Paintin a blower

THE BIRDMAN

Registered User
What kind of paint should you use to paint our blowers?Also how do you prep the blower for paint?Does it need to be scuffed up or totally stripped?



Thanks Jay
 
POR makes a decent paint that would work on any engine part. Part would need to be at minimum lightly scuffed and either a good primer or a service prep for the paint to get ahold of. I have used epoxy primer which is a two stage paint and than a Industrial urthane paint for the top coat. The POR is a single stage paint that could be thinned down to spray. Painting would be a little cheaper than powder coating as long as you have access to what you need. Engine compartments can be made to look like show if you spend some time detailing them like Daspanka's. I would not use cheap spray cans of paint as the thickness level of paint applied is thin and they dont retain the shine of a high quality paint product.

Ken
 
Daspanka that looks awesome I might have to bite off you're style a little.I have a red car also and that looks bad a**.Thanks for the info.So you just scuffed up the blower first?And did you have to rebuild you're blower?How far did you have to disassemble it to do that?And how hard is it to put back together?

Thanks Jay
 
Daspanka that looks awesome I might have to bite off you're style a little.I have a red car also and that looks bad a**.Thanks for the info.So you just scuffed up the blower first?And did you have to rebuild you're blower?How far did you have to disassemble it to do that?And how hard is it to put back together?

Thanks Jay

Thanks, Jay. I actually took the blower all the way apart (except for the rotor pack, of course)Took the opportunity to put in a new coupler, snout seal, and case bearings (the snout bearings were still very good, so I saved a trip to my Mech with a press). The blower snout and case are the smoothest aluminum castings on the car, so I just wet sanded the original powder coat with some 400 grit paper to give the paint something to "bite". I used adhesion promotor on everything as well. The adhesion promoter will make it more forgiving if you miss a spot with the sand paper, and make it a little less likely to chip. Ken's right about the "rattle can" paint. It isn't as durable nor as easy to get a good smooth finish to begin with. I knew that going in, and used three coats of adhesion promotor as a primer, then topped everything off with three fairly heavy coats of ceramic resin 500 degree clear coat. Once cured, the clear coat is fairly tough and will resist chipping to a degree. If you're going to use the rattle cans, plan on allowing the parts to air cure for quite some time before trying to install them. Building a makeshift oven (or talking your wife into using hers:) ) will greatly speed up the curing process. My blower spent over 48 hours at 160 degrees right after I painted it. Then, I let it air cure for a week before installing it. Even after all that, it would still chip fairly easily if you hit it with a wrench, etc. The professional paint cures through a chemical process. The rattle can paint cures by resins eventually evaporating from the finish, which can actually take six months or more. Mine's been done for weeks now and I can still smell the paint when it gets hot. Which means it isn't finished curing yet.
My advice is to take Ken's advice. If you really want to use the spray cans, take your time, or it wiill be a waste of time.
 
Oven

If you decide to use the rattle cans, about halfway down the first page of my thread is an example of a "McGiver" style oven. Built from a carboard box, aluminum foil, and a portable light. Really cut the curing time down on the parts. Without some heat curing, the paint will chip if you look at it too hard:). Mine would sustain 160 - 170 degrees using only a 100 watt light bulb for a heat source.

Daspanka
 
I used a spray can with Engine Hi Temp paint. 2 coats of color, two coats of clear. Prep word was using a SOS pad to clean the surface up.
 
Back
Top