Engine compartment touch up paint

[travhous]

Sorry I don't have before and after pictures, but I thought I would pass this along.

I had brake fluid leak from the master cylinder and ate away all the paint from the fender well. I also removed some unused brackets as I am in the process of doing a engine swap. At some point I will be repainting the entire engine bay, but the missing paint below the brake fluid reservoir and bare metal below the removed brackets was bugging the heck out of me.

I was at my local hardware store getting some house paint matched and it dawned on me that they also color matched oil paint. So, next time I was in True Value I brought one of the removed brackets and for $8 I had touch up paint. As far as my truck goes the engine compartment doesn't have any metallic in the paint so it matched quite well. I painted well over half of the left side fender well and touched up numerous spot on the other panels. I used a paint brush with multiple light coats and it sure looks better than it did before.
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I did find one picture that kind of shows the damage from the brake fluid.
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[geezer101]

It looks nice and fresh - great job (and your second picture was extra helpful to me as I was wondering what a stock coolant reservoir looked like!) My engine bay looks really rough :(

[xboxrox]

Travhous; how timely that I viewed this post of yours; great job, looks new..! I feel the pain you felt: "It's bugging me..." The exact same brake fluid thing happened to my truck since April this year... My plan is similar to yours; to paint brush a repair & use aluminum foil to cover things not painted... It's bugging me what product to use on the rusted metal to convert it... (?) I am guessing I'll use a stiff sponge or a SOS type pad to scrub off the old paint n' rust + small wire brush... (?) My working space will have to be the DIY spray wand car wash bay at the Marine Corps base in Kaneohe...

Congrats to You Bro & Hope this inspires me to eventually work on the best fix I can do... :mop:

[pennyman1]

look for Ospho at the hardware store - it is a phosphoric acid solution that converts the rust to iron magnetite that is inert. Then use an self etching epoxy primer before you paint

[xboxrox]

pennyman thank you :)

Self etching epoxy primer (?); hope to locate some...(?) I saw that Ospho at Hardware Hawaii Store & Evapo-Rust product at O'Reilly's Auto Parts which said to clean, cover with paper towels soaked with product 12 hours... Cover with plastic sheet n' use magnets to hold in place...

travhous thank you :)

Hardware Hawaii next door has paint, will see if they mix oil paints to color match... Do you think an oil paint is ok compared to regular auto body paint..? What is auto body paint (?) Did the oil paint harden & seem tough like auto paint..?

Just Googled this: https://www.instructables.com/id/Paint-Your-Car-With-Rustoleum/

Thanks everyone -- this is one job I will not enjoy :chopwood:

[tortron]

That rustoleum technically never hardens. Its full of oil. Doesnt react well to brake fluids and solvents

[xboxrox]

Hi tortron, thanks for that tip...

[tortron]

If you are careful when topping up the fluids and don't mind touching it up every now and then it's good at keeping the rust away.
I'd go 2k Epoxy anyday. You can brush it on (much safer that way)

[xboxrox]

2 part epoxy paint

[yamahlr]

Excellent results with Evapo-Rust. Have used it a number of years.