Seeking recommendations- Engine paint preparation

Hi I have one last thing to do.... get the engine degreased, old paint removed and get ready for the acid etch primer.

Has anyone got any recommendations on how to get it to that point..... without have to dismantle the engine ( leaving it in its current state)

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[Mark64]

Hi last time I did this I used nitromors paint stripper but I think it's changed recently and isn't as good as it used to be, I then used a needle file & side wire wool to remove all traces of paint from each fin on the engine (I did exactly the same thing to my Suzuki GS1000 30 years ago, OMG where the hell did 30 years go!!!!) then I painted the engine with silver smoothrite.
Obviously mask off the sight glass & all the bits you don't want to be silver.
Good luck 👍

[Albie]

If your not splitting lots of wet and dry, scourer, toothbrush and masking tape

[350TSS]

Here is the “benefit” of my experience (total of one M900 engine painted with clutch and alternator cases off but head and barrels on).
Preparation: It takes a long, long time. First degrease, jet wash, degrease and jet wash again, if you are lucky a lot of the paint comes off with the jet wash anyway. If the cases have been heavily salt corroded the underlying metal will have turned black, this will have to be sanded off as it shows through the etch primer. I used one of those triangular shaped detail sanders with 60/80/120 grit sheets then rubbed down (dry) with 240 and finished with 400 wet and dry. I did not use a chemical stripper (e.g. Nitromors) at all because a) most of my paint had gone anyway and b) H&S has emasculated most of the chemical strippers to the point where in my experience they are close to useless.
I then used a brass wire brush in a drill (100% you must wear goggles and you must seal all potential orifices as the detached strands get absolutely everywhere). This is very good for getting into the finned areas.
The whole engine was vacuumed then wiped with a damp e Cloth to get rid of residual dust.
Every square centimetre was then wiped with a paper towel soaked in Acetone (twice) or if you are feeling flush use tack cloths.
Good idea to have a vacuum cleaner to clear up after every 20 minutes working because you will not keep on top of the dust otherwise. Screwfix do a Titan one for about £40.
Some hard won lessons: primer and topcoat will not mask underlying defects (residual old paint not removed, scratches in the aluminium where the 60/80/120 grit scratches have not been rubbed down with 400) they will make them look worse.
Masking takes a long time but doing it carefully is worth the effort, nothing worse than getting a good finish then removing the masking tape and finding that the tape has slightly covered an area you wanted paint on, as you cannot easily paint that bit afterwards without the masking line being highlighted.
Most masking tapes have a finite glue life – take it off within 24 hours and it comes off easily – leave a few days and you have a major task to get it off and the potential to damage your nice fresh finish.
If you are doing it with covers on and bolts in I would take the bolts out and degrease them otherwise the contaminants in the hex heads will bleed out during spraying. I put them in the dishwasher and ran them through twice.

[350TSS]

Priming/Painting
The garage needs to be about 15 to 20 degrees C to spray and definitely not a misty or foggy day as the paint as it dries will absorb moisture from the atmosphere and the paint will “bloom”. If you overspray “bloomed paint” it often comes through to the latest coat.
Put your rattle cans in a bowl of hot water for 5minutes before shaking them for the required 2 minutes, back in the hot water for a minute then spray from them
If I was doing it again I would have an engine stand where I could rotate the engine as it is virtually impossible to get paint to cover the really difficult places (vertical cylinder base gasket area near the exhaust port, horizontal cylinder in the middle of the vee and above the oil filter). You need gravity to get the complete coverage in those areas.
Do the very difficult areas (interior corners) first and let that paint dry before moving onto the easier areas. Do the exterior corners next and let that dry then do the plain flat bits last (the bits that tend to show the most).
Do not try to eke out the last bit from the rattle cans it always comes out thicker or in globules and is much more likely to cause runs.
I tried to put a few light dusting coats to ensure full coverage on first with 20 – 60 minutes between coats then when those had all dried get a fresh can and put the wet coat on, a bit thicker but not so as to cause runs.
Runs cannot be sprayed out, they have to be rubbed down and re done or lived with depending where on the cases the run is.
If you are going to rub down runs leave at least 3 days for the paint to harden before tackling them
Hope this helps

[Chriswilly]

Have been using FROST POR15 paints for ages - not the cheapest in the world but really works.
One reason is that if you only need to 'touch up' a very small or large area - just clean with brake fluid and apply with a cotton bud or rsoft paint brush - and end up with an almost perfect match without gloss and brush marks.
Done my cylinder heads and footrest hangers amoungst other small areas and you can't see the join.
Also the sump parts and exhaust front pipes in matt black - lasts for ages.
Bit pricy when I bought it - £15 for 1/2 litre - but well worth it. Never tried the gloss but well worth visiting the website - www.frost.co.uk/Paints/Engine.

Thanks all.....

Got the engine degreaser, a huge pack of disposable kitchen cloths and a paint brush..... should keep me busy for a few days