Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

So, I know it comes down to personal tastes but would like your opinions on Granite look trunk paint. My bay is somewhat crappy with imperfections with old paint runs and I’ll never be able to find a matching red in a rattle can. I don’t know the original red color of my car either as it’s a more orangey red. That said I’ve seen engine bays done nicely with durable trunk paint in light gray that’s speckled. I realize that stripping it in the future will be a pia but it won’t happen in my lifetime. What are your thoughts? Flat black is pretty boring. I do plan on painting my block a shade of blue closer to Pontiac blue or Gunmetal. I’ve seen 510,Zs done this way and they look pleasant. The gray you see in the bay is just a primer. Taking a poll.

Personally I like the bay to match the body. Have you considered going to a paint shop and having them do a color match? They can put any color you want in a spray can, and the cost is reasonable. If you don't want to go that route than I would use a gloss paint. Your idea of the granite look to hide the imperfections does seem to have some merit. Another option would be bed liner, some of those can be tinted your choice of color.

theunz wrote: ↑Sat Feb 16, 2019 3:41 pm Personally I like the bay to match the body.

Ditto on that. I don't think it has to be an exact match. Close enough is good.
Depending on your engine and carbs and cleanliness, there isn't a whole lot to see in there anyway in my opinion. If there is a drastic color change between the body and the engine bay, it may look more like an "Earl Scheib" paint job. (For those who aren't old enough, Earl Scheib would paint your entire car for $89 back in the day. I think even less when they had specials.) He didn't paint the engine bay so it would always be different.
I think you should paint it close to original color, not to be "more original" but rather that it may look "more funny" later (funny in a bad way) if you don't.
Mine is "close enough" and it's good enough for me. With all the clutter in my engine bay, I can't see much anyway.
Good luck on whatever you do. It's your car. Make it, make you, more happy!

Greg, I remember Earl Scheib would paint any car any color for $29.95. Does that make me an old guy?
Nismou20, I painted my engine compartment body color and I agree with the previous posts, but that being said, it is yours and if you like what you have seen on other cars by all means do it. You are the one that has to be happy with it.

So my opinion is not to use spatter paint as they don't have any real resistance to fuel or oil, although touch up would be easy if something were spilled. Also, again IMHO, spatter paint/bedliner/flat black just give the appearance of a "cheap" job. I think with how nice the rest of your car is, and the fact you have the engine out and are doing all the work to cover the brake lines and such, find a gloss engine enamel rattle can that is as close as you can get to match the existing paint. It wont be perfect, but I would think it would be a world better than trunk paint and have better resistance to fuels and still be able to be touched up if needed.

Tom,
Check with an auto paint store about how big a piece they need to put under their machine to produce a color match, then have them put the paint in spray cans. You might need to call several places. As I recall it has to be a flat piece. Maybe the cowl could be brought in and they can catch the corner. With the excellent matching they can do the engine bay will look great.
West Valley Auto Color Canoga Park did spray cans for me years ago. It is likely still enamel and should hold up well. There is also a PPG Distributor site in San Fernando that said they can do color match via machine, not sure on cans.
You probably need about 4 cans which could be their minimal order. I don’t think they are thrilled to do it versus their usual sales, but just let them know that is what you want and you know it can be done
Tin foil for masking is great. Some primer first I think too.
If you need some help let me know
Linda

dads311 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 16, 2019 4:55 pm Greg, I remember Earl Scheib would paint any car any color for $29.95.

Ha ha ha. I pulled the $89 price off of Wikipedia. I thought it was less. I think I remember $49.99, so you may be a little older than me. Ha ha ha.
I saw a car one at night with one of Earl's paint jobs. The owner was quite proud of it. It did look great from 10 feet away in the dark. Ha ha ha. Once you looked up close, even in the dark...Yikes!

When I painted my SP310, my tutor advised me to use a mix of the body colour [Cherry Red] with clear coat for the engine bay.
The strategy was that you can't successfully polish the engine bay once the hardware is all reinstalled, so the mix provides a permanent gloss to the engine bay area.
It wipes clean easily and sure enough comes back to a nice shiny appearance.
I know modern cars use a dull grey or gun metal for the engine bay but body colour is a nice detail IMO

I wanted a nice looking engine bay so I prepped and painted same as the outside. I think that with the living conditions for paint under the hood that you want it as glossy and tough as possible. You can't get any kind of toughness or longevity out of a rattle can and you can't clean well with all of the stuff in there so it will look crappy soon. With the amount of prepping you are doing I would get the custom color by the paint code which is easy with Datsun. I got a can recently for another car and it was $20.00. You can then clear coat over it and have a tough easy to maintain finish. Here is mine. 666 Datsun base and clear

Benjamin:

"PREVAL."

Jon

All good inputs! As Mark pointed out spatter may not hold up to the elements fuel, brake fluid, etc. Still like it as it will hide the imperfections but I’m reading reviews that even under wet conditions that it may wipe off. Not good. I’m going to buy a can and do some experiments to see how good/bad it is.

however - always body colour

Personally, I like semigloss black. Easy to keep looking nice, easy to spray and makes block colors and bare metal parts look grea
Dant

My experience with the splatter paint is that it mottles and comes off when it gets even mildly wet for any length of time. It's trunk paint for a reason, I would not use it under the hood. If you want a similar look, get one of the enamel splatter paints, or hammered paints. That said, I also prefer body colored.

I like even crappy body color paint over other choices.
If you want a rough texture, I would think bed liner paint might hold up.

I would suggest you go to a automotive paint/body shop supplier.
They mostly will let you take color sampler out to your car to get a fair match.
Red fades so any close match should be good.