I have the engine out of the 78 all cleaned up and looking good. But as much as I clean the engine the cam covers and other parts remain discolored.

The block itself cleans up nice and does not seem to hide grease and dirt, but the rest of the engine is a different story. So painting seems like the best course.

The question what is the most durable way to do this. I could just clear coat the aluminum - Alsa makes a direct to metal clear coat. The POR people also sell clear coat that can go on an polished surface with good durability. POR and Eastwood also make direct to metal engine paints but the colors are limited.

The other option is to prime the engine with a 2K primer, a base coat and a clear coat as you would paint the outside of the car.

Finally there is lacquer that I have used before on VW engines with good success.

Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

 

Powder coat

 

I used an Eastwood product on polished S4 cam covers and they yellowed after several months.

 

P-coat could work as it will handle most engine temps. Pcoat resin rated around 500-800 degrees.

However, it may not like the temps near the exhaust ports. Not much you can do about that unless you look at ceramic coatings.

 

Engine part temps are for the most part well within the durability range of standard finishes. Duplicolor makes a high-quality spray-can metallic silver wheel paint that looks pretty good and is very durable.

I think that for most owners, powder coating is more trouble, hazard and expense than it is worth.

 

I vote for Ford Blue.

 

I was thinking "no rattle can Chevy orange!"

Jeeze guys, a lot of time is spent trying to make the engine pretty.

Just rattle can it with aluminum color engine paint and be done with it.

 

I powdercoated my cam covers and spray painted my intake and waterbridge. I 'wished' I powdercoated everything because it really hides the imperfections in the cast and lesser quality metal used for these components.

 

Hi Dan. Remember when I quickly rotary brushed my spider in your shop? And then applied some old 2-part clearcoat you had lying around with a disposable brush? And you were standing there shaking your head telling me I should dismantle everything and polish it, while I was picking the brush bristles out of the material?

Well, whatever that stuff is, it has held up extremely well! No yellowing or peeling. The spider still "pops"! The clear has a magnifying-glass effect, very effective. When I was at Pike's Peak, a 944 owner came up and asked if he couls see my engine. When I opened the hood, he said "WOW! It really is twice a 944 engine!". I said "See? You coulda had a V8!"

IIRC the material was in a silver unmarked quart can.

 

I polished a bunch of stuff and put duplicolor ceramic silver (aluminum?) rattle can on a few parts. I am in honolulu so all the polished stuff has corroded and looks like crap. The stuff I painted still looks great. In the future it will be more paint for me.

 

I used a belt sander to cleanup my spider and then used the duplicolor ceramic silver and then duplicolor ceramic clear.