[msmazcol]

Don't let the HVLP mess with you. It will operate very similar to your older siphon gun. Before you mix your paint be sure to have a plan on where your gun can be placed for filling and between coats. A wire gun stand is best but just give it some forethought. You do NOT want to get the cup full of paint with no where to go with it.
An order to get engine enamel to spray you may have to up your pressure at the gun. This will reduce the benefit of the HVLP any way. The HVLP is a bigger factor for a production paint shop meeting EPA standards. The few times you will most likely paint are not what is being monitored.
Good luck

[Bhigdog]

I paint before assembly so everything is painted seperately. When I spray I try to do covers, valley pan, oil pan etc all at once. If your engine is together you could degrease any assembly lube from all surfaces with something like Prepsol and just spray everything at once. Alternatively you might want to remove the intake manifold and valve covers and mask as required so you can get paint down into the valley cover. I beleive the factory just shot everything at once but they weren't too concerned with overspray or poor coverage. All they were worried about was getting it out the door........Bob

[special55]

Yeah I hear you about the factory lack of concern. It was apparent in the lack of coverage on many parts of the block.

That being said I do have the engine assembled as I wanted to duplicate the factory finish as much as possible. I did leave the intake and spark plug covers off so I could get maximum coverage of the valley cover, engine block and valve covers.
I'll just hang them and spray at the same time.



I think at this point I will thin as you described and spray away.


Thanks again for all the responses.


Rich

[pete324rock]

Been there ,done that...but I didn't use the gun you mention..it was an electric sprayer....but it worked fine.Bills paint is real good stuff....and hate to disagree,but please don't waste a good job by using a brush or similar. Also,If you haven't already,use stones to grind all flashing off the block if you want a better job.They remove metal fast and is way better than what is there previous..for sure.
Lacquer thinner is the way to go for thinning and since the paint bill sells sets up so fast,you can either thin a lot or a little,according to what your gun setup will spray without spitting,since the paint is so heavy.Other than that...you will be very pleased with the results. What color are you spraying? I did some metallic blue and it was not as good but with a brush was horrible,so spraying was the answer. I also did some exhaust manifolds. Ground them all down...boy were they sad looking before. Used the grey exhaust paint-hi heat...started using a foam brush and it dried so quick,it did a horrible job so I ended that and got the sprayer out and holy cow,what a beautiful job-showroom manifolds. Hope that helps........and that is damm good paint! oh and plus you will lacquer thinner anyways since that is the only thing that will clean that paint up...nothing else will touch it.

[Fred Rawling]

Hobby shops and craft supply store sell a small air brush with a very small jar to hold the paint. I think it was under $10.00.

This is what I used to sparay my engine and small parts. It is great because the cleanup is easy. The only headache is that the jar is small and you have to refill it often.

The spray volume is adjusted by screwing in or out the tip.

I bought a quart of acrylic enamel reducer from the local auto paint store. It was around $20.00 if I remember correctly. The stuf that they sell at the local home imporvement store is not good. I asked for warm weather reducer.

I only thinned a small portion of paint, what I estimated I needed for the job, rather than thinning the whole can.

I thinned it by watching how fast the paint ran off the screwdriver blade and adjusted the consistancy after sparying a piece of cardboard. Not very exact but with such a small amount of paint, a viscosimeter was too big.

Fred Rawling
Bellflower, Ca

[special55]

Hey guys thanks again for all the help.


I ended up spraying it with my HVLP gun and a 1.7 tip. I upped the pressure a hair to better attomize the paint. I decided to go the unthinned route and with the 1.7 tip it sprayed fine.


Here is the results.


Rich

[Bhigdog]

The factory would be proud of you...........Bob

[Dwight Romberger]

Looks great!
Congratulations

[special55]

Thanks Guys


I appreciate the kind words.


Rich