As the owner of a classic automobile, detailing and restoring everything found under the hood is just as important as giving the exterior a good wax job. If you happen to take your classic automobile to a show or convention, it is not uncommon for other classic vehicle lovers to want to take a peak under the hood as well. For this reason, it is a good idea to know how to prepare your engine for a detailed paint job.

Be Careful When Detailing Your Engine

When working on the restoration and detailing of your vehicle's engine, you want to be as careful as possible. Fortunately, you can make the engine look nice without having to take it out of the car as long as you are careful. Doing it this way is beneficial because removing it from the car would be both time consuming and expensive.

A proper engine restoration and detailing involves cleaning and painting the engine. If you do not paint the engine, you need to at least touch up some of the less visually appealing sports with some touch-up paint. Replace old and worn stickers as well as any hoses or belts that look their age too.

Make Sure You Work With Proper Lighting

As you are working on your vehicle, you will quickly realize there is one tool you need more than anything else – proper lighting. Proper lighting is the key to making sure you can see all areas of the engine. This way you can spot all scratches, tarnishes, and dirty spots. After all, you cannot clean them if you cannot see them. A trouble light or a strong flashlight will help you get a good look under the hood.

Remove all Grease and Dirt Before Painting

Keep in mind, you will need to remove all grease and dirt because you can paint anything under the hood. Unfortunately, paint will not stick to dirt or grease. Trying to paint over the mess instead of cleaning it up will always result in a very poor looking paint job. If you can get your hands on a steam cleaner, they do a great job of cleaning grease and dirt off of the engine. Using a steam cleaner is the fastest and easiest way to prepare your engine for a paint job.

After the clean-up job is complete, you are ready to put on the paint. Make sure you select a paint that has a tolerance for high temperatures. Otherwise, the paint will melt the first time you turn the vehicle on. Finally, you just need to put newspaper and tape over anything you do not want paint on and you can begin. Talk to experts like Porsche Services for more information.