Powder coating engine bay opinions

[Eric911]

So I've been doing my own powder coating for awhile now and recently i pull my motor to put some new stuff on it and to powder coat some of the pieces and the other day while look at my looking at my empty engine compartment i said to myself “hey you should powder coat the engine bay to match”.

I told one of my friends and he said that its a good idea but not the same color that it would be to much of the same color. So i want the opinion of the zilvia members

heres some pics of the stuff I've done. Sorry but i took the pics at night with flash.

http://i5.tinypic.com/6b2snlu.jpg

http://i1.tinypic.com/4mmy5uf.jpg

its a gloss black with a metallic clear called “midnight clear”

i know i should just decide on my own but whatever flam if you must

thanks

[tknbkthrsdy4anfg]

I think its pretty cool.

[withy]

i'd do a flat color in the bay to off set the sparkley stuff.

like just flat black or grey.

[Hooorahh!]

i think its hott !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[NemeGuero]

Pics installed.. or nothing.

[nissanguy13]

^^^^^^^^

What he said. I want to see what it looks like installed. Looks good so far

[Tearlessj]

Looks freshhhhh, wanna do some piece's for me? =D

[Jung918]

What color is the car?

[SixSpeedSleuth]

I guess it depends on if you want the pieces you have already done blend in, or stand out. If you want them to blend in, I would say a gloss black. (That's what I did), or, paint it the same color as the car. Now, those pieces you have done look great, but they do remind me of a bass boat! (In a good way.)

[240trainee]

what I'm wondering is if you have an oven big enough to put a car in

and the whole shell will have to be stripped of anything that could melt.

[DOOK]

yeah how exactly do you go about powder coating the engine bay???

[Eric911]

Hey guys thanks for all the response

the motor isn't built all the way yet but i do have some pieces on it i can take some pics when i get back from work later, i still have some stuff to coat like IC piping and other small stuff.

The color of the car is white but when i put the motor in it i spray painted it flat black because the original color was green.

I thought about powder coating it flat black but i wanted some with a clear because it clans off so easy and the way I'm going to cure the powder in the engine bay is with a IR lamp its small and it's going to take forever but i think it will be worth it.

Heres a pic motor when i first did it

http://i11.tinypic.com/623uow1.jpg

[mehsilvia]

Leave the bay flat black and let the powdercoated parts shine and stand out like they are supposed to be.

Awesome work. Def jealous you can do your own powdercoating.

[slw240sx]

how do you plan on curing the powder coat? IF lights? or heat lamps? ive been doing coating for about a year and i still havent experimented with coating somthing like the engine bay.

Jon

[O3DigitalBath]

yea he would have to use heat lamps to cure something like the engine bay...shouldn't be tooo hard, some of the harder to reach/get to places might not cure all that well, but for the most part it should be easy just take time (a lot longer than if he had an oven.)

I say go for it, me and some buddies we joking around about trying to powder coat a whole car...just doing it all with lamps.

[driftenthusiast]

What temp do you use the oven at? Some paint booths have a bake cycle that gets dam hot, you could use that for an oven, but i dont think hot enough, unless you possibly left it in for a long time.

[TonKpilS14]

THATS SICK. wanna do mine?

^_-

[slw240sx]

my oven goes up to 600 degs, but we only bake parts at 350-450F

[PoorMans180SX]

I say do the engine bay white. It'll really stand out. And while you're at it, build some IC pipes with less couplers. If there's one thing me and my friend have learned, it's that the more couplers, the more potential problems.

Looks cool by the way.

[thejapino]

Battleship grey with midnight clear will make your engine/parts pop out!!!

DO IT

[Eric911]

Sup guy i took some pic of the motors with some of the pieces, i just wish there was more sunlight out so you can really see how it looks.

things not shown is the pulleys and low timing belt cover.


http://i18.tinypic.com/6735b0y.jpg

http://i9.tinypic.com/6cfjg1x.jpg

http://i4.tinypic.com/4l6hs0m.jpg

http://i4.tinypic.com/4ravnvd.jpg

i thought about doing it gloss white with the same clear but i don't really like a white engine bay because of how dirty they get or could get. I'm going driving the car daily and its not a show car I'm just doing this for fun.

I'm spit with just gloss black or the black with the clear i wont be doing the fire wall because of all the stuff i would have to move.

As far as the power coating questions I'm going to be curing it with a heat lamp its start curing around 350-450f for 15-20min but slw240sx and O3Digitalbath took care of it.

Thanks to the people that are liking it make me not have any regrets but i don't think i'm good enough to be doing stuff for other people.

[lflkajfj12123]

do a charcoal grey gloss, black is hard to see the grease and white makes the dirt really stand out

[2Slow40]

Ehhhhh. Not my thing. The sparkles looks kinda girly to me but whatever works for you bro! I'd paint the engine bay a flat color because of the sparkleyisms of the engine parts

[bloodangels13]

i've been thinking about powder coating some of the part in my engine bay too... now i realy wanna do it... that ca looks fresh. even the first pick with the parts black is sweet.....has to be the cleanest CA swaps i've ever seen props

[turtle m3th]

^^^Just get a powder gun from Habor freight for $100 and do the work yourself. You'll save time and lots of money. It's really hard to suck at powder coating, trust me.

keep in mind, all powder coating guns are made of plastic. The only thing metal is the handle and those are the fancy ones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHq2_NOBjVs&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf-2VvDRBRY&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSsWbCrrltw&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3IDx0h6EMk

hope these help some people save some c-notes!

[O3DigitalBath]

^^^Just get a powder gun from Habor freight for $100 and do the work yourself. You'll save time and lots of money. It's really hard to suck at powder coating, trust me.



cost is going to be a bit more than that...and that gun sucks, if you were going to go budget gun at least get the craftsman gun (which also doesn't require a regulated air source....but they are going to have to get ahold of an oven aswell, that brings costs up real quick

[Eric911]

I think i'm just going to do a black doing 2 coats will just take more time then what i would like. The color is kinda girly i guess but i thought to myself if i was going to take the time to powder coat it i might as well to something crazy the car is plan white with tinted window so i would be kinda unexpected to do something like this.

Powder coating is as easy as it shows in the videos but the thing they don't show is prep, prep is about 80-90% of powder coating if its not done right you might as well take a dump on the piece and put it on the car. But it is cheap only cost me a couple hundred to get started but there still a lot of stuff i would like to get.

If any one has question about how to get started feel free to pm me i'm not trying to make this is to a business its just a hobby that i do on the weekends so i have nothing to hide. I would like to maybe try to turn stuff for profit but it would just be so i can just keep doing this.

[slw240sx]

Eric, im about to make some CNC coil pack covers for the CA if your intrested in one let me know, im going to try and have our machinist start on them monday morning.

Jon