sandblasting a valve cover, intake manifold, and oil pan for a slant 6 (I couldn't blast the whole pan, it was too long, barely fit diagonally in my cabinet) I had to use the angle grinder and a Scotch Brite pad "cookie" to get the back of it. This is the 2nd time blasting these parts. I painted them once, and it came out terrible. so, time for the redo.
I had a POR 15 engine paint kit sitting here, that I had bought for a different project a few years ago/ on the can and the website both say that it can be sprayed or brushed. I love the regular normal POR 15, but this engine stuff is crap. I sprayed it with a compressor and a gun, they say it can be brushed too. but I didn't know if the brush marks would "flow out" as well as their normal black stuff does.
the 1st sign of something wrong, was that when I opened the can, it didn't look like any Chrysler Engine Blue that I'd ever seen. and I've sprayed alot of it, over the years.
but I also know that many paints look different when dry than out of the can. so, I had it/ lets try it. If I have it much longer, it will definitely be trash. IDK the "shelf life" of it, that is never an issue with regular POR15 around here. I don't have that stuff languishing in a can very long,. I've probably had this engine paint 8-10 years, kept in a closet inside the house in the spare bedroom, to keep it from freezing.
All cast iron was "machine shop hot tank" fresh, dry, etc. Block, head, and the other pair of 318 closed chamber heads that I have ready for my Fury.
the paint came out of the gun transparent, after 3 heavy coats, the freeze plugs still looked as silver as they had, before they had any paint on them.
I went on the computer and did a search, saw others posting with similar problems with various different colors of their engine paint.
There were more posts about "I love this stuff" than there were about "this stuff don't cover worth squat" posts. But if there was any complaints, they all seemed to be the same one as I had experienced/
I don't know if it is a function of age or if this was a "bad batch" or what. But it aint cheap. and I wont be experimenting with their engine paint again. It actually did look kind of cool on the valve cover. But not the look I wanted which is "like it came from the factory".
the sheet metal parts, (valve cover, oil pan, timing cover), cast iron, and aluminum parts (water pump) didn't even look like they were sprayed out of the same can (which they were)
Once it was tacky dry, I went over the block with a partial can of the Duplicolor stuff I had on the shelf.
Which I was trying to avoid, in the 1st place/ the Duplicolor paints ain't what they used to be, I have been having trouble with theirs peeling within a week to maybe 3 months, after I put it on. especially on the lower sections of an engine block, and on oil pans. Up til about 5 years ago, they were better paint than that.
so anyway back to the sandblasting.
A couple of Fridays ago (yeah, I thought it was weird, with an automotive swap meet on a Friday/Saturday instead of Saturday/Sunday combo, too)
I went to Indy for the 1st swap of the year. I didn't buy much/ but one thing I did buy, was a brand new coalescing air/water filter for my compressor. something I've needed for way too long. $45 for something I can't duplicate anywhere, even online, for 4 times that price. (not for "that" one, anyways) I've tried.
I put it in, just before that attempted engine paint job with the spray gun.
which helped alot with the blasting too. (at least to start with) then I started having trouble with the blast cabinet. It acted like it was either plugging (like when there is water in the air line) or a hole worn in the sand suction hose. I had about a 1/2 tub of new glass beads I poured in, did no good. should have held off there. I drained the hopper to get at the sand hose and it came out like baking flour. My glass beads were wore out. I then cleared the back hopper (I forget there is a trap door below the vacuum section, I haven't blown down that filter in too long, or drained the flour out of the back hopper below the vacuum. that back hopper was FULL> I had to tap it with a ball pein to dislodge it all, it was packed so tight. I got a heaping tub about 15x30X8" tall, worth of flour out of the back hopper..... I am gonna have to go get a couple more tubs of fresh glass beads probably from Tractor Supply/ and another piece of sand hose, which ever since I got this machine has never been anything but basically a piece of garden hose. Farm and Fleet, Lowes and Tractor Supply have this hose on a bulk roll..... old hose was 3' which was often too short to reach around something in the cabinet.... it needs to be between 3-1/2' to 4' instead.
so Im at a standstill on that project.