i am building a engine for my 72 charger i want to paint it B5 blue to match the car. the guy that did the engine work said i can paint it with body paint and it won't matter. some are telling me i have to use heat paint. help

As long as the prep is right you should be ok. The local custom guy painted the 396 to match the rest of his chevelle and the paint never flakes off. This was Sikkens paint, really good stuff!

Many, many guys on the board have painted their engines with body paint. I think it holds up better than the cheap spray on crap in a can. The block just has to be very clean/free of oil and prepped right, epoxy primer is a must IMO.

yep. paint away. the block does not get hot enough to burn off the paint.

Body paint won't come off. I know...I painted my 340 years ago with Omni base and want it off now and it is very hard to remove.

body paint works great. If you decide to paint the intake, make sure you block the heat crossover or it may burn the paint over the crossover.

The tech sheet for the paint MAY give the temperature range the paint will tolerate. I've used Rustoleum on the valve covers of my old work truck. It's held up fine. The small print on the paint can said not to apply the paint to surfaces that get over 200 or 210 degrees. You may find the automotive paint manufacturer publishes a temperature range for it's paint as well.

Not only does body paint work,so does bondo. The only problem we've had with bondo was with valve covers next to stock high rise 440 exhaust manifolds. The paint worked next to the heat but the bondo lifted. Keep the primer thin. Etch primer actually works better than epoxy on cast iron. Either one on aluminum or steel. Check out this cross ram. It looked like a cinder block before bondo. It was painted over 15 years ago,still looks good.
Doug