Painting engine

I have my 440HP (1969) out of my coronet now. Am going to repaint it before reinstalling. As i am not rebuilding the engine and therefore won't be hot tanking it what is the best method to assure a long lasting paint job?

questions I have are:
1) must all the old paint be removed or just any loose stuff? How do you remove what is on there?

2)Was going to use Mopar rattle can engine paint. After reading I am now scared to as I have read lots of bad reviews of this paint. Is there a great rattle can alternative (street hemi orange) or should I use this as an excuse to get an HVLP set up? need paint suggestions for either appraoch. would spraying it be more enduring?

don't want to cut corners, but also have to do what is practical.

any other suggestion that may help my end result are greatly appreciated.

This all started out a few months ago as i pulled my front bumper to replace it. Now many nuts and bolts later the engine is out, the front end is ready to be disassembled for a rebuild, and a complete underhood detail is under way........If i don't get this engine painted soon I fear I will talk myself into rebuilding while it is out!!! i have been contemplating a cam upgrade......

You will get all kinds of comments about how if you want to do it right, you need to spray it with a gun.

I have always used Plastikote engine enamel (Hemi Orange) and been very pleased. It is true that the spray bombs aren't as durable BUT there are some advantages as well;

- obviously easier and cheaper though that didn't really push me one way or the other

- you can paint individual components separately, easily, at any time and have everything match up

- if you do need to touch something up down the road, again; easy and it matches

- some of the spray booth engines look WAY too shiney and perfect to me. It's easy to do a better job than the factory with a spray bomb as it is.


Anyway, just another point of view before the "paint it properly with a gun" advice starts.

Dave

pressure wash it, wipe it with grease remover and shoot it with plasticote

I for one have had excellent results with the Mopar engine paint. I'm not familiar with what the complaints are, but mine has held up just fine, no peeling or chipping anywhere. It did yellow slightly on one area of the head, so I may touch that up someday, but it's not overly noticable.

With paint there is so much failure or success possible depending on the prep work and technique. Some paint could peel right off and get a terrible review just becuase the person didn't know what they were doing.

My 440 took three full cans to paint, including the intake, valve covers, oil pan water pump etc.

I usually spray the engine down with de-greaser and brake clean. Scrub all the really dirty spots with a wire brush, and pressure wash. After the engine is clean of all grease and gunk, I use a wire wheel on a drill or grinder to remove any rust and/or old paint.

As for painting I have done both spray bomb and auto. paint from a gun. Just depends on what type of resto. you are doing and what you have access to. If you are going to use spray bomb I would use Plasti-kote. I always use primer first either way.

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I always use primer first either way.

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What kind of primer do you use with the Plastikote?
Do you think it is necessary?