hey guys.
well i spent the day today degreasing the block and gettin er ready for some paint. its pretty cold here, and its going to be for a while it seems, so heres my question........i need to tape to cover up the cylinders.....but its so cold the tape doesnt want to stick, what can i do to get it to stick or to cover up the cylinders? i also covered the water pump holes and the fuel pump hole, is there anything else i need to keep paint out/off of? do i need to tape over all bolt holes(such as engine mount bolt holes and others)?? thanks

There is nothing stopping you from putting big pieces of cardboard on the block deck surfaces and painting away.you could even "bolt" the cardboard down, as if they were fake cylinder heads.

I painted my engine in below freezing temperatures. I got away with it by having the paint can at room temps and using a space heater on the engine.

what he said above /\/\/\,, or wd-40 all the machined surfaces,gasket surfaces,and inside the block. the paint won't stick to the wd-40. use a piece of cardboard to "hide where you don't want to paint" like a template guard,,then paint away. afterwards,, a little carb cleaner or brake cleaner on a paper towel will wipe away the overspray if there is any.

i put an old timing chain cover and oil pan on, and i taped over the water pump holes and fuel pump hole, and where the oil filter goes. is there anything else i need to tape over? bolt holes or anything else?

what he said above /\/\/\,, or wd-40 all the machined surfaces,gasket surfaces,and inside the block. the paint won't stick to the wd-40. use a piece of cardboard to "hide where you don't want to paint" like a template guard,,then paint away. afterwards,, a little carb cleaner or brake cleaner on a paper towel will wipe away the overspray if there is any.

WD40 is bad, that's one of the reasons you get fish eyes in the paint.

WD40 is bad, that's one of the reasons you get fish eyes in the paint.

not on the places you do want to paint,, just inside the block and on the decks/timing cover area, etc.....

i put an old timing chain cover and oil pan on, and i taped over the water pump holes and fuel pump hole, and where the oil filter goes. is there anything else i need to tape over? bolt holes or anything else?

If you're painting the engine, I am assuming you are doing other stuff to it. Running a tap through all of the various holes on the motor (to tidy them) is not a bad idea while you're at it. Therefore, it doesn't really matter if you get paint in them or not.

For blockoffs I norm use junk engine parts.. Like junk bare heads, usd timing cover, oil pan, even intake..

If I don't have a used junk part then I just make cardboard cutouts for that place on engine by useing it's gaskets laid on cardboard and trace around the gasket then cutout the cardboard

no doubt,, it's just painting an engine block. fisheye's won't matter much once the headers and water pump are hanging off it,, you won't see anything from the top of the headers/water pump down anyway. no biggie.

Instead of WD-40, you can use liquid car wax. I've applied it with a small paint brush on details before and sprayed over it. Wipes right off afterwards. You can get perfect results if you have a steady hand. Never tried it on a block, but should work just the same. Have a lot more control over it than WD-40. Also pretty sure duct tape will stick no matter how cold it is, you might try some of that.

Also pretty sure duct tape will stick no matter how cold it is, you might try some of that.

It sticks but it leaves crap behind. :(

the cardboard is a real good idea, ill definitely have to give that a try. already have an old timing chain cover and oil pan on. so ill give the cardboard a try and see how that does for me.

It sticks but it leaves crap behind. :(

Some carb cleaner or a gas soaked rag will take that right off. My vote is either for the use of duct tape, or a cardboard template.


-Nate