I was working with my father-in-law a couple years ago and he was doing some detailing on his intake manifold. I watched his technique and I was amazed. It was amazing partly because what he did made so much sense and partly because I felt so dumb that the technique never occurred to me. In case there may be others out there that haven’t done this, I’ll continue to explain.
His engine is a blue-green color and there was some missing paint and discoloration on the manifold near the carburetor. The engine had originally been detailed and painted while on a stand prior to installation. My assumption was that he’d need to tape off or remove the components that shouldn’t be sprayed.
He told me that it was much easier than that and he’d been doing this since he was building models as a kid. Spray the proper color paint into the lid or any other appropriate container and use a brush to paint it on the needed areas. Well duh, that makes sense. The color matches perfectly and there’s no taping required.
I’ve been doing this since. I recently installed my steering column and though all the components had been painted separately, the installation caused a few nicks/scratches. A little spray, a few brush strokes, and the problem areas disappear.
Of course there will be times when the touch-up won’t be appropriate and you will need to tape off when the brush strokes would be obvious on an otherwise sprayed component. In that case, you’ll know what to do.
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