under the hood. After 11 years of ownership, it's time has come. Visited a local car show last night and numerous guys said they use Rustoleam semi-gloss. First I've never painted so I'm a little gun shy. Most the parts are clean, nothing is very rusty. Any suggestions on sandpaper and paint? Thanks! Jeff
Air cleaner should be GLOSS black. Most of the other black items under the hoos are semigloss or satin black. EDIT: I've had good luck with painting the semigloss stuff with Duplicolor DE1635 Here is a thread I created when I started doing my engine compartments: http://www.buickcenturion.com/forums/showthread.php?t=208&highlight=
He is right about the gloss. MAny guys paint the air cleaner flat black. Most of the semi glosses on the market in spray bomps are actually very flat. Check out any old road test mag with a 70 GS in it and the air cleaner lid is always very shiny. I have also heard the base of the cleaner may be a little less glossy but not sure on this.
To do the air cleaner........properly....best to have it glass beaded or sandblasted with low pressure and fine sand. Doing the air cleaner by hand with sandpaper/emory cloth....you will be there all day. Once you do the air cleaner.....then you will see the other brackets don't look right....then you will want to do them....then you will notice the core support needs some paint...then the fenderwells...then the bottom of the hood.....then before you know it...you are doing a complete engine compartment detail! :Brow:
If the metal base of the air cleaner is gloss black, what color should the fiberglass/plastic snorkel be? Thanks
Air cleaner is satin black or semi-gloss black...not gloss black. For the fiberglass.....you can use satin clear.
Why have all of my original air cleaners been gloss black? They're definitely more gloss than the core support/inner fenders.
Duane and I had a discussion about this...you are correct.....air cleaner had more gloss than core support and fenderwells....but it is definitely not gloss black....more like semi-gloss and other items under hood are satin....or 20-30% flat....there was a discussion here about it a year or two ago on paint mixes for spray gun applications.
George, I will have to disagree about the gloss on the Air cleaners. All originals I have seen were very glossy. I have a cover from an Electra on hand with the 455 decal half peeled of and it shines like a mirror.
I will try and see if I can get a good picture of the little bit of black paint under where the decal was. I can see myself in it. Scary.:shock:
I'm sure GM only used one batch of paint to do the air cleaners... and bought it from one supplier... and made absolutely SURE the formula was exact on every single air cleaner they painted on all 100,000 give or take a few thousand cars they ran down the line... and then there's the ones that never even went out on a car... Your probably ALL right.. you can only hope to get close to what may or may not come from the factory... :laugh:
Just wipe the fiberglass with paper towels and a bit of lacquer thinner or Wax & Grease remover. DON'T use anything abrasive to clean the fiberglass portions. No scrubbing with Comet, or steel wool, Scotchbrite pads and stay away from it with any type of sandpaper!!! Start with "low impact" cleaners and then move it up a notch if you have a stubborn area. You want to preserve the "sheen" on the glass surfaces and anything abrasive will work against you there. If for some reason the glass is dulled out, scratched up from a prior "restoration" attempt, etc. you can get it clean and then spray the glass with a satin clearcoat.
"Generally, all the black underhood components were painted semi-gloss black, with the exception of the air cleaner, which has been proven to be a gloss black" Duane. I guess we can put this to bed finally......
