prior Rust Removal and Preparation;
The last engine I painted was an inline 6 and for that I made 1/8 " aluminum plates to cover the intake and exhaust ports , left the valve cover and oil pan in place, then bead blasted outside on an engine stand. Worked very well. A coat of epoxy primer and a coat of engine paint. Done.

As on the 5.0 I would have had to make 8 individual plates for the exhaust and an additional plate for the lower intake I decided on a chemical rust removal and paint.

In hindsight it would have been easier to make the plates needed and bead blast.

Original Condition:
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1. Oil and Grease Removal;

Two applications of Greased Lighting, full strength, and scrubbed. Then plain dish detergent with very hot water and scrubbed.

2. Rust Removal;

First of all, don't believe any product that says it removes all the rust , unless you can completely immerse the part.

a. The first attempt was Eastwood "After Blast", just because I had some. It did nothing to the heavily rusted areas but did clean a few of the smoother areas where the rust was lighter. It's supposed to leave a "zinc phosphate" coating that promotes paint adhesion.


b. Next up was Por-15, Metal Prep. It's supposed to be a Rust Remover and Pre-Primer, again, because I had some. This did a little more rust removal, but not much. I think it's really meant as more of a pre-paint etch. The rust removal part, not so much. Directions say to keep the rust "wet" for at least 30 minutes, heavily rusted areas may require longer. I kept it wet for about 2-3 hours. It reduced the rust some, but let's just say I was not impressed.

c. The third batter up was Eastwoods " Gel Rust Remover, Rust Dissolver". I tried a coat or 2 [or 4] letting it sit for an hour or so each time. I finally saw "some" progress. They say to rinse off thoroughly with water, but it seems to flash rust instantly.
They also suggested letting it sit overnight, covering it loosely with plastic wrap. I tried that and the results were better, but to get it off I had to apply more gel to soften up what was there and brush, before hosing it off. After rinsing, I used a air hose and a heat gun to reduce the flash rust.

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Although hard to tell in the photos, the level of rust was reduced. I ended up using a wire brush on an air grinder to clean the block further.

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To be honest, I'm wondering if it would have been better to start out with the wire brush and go from there.

Another coat and rinse of the Eastwood Rust Removal and rinse, I finally had the block rust free enough to proceed.

Note;
It was at this point [after considerable research] I decided to go with a coat of Por-15, then Por-15 etching primer, then topcoat.
The reason for this was the Por-15 is reported to adhere best to surfaces with at least "some" rust.

3. In preparation for the Por-15, I applied another dose of the Por-15 "Metal Prep" to "clean and promote adhesion". With that you apply, keep wet for 15-20 minutes, then rinse.

Should I mention this is all getting a bit old?

After drying with the air hose and heat gun, again I let things sit overnight, as the surface needs to be completely dry before applying the Por 15.

4. Tape everything up. This was almost fun after "rust removal", or lack thereof…
In the photo below you can see the hint of the black zink phosphate coating that's supposed to promote adhesion.

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5. Next, 2 light coats of Por-15. I used the silver which fills in imperfections better, but mostly because I had some.

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I let that dry overnight.

6. A "dust" coat of Por-15 Self-Etching primer. Supposed to be THE thing for top-coat prep.
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7. FINALLY…. a light coat then a full coat of VHT Cast Iron Engine paint.
[I hung the timing cover and water pump on temporally for contrast. I'm pretty impressed on how well the painted timing cover matches the unpainted water pump.]

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In hindsight, it would have been easier and less time consuming to make the cover plates and bead blast the darn thing.
A lesson learned.

robj

p.s. I was pretty amazed how clean the inside of the engine was. I thought the oil pan would have a layer of gunk in the bottom as the car has sat for 4-5 years. No "gunk" at all!
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