In the Kingdom of Rattle Can Painters... there are Many Legends....

[Jason Edge]

... but only one King!

And while he may have been off making those silly 60's Pooch de Ville Movies the last few weeks, he has returned to form today in his own 2018 Comeback Special!
(Tony, and a few others my get my wacked references here.. maybe not!)
Anywho... I bead blasted, primed, and painted a valve cover set, front and rear THM trans inspection pan and this balancer going to Australia as soon as the paint cures.
My Acetone dip... 20-20-20-20 methods still works like charm. Weather reached 70 and had perfect skies and the pollen and bugs have not taken over so it was near perfect outside painting weather. Here's a couple of pieces From Da King:

 

[Kris Kusack]

My paint came out good too, but my color was off lol. what color did you use?

[2o93f8rdftyzj]

I had to use Ford Dark Blue last year, as it was the closest I could get. (The Joys of living on the other side of the planet and in another hemisphere.)

By the time it was all buttoned up and fitted, it looked pretty good.

[Jason Edge]

I use the Bill Hirsch Cadillac Blue.. Yours doesn't look like the lighter Ford Blues I am use to seeing. Looks pretty close to me. 

[Jason Edge]

Actually this might be where VHT might be a good thing when using Ford Blue. I have used VHT Cadillac Blue and it looked almost Black!.. so if their colors are darker than others their Ford Blue makes it look almost Cadillac Blue! If that make sense.

[2o93f8rdftyzj]

It is classed as "Dark Blue" and I think, from memory, it was for late model Fords.

I bought about 7 tins of the stuff from Autobarn. (For the Aussies on here)

[2o93f8rdftyzj]

I gave the tappet covers a flogging with a cutting polish and then Mother's Wax job after that.

I was bored one afternoon while waiting for the machine shop. :-)

The whole engine came up pretty ok I reckon. We're no show car, just a good ol survivor driver car.

Sometimes you have to improvise too, like when you don't want to disturb stuff and need to get it the hell out of the road when ya painting.

[Jason Edge]

You can also add a couple of coats of engine grade clear coat such as the Rustoleum Clear engine paint that I use to give it some ultra shine. I used this on my personal valve covers and air cleaner housing. It ends up being like a show car finish... worthy of  Best Paint Award! LOL
If I clear coat something it would be a Acetone-20-20-20-20-20-20 method! Here are the Rustoleum paints I would use on the air cleaner housing which as a gloss black finish.

Here are some pictures of my finished engine from 2012.

[24ro8f5mbs2jc]

"My Acetone dip... 20-20-20-20 methods still works like charm". So what is that?

[Jason Edge]

Once a part is prepped and ready for paint, I dip or wash off with Acetone that removes residue and immediately evaporates, then I will apply 1st coat of engine primer & wait 20 minutes, apply 2nd coat of primer and wait 20 minutes, apply 1st coat of engine paint & wait 20 minutes, and apply 2nd coat of engine paint and wait 20 minutes.  For every part I painted today it took just over 80 minutes.

Engine Painting Tip Update!
Backing up a bit, when I first wrote my - Engine Painting Tips article in our Help page,  under the "Wrinkling" section, I indicated that I waited 30 to 45 minutes before applying the next coat. All of this is of course to give the paint enough time to tack, but not wait too long where the paint has cured to the point that the top coat will "attack" the bottom coat and cause the dreaded wrinkling.
 
Fast forward 5 1/2 years, I have now found that you can cut the time down to 20 minutes; thus, I call it my Acetone-20-20-20-20 method.  Actually you can probably cut it down to 15-15-15-15.. but if you have too much humidity and layers are too thick or still too wet you may get sagging or running.. and this is where I really like the Rustoleum spray can engine paints.  It is hard to get that paint to run!  The Bill Hirsch Cadillac Blue is also a high quality paint and also does not tend to run. You may want to experiment with different paint brands before you cut the time too short.

Clear Coat:
 If you wanted to add a couple of coats of Engine Clear then that would add 40 more minutes and would be my Acetone-20-20-20-20-20-20 method!!!  So in 2 hrs you can go form bare metal to 6 coats, and end up with show room finish.

OK: And here is where technology helps!
If you are like me you tend to get sidetracked easily once you apply a coat and get in the middle of something else and lose track of time, so I use the timer on my iPhone to alarm after 20 minutes, after each coat.  My ring tone is AC/DC's Back in Black, so when I hear Angus and the Boys I  know it is time for the next coat!  

And finally.. prepping!
Prepping a part will be different depending on the part. For example I spent a lot more time smoothing down the valve covers painted with progressively smoother fine sand paper than the harmonic balancer which basically gets a bead blast, and once over with the medium grit paper and then 0000 Steel wool dipped in Acetone.  Regardless of the part, however, they get a dip or wash off with the Acetone!

[24ro8f5mbs2jc]

You use pure Acetone?

[Jason Edge]

Yes. I usually keep several gallon cans of it picked up from local Home Depot store.  You can get it for about $15 / gallon here.
Click Here for link.

[Jason Edge]

ps. I  hope my explanation helped.  I learn from everything you guys post and appreciate and thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience. As I posted in the Help article, I am no expert but have shared what works for me.  In my reply to you Anders, I went into considerable detail to answer your questions about what my method is to prep and paint. I am still not sure if it is a cultural thing, internet thing, or what, but I was brought up to thank people when they go out of their way to assist or help me. Maybe it was just my Southern USA upbringing. Maybe it is just the cold world we live in?