John S's Journal

Yesterday I finished cleaning the engine and proceeded to mask, prime, and then paint it. I used a VHT Extreme temperature primer and then top coated with the Duplicolor Dark Canyon Red. I sprayed on a couple coats of that but after looking closely thereafter, I noticed the topcoat had lifted in several spots and just flaked off. Talk about aggravating! I had slaved away with degreaser, wire brushes, putty knives, etc. to get everything scrupulously clean, finishing with an acetone wipe down. Still not sure what the issue was but maybe incompatibility between the VHT and the Duplicolor topcoat. Needless to say, not a happy camper and I spent a couple hours with the drill and rotary wire brushes to remove everything.

So today, I went in search of Rustoleum products and found 1 can of their Burgundy and a can of their Rusty Metal primer at Home Depot. More cleanup of the engine ensued this morning until the majority of the engine was back to bare metal. Another acetone wipe down, more masking and then hit it with the primer, followed by 2 coats of the Burgundy. Looks slightly more red than the Dark Canyon Red that I used on the roadster engine and on the first try with the GT engine. I’m probably going to wait a couple of days and then hit it with a high temperature clear coat or two for a little added protection. I hate doing stuff twice! Crossing my fingers that there won’t be any issues. I think I’ll get the Speedi Sleeve and the new viton rear oil seal in and the backplate back on and get it ready to go on the engine stand. Still more bits to clean and paint like the valve cover, timing cover, assorted brackets and then once it’s on the engine stand, I can spin it over and get the pan off so it can get cleaned, primed and painted. Then on goes a new oil pump and I’m planning on pulling and replacing the rod bearings and also a few of the mains. It should start looking better and better as more stuff gets painted, the masking tape comes off and the freshly painted bits and pieces go back on.