Engine paint

[brettportzer]

Well, thanks to searching the posts on this forum, I learned I should paint my engines with Rustoleum Canvas White.

And, this is spot on.

Here is a question, though… My engines are green underneath the white, but…

The white is an exceedingly thorough paint job.

Did Hatteras repaint the engines from green to white when they built the boat?

[Bob Bradley]

They start out green when they are new and slowly turn white as you replace parts.

[Bob Bradley]

Once it's completely white, you can officially call it "rebuilt" in the For Sale ad

[madhatter1]

Just finished painting ours. White is best to spot any type of leaks. IMO. Sky’s perfectly painted original gray should also be easy to spot. So a matter of opinion. Just restarting out clean and painted is a maintenance game changer.

[Vincentc]

I’ve always heard that prep is the most important part of painting. How do you prep a Detroit for paint?

[Bob Bradley]

I’ve always heard that prep is the most important part of painting. How do you prep a Detroit for paint?

Lets just say that it better be oil based engine paint. Maybe if you left the engines off for 10 or 15 years.

[DCMY #92]

I've painted my 1963 6V53s several times. For prep I use low-odor mineral spirits in a plastic pump-spray bottle and put sorbent pads under the engine. The mineral sprits removes the oil quickly and dries quickly. Its flash point is high enough not to be a problem and the bilge blowers keep the odor down. Let the mineral spirts dry and scrape any peeling paint, then spray those spots again with mineral spirits. The objective is to start at the top and rinse the oily residue downwards. Brush prime any bare spots with Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer. Let that dry for 24 hours and paint with white Rustoleum. I use a small disposable brushes on the block and small areas and larger disposable brushes on larger areas. Components that can be removed like valve covers and intake silencers can be sprayed off the boat with Rustoleum.
Partially painted engine below.

[brettportzer]

That looks great, attempting the same thing, pretty much.

Thanks for the info!

[Vincentc]

That does look good. Thanks for the tip.

[edward]

Did you use a brush or spray ?