Looking at the pros and cons of painting my tin as opposed to replacing it.

Sme bits are quite cheap to buy new so wondered is it worth cleaning, degreasing, sanding and painting old tinware?

Also what sort of paint is best if I decide to go this way (which I will do with some) - does it need a high temp paint or is a good epoxy all that is required?

Hi

I use White Knight satin black, reasonably durable. Genuine tin usually fits better than new replacements.

Steve

ok have done some research and what I have found is if you have original German tinware then you cant get any better than that.

For my new engine build I am using my existing tinware and having it powder coated

If your using all your original tinware definately powdercoat..cheaper than sanding,prepping and painting in 2pak.Very durable.Make sure they block any threaded inserts or areas where you put in clips etc..in the tinware as it will fill up with powdercoat or just re-tap after powdercoating.

So obviously doesn't have to be high temp paint as such? You can get a pretty good VHT paint which is nice and glossy so might go with that. My fan housing is pretty good, just things like the underside tin and heat exchanger surrounds need a hit but would probably use muffler paint for the exchangers.

Powder coat is considerably more pricey from what I've looked into, plus the downtime of a couple of weeks.

take a look at my resto thread but I cleaned up my original tin and then used 3M high temp paint from Supercheap.

Came out looking like original Matt Satin Black and seems pretty hard wearing so far

Forget the aftermarket tin, it rattles, cracks and fits poorly, good condition OEM tin wins hands down everytime.

I've run colourcoded detailed engine bays for about 15 years now and have always found if you put the effort into prep and use good quality paint it holds up well and looks awesome.
In saying that though with the last VW engine I built I took the plunge and had some original tin powder coated gloss white.

It wasn't as costly as I would have though ($120 5 years ago) and I was really impressed with how durable it was, very resistant to chipping and scratching and oil stains polished straight off.
Well worth it if you plan on keeping the car.

Powder coat is a lot more than that now. I was working for a place making light fittings etc and we had a pretty good deal with powdercoaters and the prices were high. Around $80 to do a wheel rim. It used to be $30 but environmental penalties and other costs have lifted it. Not as bad as galvanising but getting there. They wanted $200 to 2pak a steering wheel and that was not counting prep.

The other obvious problem is downtime. Can't drive with engine tin off.

Thanks for the advice, I think I'll go with one of the good paints and use my original tin. Just got to get the time to do it now.

If you really want to use a VHT paint that requires curing/baking then make sure you follow the instuctions and bake it in an oven to avoid it failing completely

I just use a rattle can, killrust, white knight etc