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Repainting motor and engine bay help

844 Views 10 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  sudden_impulse
Hello folks. I have a nicely restored 72 nova that is great on exterior and interior, however the engine and engine bay need to be painted. Motor would need to be pulled obviously. Is my best option to find an engine builder who could do this for me? Any suggestions would be helpful. I am also in the Northern VA area an if anyone has any referrals that would be awesome. Any input on cost would also be appreciated!,
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Maybe to save some money and make for an easier/cleaner job for someone else once you find someone to do the work you are wanting is to clean the motor bay yourself using spray on engine cleaners, simple green, some old paint brushes to loosen things up and then if things look rusty or like it might be a bear to take some nuts and bolts loose,spray on some penetrating oil and let it soak and reapply and see if you can crack the bolts and nuts loose and then tighten them back down.

If you have a decent camera and phone take more pictures than you think you might need to where later if you wonder how something goes back together you can refer to some pictures you took.

On my 68 a while back I did an in car motor repaint on one side and when I took the distributor cap off I referenced with a stick how the rotor was pointing as well as fabbed up a socket and extension to reference where the vacuum advance was at. When it came time to put things back together I referred to my pictures and later the car fired right back up like it was never taken apart.

Another thing is if you are keeping originality with nuts, bolts, or whatever being in different spots maybe take one bold out at a time to clean it and on my car I wire wheeled things as far as the bolt heads and threads to clean things up.

If when cleaning you come across any factory marks like firewall markings, paint markings (inspection marks) on suspension parts, and so on document these things.

Like they say the car is only original once and the better you document things the better for later on down the road.

Another thing is some parts are not readily available so get a list going of hoses you need, hose clamps, gaskets, and so on to check availability. Nothing worse than needing a specific part only to find out you need it today and it's not available for another 6 weeks or so.

The 2022 touch up on my 68:


And this was from 9 years ago and some newer years showing what I started with and cleaning up my engine bay:


Jim
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Advice worth following. Thats the same procedure I'm using to bring my '64 Nova 6 cyl, 4 door back to being a daily driver.
Hello folks. I have a nicely restored 72 nova that is great on exterior and interior, however the engine and engine bay need to be painted. Motor would need to be pulled obviously. Is my best option to find an engine builder who could do this for me? Any suggestions would be helpful. I am also in the Northern VA area an if anyone has any referrals that would be awesome. Any input on cost would also be appreciated!,
I don't know about Northern Virginia, but around here, North Georgia, engine builders want the engine out of the car when you bring it to them.

Who will you have doing the painting? If it's a body and paint shop, perhaps you could arrange for a "mobile mechanic" to do the work on site, in the storage lot at the body/paint shop. Otherwise, it's either a do-it-yourself job at home, or get a mobile mechanic to do it at your home, or take it to a repair/service shop and have the engine pulled out there, then have the car trailered/towed to the body/paint shop.
Thanks so much for the input guys. It is much appreciated. I can imagine painting the in-line six in place might be easier then an 8. It may be a task I am willing to take on myself then.
Jim, your under the hood in place paint job looks awesome. I will review and review again the steps you took. Thanks for taking the time to share.
Racer X, that’s kind of what I was wondering, if I had someone do it I would assume a speed shop of some sorts might take on the job but I’m sure at a cost!
Do you have a body/paint shop picked out to do the paint work under the hood? You can ask them who they recommend.

Also check "yourmechanic.com" or search for "mobile mechanic near me" to find other mobile mechanics.

As always, check references, get quotes/estimates from several before making a final decision.
The V8's will have less room to get in there and do things with it in place.

On my 73 I have had the motor out a bunch and it's not that involved and years ago you could rent engine hoists at the local auto parts stores but those days may be long gone. Today you can buy them at a decent price but get a decent model.

If you are unsure, maybe see if a buddy that has pulled GM motors before can lend you a hand or look over your shoulder to guide you.

Jim
Sun Belt Rentals rents engine hoists (cherry pickers) and transmission jacks and some other specialized repair equipment. In most major metropolitan areas, there's also local competitors in that market.

I've used Sun Belt, and a local rental place, to rent a higher quality transmission jack. I used to own one of the inexpensive ones (got mine from Northern Tool, IIRC). I had a friend borrow it, and he wanted to keep it and gave me cash for the price of one at Harbor Freight. I do so few transmission jobs now (I'm semi-retired), and the quality of the offerings at Harbor Freight just wasn't impressive. The equipment rental places have "commercial grade" (big, strong and heavy) jacks for rent. The last time I used one, it was for an older RV with a big Alison automatic transmission, and I think I paid $35 to rent it for a "day" (over the weekend, from end of day Friday to early Monday morning usually counts as one day at these places). That was about 5 years ago, and I'm sure prices are higher now, probably for the exact same jack I used.
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Sun Belt Rentals rents engine hoists (cherry pickers) and transmission jacks and some other specialized repair equipment. In most major metropolitan areas, there's also local competitors in that market.

I've used Sun Belt, and a local rental place, to rent a higher quality transmission jack. I used to own one of the inexpensive ones (got mine from Northern Tool, IIRC). I had a friend borrow it, and he wanted to keep it and gave me cash for the price of one at Harbor Freight. I do so few transmission jobs now (I'm semi-retired), and the quality of the offerings at Harbor Freight just wasn't impressive. The equipment rental places have "commercial grade" (big, strong and heavy) jacks for rent. The last time I used one, it was for an older RV with a big Alison automatic transmission, and I think I paid $35 to rent it for a "day" (over the weekend, from end of day Friday to early Monday morning usually counts as one day at these places). That was about 5 years ago, and I'm sure prices are higher now, probably for the exact same jack I used.
Agree. So much better quality and you don't have to store the monstrosity the other 99.9% of the time you're not using it!
Maybe to save some money and make for an easier/cleaner job for someone else once you find someone to do the work you are wanting is to clean the motor bay yourself using spray on engine cleaners, simple green, some old paint brushes to loosen things up and then if things look rusty or like it might be a bear to take some nuts and bolts loose,spray on some penetrating oil and let it soak and reapply and see if you can crack the bolts and nuts loose and then tighten them back down.

If you have a decent camera and phone take more pictures than you think you might need to where later if you wonder how something goes back together you can refer to some pictures you took.

On my 68 a while back I did an in car motor repaint on one side and when I took the distributor cap off I referenced with a stick how the rotor was pointing as well as fabbed up a socket and extension to reference where the vacuum advance was at. When it came time to put things back together I referred to my pictures and later the car fired right back up like it was never taken apart.

Another thing is if you are keeping originality with nuts, bolts, or whatever being in different spots maybe take one bold out at a time to clean it and on my car I wire wheeled things as far as the bolt heads and threads to clean things up.

If when cleaning you come across any factory marks like firewall markings, paint markings (inspection marks) on suspension parts, and so on document these things.

Like they say the car is only original once and the better you document things the better for later on down the road.

Another thing is some parts are not readily available so get a list going of hoses you need, hose clamps, gaskets, and so on to check availability. Nothing worse than needing a specific part only to find out you need it today and it's not available for another 6 weeks or so.

The 2022 touch up on my 68:


And this was from 9 years ago and some newer years showing what I started with and cleaning up my engine bay:


Jim
Did you leave your hood on? I'm new to the straight 6 scene, when you painted the intake manifold, do you use engine paint? Is it integrated with the exhaust manifold (i really haven't looked yet). In your pictures, you show a coil and vacuum advance. I don't see one on my engine (but haven't looked too hard) but i do have a HEI distro from a '78, does that do away with the coil and vac advance?
I'd never undertake this project on a v8, but man there is so much room with this i6 and i have to replace most of the parts anyways so i definitely will be doing it!
HEI will put the coil in the cap of the distributor. I would think you would still have vacuum advance unless somebody put an aftermarket HEI in.
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