Best Engine Paint

J

JP31

Member
What is the best Ford green paint for authentic color and durability to paint my engine and transmission?
 
Check Bill Hirsch's website. His engine paint will hold up to 700 degrees. Kind of expensive, but supposedly THE best. You have to wait at least two weeks after spraying/brushing it on before starting the engine. That sounds to me as if it's more durable than the rattle can stuff sold by vendors that dries virtually instantaneously. A full quart should do a couple engines because it's supposed to be applied in two thin coats. Obviously if you do the bellhousing and transmission, too, the paint won't go as far. Do a google for "Bill Hirsch" and the website will come up. I just looked at it Wednesday and read about the products he offers.
Marshall
 
We have tested Hirsch's paints and they are excellent. He uses a military spec grade of material and they flow very well when paints. The chassis paint is great too.
 
FWIW: Humble opinion.

Controversial subject at times.

Want a very long lasting coating, with durability possibly lasting more than several lifetimes?

Forget paint & think engine impervious coatings that can ward off intrusion of molecules of water and/or salt.

POR 15 is a coating that requires some experience with their product & the following of the manufacturer's instructions to the "exact" letter.

I have been "successfully" using this unique "non-normal-product" for 18 years.

Model A engines, heads, & transmissions, remove all existing paint, degrease with "only" POR 15 Marine Clean, treat cast iron with "only" POR 15 Prep & Ready, apply two (2) coats of POR 15, & apply two (2) or more coats of POR Engine Enamel -- no rust on engine or head even adjacent to head gasket.

All of the different "experienced" POR 15 dealers who sell this product will admit that the people who screw up this product application most often are professional painters who are incapable of shifting brain gears in order to follow POR's explicit intricate "different" directions on how to prepare surfaces & apply this very different product.

If you are familiar with normal preparing & painting & you feel this unique coating or similar impervious coatings can be applied by not following "exact" instructions ........... it definitely "will" fail ......... just forget it & buy paint.

Lots of "Do's" & "Don'ts" can be found for POR 15 products under "SEARCH".

Others may or may not want to offer experiences with POR 15 -- it just does "not" go on "exactly" like regular paint products.
 
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I'm told that Roy Nacewicz (fordbolts.com) has engine paint that he custom-formulated to match extant examples while he was with Ford.

I'll be using some when the time comes...
 
Re H.L. Chauvins comments. I used POR 15 On my engine 12/13 years ago, and while I don't use the car that often[ once a month ?or so on average plus, some big trips] it has held up very very well. I used the green on the engine ,1938 V8 and the grey exhaust paint, on another car and that's held up very well,after approx 5 years.I did get the exhaust manifold sandblasted. I brushed it on, 2 coats, although you need to throw the brush away and don't get any paint on yourself or your clothes !
 
I recall painting the engine interior surfaces with a red paint/coating to prevent seepage through the casting. With oil seeping through the iron it's hard to imagine any paint sticking for very long on the out side of the casting. It's a miracle the paint stick as well as it does.
Terry
 
Terry said:
I recall painting the engine interior surfaces with a red paint/coating to prevent seepage through the casting. With oil seeping through the iron it's hard to imagine any paint sticking for very long on the out side of the casting. It's a miracle the paint stick as well as it does.
Terry
Click to expand...

Sound iron castings, like those Ford made at the Rouge, do not seep anything through the metal unless it is now cracked or highly corroded. They are pressure tight to a very high degree.

You are confusing porosity with permeability. Two different things. Although interstices between grain boundaries in iron castings may enhance surface retention of lubricants, there is no interconnection of those interstices leading to permeability.

The use of Glyptol (the 'red' stuff) on the inside of an engine is a debatable practice for many reasons.
 
MikeK said:
Sound iron castings, like those Ford made at the Rouge, do not seep anything through the metal unless it is now cracked or highly corroded. They are pressure tight to a very high degree.

You are confusing porosity with permeability. Two different things. Although interstices between grain boundaries in iron castings may enhance surface retention of lubricants, there is no interconnection of those interstices leading to permeability.

The use of Glyptol (the 'red' stuff) on the inside of an engine is a debatable practice for many reasons.
Click to expand...
look's good for the customer.
 
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