got my motor out and and currently planning on totally repainting everything in the engine compartment, I was wondering exactly what sanding/priming/etc I should do to get a decent looking durable finish. Its gonna be black rattlecan, but I want to make sure I use the right stuff and the right process to make it last and look nice. help is highly appretiated!!

 

Oils and their "brethren" are always your biggest culprits when doing this. Degreasers are helpful and then try to get everything as "clean" as possible. Wire bursh/wire wheel any scale. Primer is good and allows you to help find and eliniate troubling "fish eye" spots. Not a lot of tricks on this one, just patience and perspiration.

 

I removed my subframe and all of it's parts and sandblasted all of it. In the long and short run it was a waste of time. I think you would do better to use some engine degreaser with a high pressure washer with HOT water and it will definately remove all of the gunk. As stated above, a good wire brush will be needed to remove the hard scaling and stuff, then re-wash with the pressure washer.

IMHO, if you are going to rattlecan the chassis use the chassis paint provided by "Classic Industries". It has more "paint type stuff" in it that is much more durable than say like Krylon black. Trust me on this one. I used the chassis paint on my main subframe and then used the Krylon stuff on other parts and it always seemed as though I was going back every so often to re-spray those other parts with the chassis black paint because the other stuff simply wore out.

 

I am not sure why you are using rattle can. I did that for budget reasons and not knowing better, use POR15 and it will be way better, mine is still there but dosnt look nearly as nice as a good POR15 job.

Make the right choice and make it last for only a coupe dollars more.