Strip or Blast or Sand Advice

[zslacker]

My 70 Barracuda came with the dreaded painted black engine compartment, it was originally FC7. I'm no painter so I'll need to find someone who knows what their doing to paint it the proper color but before that I need advice on how to prep it. The rest of the car has very good paint and the glass is also very good so I want that protected. The business I spoke to about dustless blasting said the car would be fine and only the engine compartment would be affected. Am I better off sanding or stripping the engine compartment or using the dustless blaster? I would like the engine compartment to look as original as possible.

 

[Challenger RTA]

When sandblating it goes everywhere. A lot will end up in the cowl. If that's all that all that's being done I would use a stripper and wire wheel.

 

[Juan Veldez]

When sandblating it goes everywhere. A lot will end up in the cowl. If that's all that all that's being done I would use a stripper and wire wheel.

If you use a stripper, have plenty of "ones".

 

[gzig5]

The black looks like it was applied properly and isn't flaking off? I'd just scuff it, knock off any suspect areas down to the original purple, then prime and paint it. No way would I sand blast and dustless is not dustless. You end up with the paint that was removed as dust all over.

 

[zslacker]

The black looks like it was applied properly and isn't flaking off? I'd just scuff it, knock off any suspect areas down to the original purple, then prime and paint it. No way would I sand blast and dustless is not dustless. You end up with the paint that was removed as dust all over.

I sanded a bit more and the black looks like it was properly applied and i will sand smooth. Thats the route I'll go

 

[1972 AAR Cuda]

Mine wasn't black, but I wanted to clean it up, so I took the do it yourself (rattlecan) approach. I clean it thoroughly, sanded and primed the surfaces before applying auto paint store mixed color and clear coat. Ten years later and it still looks pretty good. It's held up good. Surface prep (clean, clean, sand sort of thing) is the important part. The paint match can also be an issue - more of an issue with matching the exterior fade on mine than anything...

 

[zslacker]

Mine wasn't black, but I wanted to clean it up, so I took the do it yourself (rattlecan) approach. I clean it thoroughly, sanded and primed the surfaces before applying auto paint store mixed color and clear coat. Ten years later and it still looks pretty good. It's held up good. Surface prep (clean, clean, sand sort of thing) is the important part. The paint match can also be an issue - more of an issue with matching the exterior fade on mine than anything...
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That looks great. I spent stupid money on a different engine so if I can get it to look this good for a couple hundred that will make my day. How did you apply the clear coat?

 

[zslacker]

Mine wasn't black, but I wanted to clean it up, so I took the do it yourself (rattlecan) approach. I clean it thoroughly, sanded and primed the surfaces before applying auto paint store mixed color and clear coat. Ten years later and it still looks pretty good. It's held up good. Surface prep (clean, clean, sand sort of thing) is the important part. The paint match can also be an issue - more of an issue with matching the exterior fade on mine than anything...
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I dig those old school cal custom valve covers too!

 

[1972 AAR Cuda]

I dig those old school cal custom valve covers too!

The clear coat was a paint store rattle can as well, I sprayed it after the base coat kicked off - basically like it was another coat of color only on the heavy side. The idea was to get it to lay as smooth as possible without runs or dry patches.
I ended up using factory steel valve covers due to clearance issue on the roller rockers... The aluminum looked good though.

 

[6PKRTSE]

As mentioned above. I welded in all of the factory holes not being used and painted the snout bars from my roll cage. I just scuffed my engine bay. We sealed, epoxy primed, painted and cleared by re-mixing the same B5 blue from when the car was initially painted.

 

[cuda joe]

i would strip all the paint off the engine compartment it was more than likely rattle caned there are sometimes compatibly issues with the new paint you have the engine out do it right the first time

 

[Xcudame]

Regardless of which route you go, you have a lot of work to do as you can see the difference between the parts still in your engine compartment compared to the other two cars shown above. It all comes down to how much time and money YOU are willing to spend. Fuel lines and brake lines were not painted. They were natural. It's your car to do as you wish, but I would strip everything out or mask off what can be masked off easily and then soda blast the entire engine compartment to bare metal and primer it with a self etching primer and then paint it. Do it once, do it right, it will last a life time (or two)!

 

[moparleo]

Dustless water blasting. Quick, no damage to any parts, just removes the paint/loose rust.