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Anyone have experience using brush-on bronze engine paint on 400 engine? I hate to have the engine pulled for just re-painting. I'm thinking I could pull the rocker covers off and rattle can spray those, I'd like to re-paint the intake manifold and visible areas of the heads & block with brush paint. I've found one vendor that offers Olds 400 bronze brush able paint, just don't know how well it would match the spray in color or looks.... Any experiences?
Thanks.
I have successfully rattle caned the engine in the car. 68 442 with AC. You have some tricky meticulous masking to do but it's doable.
My engine wasn't greasy or rusty. I hit it with brake cleaner and carefully cleaned it. The rocker covers should be pulled & prepped for a nice even job. The intake can be cleaned if it's not too bad. Otherwise, it needs to come out and be glass beaded. If you gotta do that MAW install the crossover plugs to prevent the intake from burning off.
I have zero experience with brushing on engine paint. Might be OK for roughcast components, not my first choice though.
Might As Well, I once went to change the air filter on my car and wound up rebuilding the engine which led to taking the car off the frame to do a complete restoration. Job completed 10 years later!
MAW's defined. I should have known. After 30+ yrs driving this car while incrementally restoring it, I have fallen into that rabbit hole way too often.
I've read in some threads good things about Bill Hirsch Old bronze paint, brush-able or spray-able, that is what I'm considering for this MAW project. Spray the easy parts like valve covers, and brush this rest from the same can of paint.... Should match right? Just wondering about how the brushed paint looks. If anyone has done this and can let me know, I'd sure appreciate it.
I removed everything and sprayed mine with the engine in place. The only places that were tough to get decent paint on were around the starter and around the motor mounts (I should have removed the starter). You'd be amazed at how much room you have when you get everything off the engine and remove the radiator
Last edited by allyolds68; October 3rd, 2022 at 05:06 AM.
I used Rust-oleum High Heat Ultra 241232 Aged Copper. It was a good match to the original. Unfortunately, it was only available as a spray can. If you want to brush, you can spray it into an open container. If you want to see how it matches, here it is next to the original.
Rust-oleum sample on bottom; original Olds paint on manifold on upper
Last edited by Ozzie; October 6th, 2022 at 06:43 AM.
Reason: improved grammar
I used Rust-oleum High Heat Ultra 241232 Aged Copper. It was a good match to the original. Unfortunately, it was only available as a spray can. If you want to brush, you can spray it into an open container. If you want to see how it matches, here it is next to the original.
Rust-oleum sample on bottom; original Olds paint on manifold on upper
I tried Aged Copper and it wasn't even close to the 68-69 original bronze but it was closer to the earlier 65-66 bronze.
I have gotten surprisingly good results with Rustoleum hammered copper 210849 rattle cans on cast surfaces.
Exactly what I used, painted engine in the bay, plastic bags, tin foil and masking tape make it pretty doable. Like Dr said, pull valve covers, do them separately..if using rustoleum bronze spray a satin high heat clear coat over it.
October 1st, 2022, 06:33 PM
