Painting the body under the hood. What Paint?

[EagleTalonTim]

I am looking to paint under the hood of my car while I have everything stripped out of it. What I am wondering is what paint to go with. I would like something durable that can hold up to oil getting on it and basic under the hood fluids possibly coming in contact with it. I am also looking for inexpensive. There is paint in quarts at O'reilly Auto that comes pre-mixed (one for Primer, one for paint, and another for clear). They are about $25 per quart. I would think 1 quart would do it. I have the right equipment to spray it too.

Here is a link to what they have in the store :
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/d..._N0485_-1_-1&keyword=paint&pt=N0485&ppt=C0171

Any feedback on this paint or what other paint I should use?

 

[DogWhistle]

From the factory, they spray on the body paint, which is heat-cured. I would be skeptical of using a paint that is air-cured since you don't know how well it will hold up to the repeated heat and chemicals.

The paint you listed is a lacquer paint, which will dry dull, and gloss somewhat with a clear coat. Lacquer paint is made to be buffed out to attain a shine, and with the nooks and crannies under the hood, you would be buffing a ling time. Lacquer has a reputation for being somewhat of a brittle paint, so, I personally would not use this paint.

Perhaps your best answer will come from Dupli-Color directly. Call or email them and ask them what they recommend.

Whatever paint you wind up with, I recommend that you re-install the heat shield pad. That helps the paint on the top of the hood too.

 

[EagleTalonTim]

This is by no mean a show car since I am pretty much stripping it to race it now that I have another DD. I painted my valve cover with rustoleum spray paint we had left at my work and it turned out great. 5 light coats of paint and 5 light coats of clear. I killed the clear coat when I tried cleaning my engine bay with Super Degreaser (Don't ever use that on aluminum! Found out the hard way!) The valve cover actually still looks good when I clean it up and it has been 2 years now.

I have ready about VHT enamel based paints and was wondering about that paint under the hood as well. I don't think I have ever used an enamel paint before.

 

[NWHTanK]

I prefer a single stage gloss. No clearest to apply.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Auto store paint of your choice spray clear qt, for touch ups, oriely for the qt waste for me, would need more paint, for good coverage but that's me.