Engine Painting

[86 911]

I am thinking of painting my engine during the Thanksgiving holiday, and I want to get an idea of some different color schemes on a 3.0 or 2.7 litre engine. If you have painted your engine, feel free to post pics here! I was thinking of the glossy Satin Black and glossy red fan scheme, but I want to see some other ones first. Also, what kind of high temperature paint would you use? Can someone suggest a paint manufacture?

Thanks,
Matt

[OZCarrera3]

Hey Matt,

Not sure painting the fan and valve covers will be as permanent as powder coating (which only cost about $90), but in any case here's what mine looks like...

[randywebb]

I also have a red fan and found that it shows dirt on the leading edges. So I might go for a satin black look next time. OR a metallic gray would be real nice.

Concur w/ idea of powder coating.

[86 911]

Thanks for the photo and the info. What is a powder coating?
OZCarrera3, what kind of paint did you use for the fan and the fan shround? It looks very sharp .
Randywebb, I concur with the metallic gray look on the fan. It is very difficult choosing colors since there are so many schemes to choose from. The body of my car is red. I have been thinking of painting the shround silver metallic and the fan yellow or visa-versa.
Anyone else want to contribute some photos? Any other colors I should consider?

Thanks,
Matt

[86 911]

Also, is it safe to sandblast the metal engine parts (i.e. fan, shround, etc) to get a good cleaning? I have a sandblaster with fine chips of sand (playground sand) and I'm not sure if it would effect the metal.

Matt

[OZCarrera3]

My fan and shroud were powder coated and unfortunately I do not know what brand (of powder) was used.

You have to be very careful how you prepare the magnesium alloy. From what I understand, you can't use a very abrassive medium (sand) and then you have to 'out-gass' the metal in preparation by heating it for an extended period of time. Then the objects can be powder coated.

Be very explicit with the person doing the work. The first time the fan was done, the guy used an acid based cleaner that pitted the alloy badly. It needed to be extensively polished before it could be powder coated.

[RoninLB]

I faked the whole thing 40k mi + 5yrs ago.. still looks almost the same.

[RoninLB]

found another one to crop.

[MJHanna]

,

[Carrera3.5L]

Fan Housing powdercoated semi-gloss black with fan and fan strap powdercoated "Bavarian Silver"



Ralph

[targa911S]

I have heard it is not good to paint any surface that disperses heat. Painting fills pores in the metal and also holds in heat. Kinda like cheese on a pizza. Be very careful with that sandblaster. Sandblasting creates heat and also smoothes over sufaces that are mean to be porous, holding in heat. It's all about getting rid of heat.

[svandamme]

weight reduction lesson #7... leave anything not made out of iron nekkid....

[toolman]

Semi-gloss black on fan and shroud, most aluminum was glass beaded and cleared.

[drl911]

Hey Toolman,
Where did you get the red plug wires?
Are you happy with the quality?

Thanks,
Dan

[targa911S]

Thanks Stijn. Tell em how you know.

[Paulporsche]

Matt,

Powder coating is a process in which the object to be finished is given a pos elec charge. Then the paint, which is neg charged, is sprayed on in a dry, powder form which gets sucked to the object. The item is then cured in an oven, producing a hard, even finish that gets onto every part of the piece.

If you call some local finishers they will tell you how to prepare the piece, types of finish and colors, cost, etc.

[svandamme]

Originally posted by targa911S
Thanks Stijn. Tell em how you know.

well, i didn't like the color on my engine
the shroud was a bit stained with oil

so i decided to tear the bugger apart



so if you look carefully , you can see under teh oil and grime that the bottom half of the engine case , at some point has been painted with some paint


but the top of the case ( bottom of the pic ) is nekkid magnesium...nice dark grey

this made me realize , that when it comes to sexyness, then the magnesium in it's nekkid form , looks a hellofalot better than the paint they slapped on it....

i'm getting my case back from the shop tomorrow
rebored and everything, but before i rebuild, i'm gonna make sure that block is free of paint...


i suppose that for the true bling bling kinda guys , they could take the nekkid approach , but with a twist

hey , if fuchs are polishable, and the fan is polishable... then why not the engine case itself???

[targa911S]

NO NO NO... the pores and dimples of the metal add to the surface area, giving it more cooling area effectivly. Do not polish. Fuchs..if you MUST ok, fan yeah that too, but not on anything that would be heat dispersing. If you MUST paint use engine paint for Lyncomb (sp) aircraft engines it's made for air cooled engines.

[Paulporsche]

FWIW I agree w/ Targa911s and Stijn. My answer was merely a description of the powdercoating process, and not a recommendation or endorsement.

[Plavan]

Here is my new shiny Aluminum and powdercoated 2.5L beauty. Powdercoating is the only way to go for the fan. Otherwise, the paint will start to flake and look horrible.