Will engine paint stick good to aluminum heads?

[chapel40]

Any special prep work? Although it will be garaged my other vehicles engine aluminum corrodes and looks like crap so thinking of painting them too.

[69wannabe]

From my experience engine paint does not stick to an engine except for a very short time only  Just kidding, I painted my aluminum intake with aluminum plasti kote engine paint and it looks great and stays pretty good too. Cleaning is the key, got to get all the oil and anything else off the surface if you want the paint to stick and stay.....

[Harper]

this is good info, I plan on painting my aluminum heads, intake when i put them on as well. Stock appearing with a little extra sneak...

[c00nhunterjoe]

Dont have any up close pictures of my heads, but it sticks fine. I cleared them. I did go for something different on my steering box. During rebuild, i did a semi polished patina and then cleared it. Adds a nice touch to my engine bay.

[ACUDANUT]

Don't paint it. Show it off.

[ACUDANUT]

Any special prep work? Although it will be garaged my other vehicles engine aluminum corrodes and looks like crap so thinking of painting them too.

Spray them down with WD-40 or something better.  Don't hide your investment.

[chapel40]

Do they make a high temp clear coat?

[chapel40]

Bought a can of this: VHT SP145 Engine Enamel Gloss Clear Can 11 oz Duplicolor HIGH TEMP 550°F

May use it on other aluminum parts but not sure if it will discolor the heads and make them look like crap later on.....

[JR]

In my experience, ONE light coat of self etching primer after a throughout degreasing and cleaning usually works great for painting aluminum. Either spray the top coat immediately after the primer flashes, or scuff the self etch with a red scuff pad before top coat if you have to wait more than a couple hours after spraying etching primer to apply top coat.

Also, when you spray the top coat, do it in 5 or six LIGHT coats. It will last decades if you do it this way.

[c00nhunterjoe]

Best i can do given the size constraints of images. 
Engine clear coat. Has held up for many many years of abuse.

[chapel40]

Thanks all, lots of help!!

[Nacho-RT74]

I painted my Edelbrock 2186 intake I got USED, to keep the stock look ( since this intake is allmost stock aluminium replacement ) into engine bay back in 2012 with regular engine paint and paint hold like a champ!... well, last start up of my engine was back in may/June 2013 LOL, but got lot of miles on that year running being a driver, and getting LONG trips.

no any particular preparation than just a regular clean up.

Can't tell about the heads itself being they get more heat