I just got my heads back from the machine shop. Prior to reinstalling I wanted to paint them chevy orange again. I degreased them well, then painted on the first few coats. I had some runs and some crusty old paint on one end of a head that I wanted to touch up. So today, after they dried overnight I went and scuffed and sanded the spot I wanted to repaint. I started painting, and it started to orange peel badly right away. Same can of paint, 16 hours later. I shook it well. It's an old can of paint, a couple of years old. Is my paint bad, or what should I do differently....now I have to re-prep and respray. If it orange peeled, is this a foreshadowing that it won't stick to the heads once the engine is hot and running?

Thanks,
Josh

Dont think its your paint.. sounds more like there is still some oil residue on the head. Use either xylene, denatured alcohol, or acetone to clean the head again. Warm it in the sun then spray it in the shade and set back in the sun to dry, Wait about 20 min and respray. Then again in 20-30 min.. let sit and should be perfect the next day to install.

I think you were right. I bought new paint anyway...turns out I was using Chevy Red/Orange, which is what I used to paint my Lotus engine...almost a perfect match for that. Anyway, I now used Chevy Orange, and I degreased it prior to painting. I think what happened was I used a scotchbrite pad to scuff it for the respray, but didn't degrease it, and may have had some oily residue on the pad. This time I scuffed it first with a clean pad, then degreased it well, let it airdry, then resprayed. Looks like a million bucks.

That's about the way it goes, you go through all this work and spend all kinds of money, then in the end you screw up something so simple it's plain silly.

Haha,
Josh

If it weren't for mistakes, there would be no frustration. Nice to hear everythings ok. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

When I painted the block and heads in the 75, I used the POR engine paint kit. POR silver under the Chevy orange top coat. It has been 8 years now and a blister or discoloration anywhere no even around the exhaust ports.