Tidying up the engine bay

Technical Area Cleaning & Detailing
2

Hi all. I’m slowly trying to make the engine bay of my 1994 mk1 look a bit cleaner.

The exhaust heat shield is looking a bit sad but is solid. I was thinking of using this stuff from Halfords http://www.halfords.com/motoring/paints-body-repair/specialist-decorative-paints/halfords-enamel-high-temperature-spray-paint-aluminium-300ml  and would like to know if you think this will do the job. I would rather use something that you paint on but all Halfords do in cans is black.  Also the cam cover is looking it’s age, do you think this could be used on the cam cover?

Many thanks.

Dave

3

Have a look on Amazon and eBay searching for ‘VHT paint’ (Very High Temperature).  There are lots of suppliers and many, many colours, and some are rated up to 650F, 340C. 

Painting with it is interesting; apply a couple or more thin coats (preferably each of primer then colour then clear), re-coating as soon as the first is touch dry, then cure it at a high temperature (ideally over 100C) for several hours, before exposing it to oil, brake fluid, antifreeze, water etc. If you wait too long between coats, then you have to wait a couple of days for the curing to finish before further re-coating.

I found some VHT Pontiac Blue and also VHT Titanium Silver Blue (a toss up which was a better colour, neither was perfect) for my brake calipers a couple of years ago, and that has not melted or run.  But then I also did not cook it as recommended, just gave each caliper some time with the fan heater and only took the car out on dry summer days to begin with.

This is by contrast to three decades ago when I made the mistake of painting a cylinder head with some black Hammerite which sagged and ran like plastic; it was the proximity of the exhaust ports that did the damage.

And then there is the XHT (Extremely High Temperature) paint up to 650C, and the illustrations show it on exhaust pipes and manifolds. eg this one

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silver-Extremely-Temperature-Caliper-Engine/dp/B007AFJQ3K/

4

Wire brush clean.  Several light coats of Halfords VHT aerosol - black or aluminium, doesn’t matter. Slowly heat up in a domestic oven to cure the paint. When cool, polish with ‘Stovax’ black grate (as in fireplace) polish - available from eBay.  Keep applying and buffing Stovax for a gorgeous, metallic gunmetal finish with a perfect sheen.  Trust me - it looks superb. New stainless securing bolts to complete the job. 

5

Like this:

 

6

Thanks guys, I’ll give it a go.

Steve, your engine looks great. If I could get mine looking half as good as that I would be well chuffed.