Seems I've seen a couple of engines where the owner has painted them with POR15 engine paint, resulting in a real glossy and smooth finish. So what is the drill to ensuring that this is done properly? I have a B230FT engine I want to swap out, and was thinking of painting the replacement before installation.
Craig, did you smooth/grind/sand your B20 before you painted it?
Thanks
John D
Fort St John BC

Hello John,

I recently painted my b230ft with POR, and was really happy with the results. The process involved getting the block really clean, wire wheeling any loose paint off, prepping the block with POR Metal Ready for proper adhesion, one or two coats (can't remember) of regular POR rust paint, and then two coats of the engine enamel. I did mine with a regular brush with decent results. I'm sure Craig will chime in here, but yes he did grind and polish his block, and he also sprayed his with a gun. So far it seems to be holding up for him, so I'm hoping mine will be the same.

Hi John,

For those that haven't met John yet, he owns one of the nicest 1800S's you'll ever see (because he actually drives it). His car is the dark red one third from the right.



Anyway - Greg's got it nailed down. I did grind the B20 block as you can see here on the right. It took me a couple of evenings with various stones, carbide burrs, flap wheels, hand blocking...it got a little out of hand.



Then I hosed it off with metal prep as POR-15 doesn't stick to smooth surfaces. Then a single coat of regular old POR-15 (black) sprayed with a cheapo touch up gun. Then when it is tacky (about 3 hours or so), you hit it with 2 coats of POR Engine enamel (let the first coat fully dry 24 hours).

This is the result.


I've also used this same process to do my B23E - it turned out fine albeit not as nice as the polished block in the 122.

Hmmm.. Thanks guys, but it sounds like I will skip the detailing on this engine. What I have is a complete rebuilt 94 B230FT longblock that I bought from an Volvo indy shop in Kelowna, with ex. manifold, turbo, head, W pump, etc installed, and I don't want to strip it right down to paint it, which, from the sounds of it, would be the proper way to go in order to do a "really" good job.
I think what I will do is tape off all points of ingress and egress, clean it as best I can by hand with Varsol and brushes, use some marine clean and metal prep, and hand bomb it with POR 15. It won't be a good as what you guys have done, but it should last a few years.
Thanks for the kind words, Craig, regarding my 1800S. Not too many miles on it this year, way too busy. I was at the VCBC Osoyoos get together (just overnight though), but drove my 940T down this year, not the 1800. I had to take my two dogs and a passenger and I am afraid the 1800 might have been a tad cramped. I met quite a few guys from the Alberta Volvo delegation though, which was great.
John D
Fort St John BC