Painting Engine bay Plastics

I wanted to share my experience with this, hopefully I can help some people out and give some ideas.

 

First things First. Tear down

I started with removing everything I wanted to paint.
In the engine bay: Stillen CAI, Engine Cover, and the Fuse Box Cover
Behind Grille: Radiator Shrouds and Horns

 

Next was Prep.
-I popped the Chrome Toyota emblem off the engine cover(I broke the plastic Pins/clips, ended up using epoxy to fasten it at the very end)
-Everything that was going to get painted needed to be Scuffed very well. If you see gloss black plastic, keep scuffing. Also my radiator shrouds were absolutely shot, lots of sun fade and the plastic could be scraped off, so I scuffed the crap out of them.(Red 3M Scuff pad)

 

I have absolutely no words on that first pic.

 

What paint did you use and what's your prep work involved? I think I'll do a couple things under the hood but I'm steering clear of anything in the front behind the grill.

 

I Took a trip down to my local Automotive paint store and got my supplies. I had them custom mix the paint codes I wanted. Silver Sky Metallic (1D6) and Toyota Radiant Red (3L5). All in I was about ~$300 in materials.
The Following is what I Used:

 

I'd want black with a matte finish. Appreciate your response!

 

After everything was scuffed, it got:
1. Alcohol wiped
2. Adhesion promoter
3. Primer
4. Sanded with 400 grit
5. Alcohol wiped
6. 2-3 Medium coats of Color
7. 2 coats of clear coat

 

I’m lucky enough to have access to a spray booth in a shop which made the process 10x easier.
Progress pics:

After clear coat, I let them cure in an AC environment for about a week. Finally, I ceramic coated all of the parts and installed them.

 

This was my first experience doing anything like this, and I learned a lot. Always follow the instructions, and don’t rush things. This took me 4 days total between removal/prep/paint/ and install (im a perfectionist). My lesson learned was about primer. Primer is a crucial part of the process for 2 reasons. 1 it covers up the black, allowing for less color to be used. 2 it determines the texture of the finish. The plastic was textured to begin with. Primer fills in the texture, so prime and sand to your liking and desire of the finish you want. If I was to do it again I would’ve done another stage of priming and sanding on the textured plastics to get a smoother finish. But it came out great (in my opinion) for my first time, I learned a lot, and was a pretty inexpensive mod compared to most others.

 

It ain’t for everyone! But I like it, and I build my truck for me!!

 

Don't forget to paint these too. They look better painted rather than chrome or black.

 

Looks like you did a lot of the right steps, my only concern is the paint you used isn't high temp paint. Your actual engine cover may start to peel. But the intake and airbox should be fine with what you used.

 

I was worried about this as well. When I bought the paint I asked, the old man(store owner) said that he has painted engine blocks with that paint and hasn’t had a problem. It’s been on for a little more than 2 months and no issues so far.