Cost to professionally refresh engine bay?

[mlaw7]

I am planning to have the engine rebuilt in my burgundy '78 280z. She sat for at least ten years and although she runs quite well, she's burning a lot of oil and has some significant exhaust leaks. The shop told me this will take about 7-10 days.

While the engine is out, I plan to clean up and refresh the engine bay. There is a little bit of rust that I can see around the battery tray and although the floor pans and rails are amazingly rust free, I can also see what looks like some surface rust around the drivers side rail underneath and behind the engine.

So I want to have these rust issues fixed before they become major problems and then repaint the bay in the original burgundy color. I plan on having the rest of the car properly repainted with new weatherstripping sometime next year.

Although I can see removing some components like the emergency light, carbon cannister and definitely the ID plate, I'm not planning to remove the harness, master cylinders, etc. like we did on my bronze '78. My thought at this point is to have the body shop mask all that and spray the engine bay after the rust is addressed.

I know it's way better to remove everything but simply don't have the time to do it again this time around! It won't quite be show car quality but that's not my goal for this car.

As the interior is very clean and we've already redone almost all of the mechanical components, my intention for this car is to be a beautiful, dependable and fun daily driver for as long as I'm able to drive!

So my question is, does anybody have an idea of what this should cost?

I may go with the same paint shop that did my bronze '78, and see what we can work out as a package deal if I hire them to do the rest of the car as well early next year.

Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

[Zs-ondabrain]

$200.............

Figure everything into the equation. I would POR15 the frame rails and under the battery. POR15 cost about $60 a quart and you'll onkly need about 4 or 5 ounces and that can is about $30.

Sand paper to knock off the scale paint and rust $1 per sheet Many grit styles.

Red ScotchBrite pad to rough up the good solid painted areas. $2 per pad

Degreaser for the ares that recieved oil from the motor and such (I'd use Brake cleaner as it leaves less residue than most other degreasers.

Metal Ready from POR15 is about $12 a bottle and is great for exposed metal. It's a Phosphoric Acid etcher.

Make sure to use Anti-Seize on EVERY threaded nut and bolt. EVERY one of them.

Green Masking tape is about $6.00 a roll for 1" wide. 1) roll should suffice.

Primer can be anything from basic spray on Primer to a more Profesional 2-Part Epoxy Primer can that you break the seal, shake it, then spray it on. $$ not sure but more likely about $20 or more a can and one should do it. Read the can to find out the coverage of each can.

Spray can paint like Duplicolor is used more offen than you think, With fantastic results. about $7 a can after tax. about 4 or 5 cans for a good 3 coats from the firewall to the front bumper.

If I get a chance to do the same on the 260Z this winter, I'll tape off the tranny well about 5 or 6 inches back. Engine bay color to the tape and new Undercoating from the tape to the diff. A little more work but it'll pay off in the end. Less noise, less rust, etc, etc. Plus the satin black color of the undercoating will make the engine bay and tranny look even better.

I guess it all comes down to what extant you're willing to go to make it look decent or fricken awesome. Take this for example......

Edited December 1, 2008 by Zs-ondabrain

[Zs-ondabrain]

oops.........

[JimmyZ]

Do you have a compressor, paint gun, etc?? If you are talking about having a body shop handle the entire thing then it may be $800-$1500 for a proper sandblast and basecoat/clearcoat job. That is IF anyone will do it. Most places will insist on sanding as many people dont do heavy sandblasting. They may also have it sent to a sandblast shop in which case you pay mucho extra $$$.

The ONLY way I see to do this right would be to completely remove everything from the compartment and sandblast. (Fenders too) Sanding and acid treating are kind of a band-aid.

I repainted my engine bay in the open air of my back yard with PPG's Deltron BC/CC. Misted the yard with water to cut down on dust. Think I had one piece of debris in the paint. Perfect otherwise.

Cost for materials is kind of high. See if you can get a pint of color instead of the quart. Most places will mix a pint after a little grumbling. Make sure the pint is something good like PPG's DBC. If you went the really cheap route you could get the materials for as little as $200 but 300-$400 is more realistic. This includes everything from sand, ospho and primer/paint. (Equipment not factored in)

Edited December 1, 2008 by JimmyZ

[Zs-ondabrain]

Yup, I'm cheap........... Or I know how to do what needs to be done for as little as possible. The $200 is a basic starting point. You can also use aircraft stripper, available in a spray can, then wash all the crap away. Takes about 3 cans @ $8. each.

Then use a bottle of Marine clean to degrease and clean everything after rubbing everything down with the ScotchBrite Pads. Wash that off, dry everything with compresses air and a clean towel, then spray all metal with the Metal ready.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Paint stripper $24

Marine Clean 12oz bottle w/ spray attachment $12, gets you 2 bottles because you delute it 1 to 1.

Metal Ready $12 for a 20oz w/ spray attachment. A little goes a long way, keep the metal surface wet with misting for about 20 minutes then wash it all off and repeat the drying process.

Then Primer

Then Paint and (clear coat if you want)

Spot media blaster is only $15 at Harbor Freight and 30lbs of media (aluminum oxide) is $30 And the media recycles into the bag so the price per job just went down, big time.

I can make it look awesome and stay that way for just over $100. Period.

If I had money to blow, I would still take the route I just wrote. Yup, I'm cheap, but my work and craftsmanship speak for themselves. MLAW7.. Do what ever works for you, that's why you asked for options.

Have a great week,

Dave.

[7277]

Yup, I'm cheap........... Or I know how to do what needs to be done for as little as possible.

I can make it look awesome and stay that way for just over $100. Period.

If I had money to blow, I would still take the route I just wrote. Yup, I'm cheap, but my work and craftsmanship speak for themselves. MLAW7.. Do what ever works for you, that's why you asked for options.

Have a great week,

Dave.

couldn't have said it better myself. we think alike Dave!

[mlaw7]

JimmyZ, Zs-ondabrain and 7277 - how long did it take you to do this?

[7277]

JimmyZ, Zs-ondabrain and 7277 - how long did it take you to do this?

check out a few threads down from this one on 'body and paint' called 'engine bay repaint..on a budget'

took me...i dunno...20 -30 hrs for all the disassembly and prep 2hrs to actually spray the cans.

add another 50-60 hrs for all the polished parts...

hey wait a minute..... you've posted on that thread YOURSELF about two up from the bottom...???? and you're still asking LOLLOL??

JUST GET IN THERE AND DO IT LOLLOLLOL!!!

Edited December 2, 2008 by 7277

[blue 72]

It all depends on how far gone it things really are and how far into the project you are willing to go. When I performed my engine swap I took the time to remove nearly every last thing and respray in sections over the course of a few days. I did all the work myself and had the original type acrylic enamel mixed up in spray cans. Cost me some paint, sandpaper, degreaser, POR-15, time and labor. For as cheap as a few hundred dollars in paint supplies it came out very nice I think.

The attached pictures are the same engine bay before the engine swap and after.

I also replaced many things with new, good used, and NOS parts and took the time to hand clean every last nut and bolt. That adds to the overall effect.

I will tell you now that the corner behind the brake booster would be a very tough spot to paint without removing some of the surrounding lines and componentry.

Edited December 2, 2008 by blue 72

[JimmyZ]

JimmyZ, Zs-ondabrain and 7277 - how long did it take you to do this?

Mine took a while because I was doing a frame rail and floor pan replacement. If it was a simple matter of stripping, sandblasting and painting then I'd say 2-3 days max. The real time killer is that when you go to put everything BACK you want it to be refreshed/repainted also. This type of detailing can take a couple of days or more depending on how bitten by the bug you are.

In your case you may want to drill the spot welds in the battery case and properly treat the affected area.

Before and after pics...

Cheers,

Jim

[Zs-ondabrain]

JimmyZ, Zs-ondabrain and 7277 - how long did it take you to do this?

About 6 years........ Give or take a few years.....:stupid:

In the pics below, you'll see the old color and the new color. Took a few days cause the longblock was still in there when I did it.

First two are of the old

Second two are of the finished bay

The third is of the new Triples in the same bay.

All the bling was basically "A little here and a little there" with no real set time limit or measurable hours.

Dave

[five&dime]

I did the bay in my 510 myself. I didn't remove the harness. I used aluminum foil to wrap the large areas of the wiring/harness and masked the rest. Just make sure you wrap it good w. foil b/c if not you will get overspray through to the wiring. I pulled all the wiring to the middle of the bay and set it on the crossmember. I just scuffed everything with 320 grit followed by 3M scotch pads. Pre-cleaned and re-sprayed with PPG base/clear. I did the whole thing in a weekend in my garage for about $250-300.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14049800@N00/2521597460/" title="IMG_8871 by RVAE34, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3103/2521597460_35b609cc09.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8871" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14049800@N00/2520781279/" title="IMG_8880 by RVAE34, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3153/2520781279_ac8dcf0aa4.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8880" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14049800@N00/2522358146/" title="IMG_8888 by RVAE34, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2420/2522358146_58c46e4756.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8888" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14049800@N00/2522166925/" title="IMG_8898 by RVAE34, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3192/2522166925_3a054cd735.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8898" /></a>

Edited December 2, 2008 by five&dime