Repair/recoat the engine shroud?

[mark 74 carrera]

Has anyone ever applied a surface coat of fibre on the engine shroud? Mine was painted red with primer. I have removed the red paint and now have dry sanded and wet sanded the green fibreglass.

Tha problem is that it is not exactly pristine and clean. If we clear coat it, it will look better but I was wondering if there was a way to coat it with a color matched resin? or gel coat?

I have no experience with this at all, so any help would be appreciated.

[sundaypunch]

I haven't found anyone that's had luck redoing these. It's hard to get a paint to stick plus it looks, well, painted. Some people have posted about using a dye to get it to look better but I haven't seen pics of one that looked good. Maybe someone will speak up.

[vash]

if i was painting my shroud, i would call a boat shop. those dudes always paint fiberglass. someone on this board went over the top on his. it was like a work of art. red, shiny red!

[RoninLB]

1962 356 Ruby Red, Sherwin-Williams acrylic urethane.
this pic has been around here for awhile.

[Zuff911]

My engine shroud was spray painted black so I also wet sanded the black pain off. Then I applied some regular body filler and glazing puddy to fill in the scratches and worn down sections. After doing this I used a single stage PPG paint to paint it the original signal yellow color. Normal PPG paint can be used on the fiber glass if a special additive is used to allow flex without cracking the paint. I was very happy with the results and it is holding up well. Some engine shots are in an old posting by my father about my 1973 if you want to look at it.
-brad

[Zeke]

Mark, I worked the fiberglass industry for a few years as a young man. It's amazing I'm alive today. I try not to go near the stuff. But, yes, you can gel coat it, clear gel coat it, prime it with polyester primer and paint it, or try to dye it. If you want to experiment with dye, just use upholstery dye. That's basically lacquer based with some flexability built in. If you don't like the dye, clean the shroud off with lac thinner and go to the other methods.

The advantage of the dye method, as I see it, is so it doesn't look like it's been painted. For some, being painted is better. For concours, no.

Dye can be made up on a custom basis, or you can order some analine (sp?) dye pigment and mix it with alcohol. You would then put a small amout of shellac in the mixture to "fix" it. Spray, brush or wipe.

[mark 74 carrera]

Thanks everyone.

Milt, thanks for the different options. Do you think I could go to a good auto paint store and ask about your suggestions? Would they have the materials to which you refer?

[Zeke]

Originally posted by mark 74 carrera
Thanks everyone.

Milt, thanks for the different options. Do you think I could go to a good auto paint store and ask about your suggestions? Would they have the materials to which you refer?

Everything but the dye materials. The shellac and alcohol come from a regular house paint store. The analine dye powder would have to be sourced from a furnature restoration supply. I have seen it on the Net.

[Paul Thomas]

I had mine painted when my car was done. He shot it single stage when he did the door jams, engine bay etc. It is holding up very well. I wish i had used some filler to smooth it out some but i was running out of time and money.

Paul