My old 307 just gave out. I am in the process of building a 400 small block to go in its place. While I am waiting on machine work, I thought that I would detail the engine compartment. I have painted several motorcycles before and I am familiar with the painting process. I have an extra quart of Sherwin Williams black acrylic enamel laying around so I will probably use that. I was wondering if there was anyone here that has done this before that could warn me of possible places for overspray to leak out and get on the exterior paint. I plan on masking off the front of car as much as possible and laying some drop cloths over the rest of it. Will this preven overspray from getting on my car? I will be doing the painting outside. Is there any holes or places that I need to block off that I might not think about? Any other tips or tricks that I might need to know?

I would go to a autobody jobber and get some "liquid mask". Just cover up the engine bay and spray the rest of the car. Then just unmask the engine bay and go to town. You will still need to mask around where you be painting with 18" paper, but when everything is dry you just wash the spray mask film off the car.
P.S. make sure you get the kind for use on cars, they also make a spray mask for paint booths and it comes off alittle harder. We use it on some jobs and it works great and washes off pretty easy. I can look at work and let you know the brand we use if your interested.
Austin

Austin,

I'd be very interested to know the brand that you use. I didn't know such a product existed. I don't do alot of painting, just a couple of motorcycles a year or so. Is the liquid mask easy to get out of cracks and crevices, like around windows and doors? What about tires?

It comes off nice, as long as you are using a car soap with a mit (might be harder with just water). Solvents don't remove it, but water does. When it get wet it feels kind of slimy with the mit, then just rinses off. I'll check the brand tomorrow at work.
Austin

The brand we have at work is called "quik Mask" by Aqua tec. The part # is 00115, but that is for a 15 gallon container. If you find someone that can get it, I know you can get it by the gallon or possibly less.
Austin

Thanks