AznDrgn

I'm doing some welding on the firewall of my '83 and I was planning on repainting the engine bay when I got done and before I put the motor back in. The purposes of the paint will be to somewhat hide the repair that I am making, sound deading, and obviously protect the metal. I was thinking about using something like POR15 but that stuff is EXPENSIVE and then I thought about truck bed liner. Has anyone ever tried this or seen it done? I plan to use some on the interior since I'm gutting the carpet and various other sections of the car so I'll need some anyways and I can get more than enough for the entire car for~$30.

KuHL 951

I would avoid the RhinoLiner stuff around heat...burn baby burn. Por 15 won't do squat unless corrosion is fairly advanced. You are much better off getting a good surface prep, a layer of aluminum epoxy mastic followed by a solid layer of paint. If you want, you can cover it with a reflective fiber mat used for radiant barriers. McMaster-Carr has some great stuff on their website that provides some flexibility on uneven surfaces. It keeps the cars interior cooler and provides some sound dampening as well.

AznDrgn

hmm didn't really consider the heat, good call.

AznDrgn

UP
Anyone else have any suggestions on what to use to paint my engine bay?

sharky47

I just bought a touch-up paint gun to do mine. I am going to change the color from Guards Red to Coral Red.

nineeagles

My car has a gold engine bay (car is black now)....my project is to paint the engine bay with everything still in it....(gonna be a long project)....touch up gun and ALOT of masking....I will take out things that are easy to get out and not disturb any adjustments.....I am using heat resistant paint for engine parts and a good gloss black for the inner fenders and under the cowling, etc. Scherwinn Williams makes a heat resistant aluminum paint that works nice.....used it before...on the intake and cam tower....good up to 700 degrees "it says"..........

AznDrgn

I was aiming more for something that could build. I'm welding in a patch panel to the firewall and I wanted to try and hide that. Another big plus was durability since I am constantly in the engine bay wrenching I was hoping to find something that wouldn't chip if I were to drop a wrench on it or bumpt it with a hammer.

sharky47

What sort of parts do you have left from the S2?

Cyrus951

Azn,

OT, but, do you have that little black square microswitch for the rear hatch from the 89 S2? It's the part that opens the hatch when you turn the hatch key. If you need more info on what I'm talking about, I'll try and snap a pic later.

AznDrgn

Sharkey I've got a bunch if misc interior parts, relays, the complete engine ( head is pending sale right now), a fender, and probably a lot of other things that I can't remember right now but if you have a list PM me and I'll go look. My neighbor has the complete suspension and it is up for sale if anyone is interested.

Cyrus I don't have that switch, I think I sent it to the scrap yard with the car.

Porsche-O-Phile

Does anyone have information about the heat-resistive qualities of the Rhino Liner stuff? I was actually considering doing something similar like this because (1) it looks good, (2) it will cover all the dried glue-crap on the firewall, (3) it is chemically resistive and (4) it will provide a neutral black color to the engine bay that will match whatever color I wish to do the car and (5) it will be a good acoustical dampener. I AM concerned about the possibility of fire, but AFAIK the stuff gets rock-hard and wouldn't be that volitile once cured. My other concern would be heat-induced discoloration.

On a side note, the POR-15 is more of a chemical rust treatment than a paint - it's an excellent product. They do have a product (POR-20) that is more for high-heat applications and I used it on the hot side of the turbo and some of the plumbing since anything looked better than the rusty-looking metal that was there previously. I MAY go with that. Yes, it's expensive but I'm looking for permanent and durable and quality on this job - not necessarily cheap.

AznDrgn

Porsche-O-Phile I'm trying to do that for the exact same reasons you are. I would think fully cured truck bed liner would be fine as long as you put some heat reflective shielding on the passenger side frame rail area and the rear firewall. You have to think that truck bed liner being black and sitting out in the sun during a hot summer day will easilt reach around maybe 200 degrees so as long as you can have enough shielding to keep it down around there I think we should be fine but if someone has done it already and knows for sure yes or know I'd really like to know before I waste my time doing it.

For your turbo coating check out swain(sp?) technologies, they have some ceramic paint that will look good and help with heat.

sharky47

Do you have the S2 wing? I also might be interested in the rear valance.

AznDrgn

if you are talking about the hatch wing it's gone already as is the lower rear valence.

AznDrgn

I've got a favor to ask of someone with an NA car. I need to know roughly how hot the engine bay gets right around the headers. If someone could strap a thermometer to the frame rail right where the strut tower is and then take their car on a semi hard drive and then read the temperature for me that would be a HUGE help. I'm still trying to determine wether or not using truck bed liner on the engine bay is going to be feasable or not.