How to proceed with sanding/prepping engine compartment?? '70 R/T

[gts95]

Well I'm serously considering tackling the prepping and painting of the engine compartment on my '70 R/T but as a novice am looking for some pointers. I've been closely reading some of the Do It Yourself paint stories in recent Car Craft issues so I'm willing to give it a shot. I'm going to try and attach some pics so y'all can see what I'm working with. I do NOT have access to a sand blaster, soda blaster, etc. so I'm going to need to do this by hand or with a DA. The inner fender wells have alot of little surface rust and chips, scratches, etc. so I was thinking mayber just using a chemical paint stripper on those and starting with bare metal. But what about the firewall.....do you think its good enough to "scuff" the existing original paint?

What grit(s) sandpaper would you recommend I use on the firewall? Or would I be better of with a small 3M type plastic disc?

Thanks for any tips!

[terrible one]

The engine bay is definitely no fun.

I don't know about others, or professionals, etc. but I see no reason why you could not scuff the paint that's fine. What I would do is use a chemical stripper/rust remover on the bad spots, clean it up really good with wax and grease remover, scuff up the good paint, clean it all again, and paint. I used the chemical stripper on the engine bay of my '76 Cadillac, and even though it did a good job, I still had to go back and sand/wire wheel some of the spots. I'd just get some assorted grits of sandpaper (60 for cutting down, then maybe 120 to follow that, and 220 to scuff/follow everything with if you sand. That's all just my opinion though. I'm sure someone with more skills/experience will chime in.

[Charger-Bodie]

sand blast it .....seal it......paint it !

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

I cant offer you many paint tips but PLEASE take off all the accessories (wiper motor, master cylinder & mounting plate) while you're in there.

The guy before me that did mine left the M/C plate on there...I took it off and was like WTF??  4 more nuts and it could have been perfect...

my   

[OttawaCharger]

before you start sanding, wash it down with a good degreaser or at least dish soap to cut some of the grease out of there.  It'll make it easier to sand and stop you from grinding the grease in.

[hemi-hampton]

I didn't like the heavy surface rust I seen on the upper back side of core support. I'd send it out for a Media Blast. Then seal & paint. Best way to do it. Or you could grind that rust away, 80 grit DA the paint off. Yeah, to rough some will say, who cares, now prime with 3 coats primer sufacer, then spend all day or 2 in there wet sanding every crack & crevise buy hand with 400 grit wet. Lots of work but when done will look nice. LEON.

[70charger_boy]

http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/techarticles/5127_mopar_engine_detailing/

[VPFD13]

As long as we are talking fire wall my 70 500 has what looks like tar covered with foil the painted black. It comes up from the trans tunnel about half way up the fire wall. Is this some kind of factory heat / sound barrier. And if so whats the best way to get rid of it?

[OttawaCharger]

VPFD13 - welcome to the site 
by your description, you've come across the factory undercoating.  Do a search and you'll find several inventive ways to remove it.  I spent several hours with a propane torch and a putty knife removing all of mine.  Once you've done that, soak the area down in a good degreaser, let it sit for a bit the power wash it off.  You should be in good shape after all that.

[VPFD13]

Thanks for the in put. I was curious as to if it was factory or not I replaced the carpet a few years back and the floors are still solid and orange so I was pretty confident it was not a hack rust repair. But it is going to be some work to get it off.

[69hemi]

sand blast it .....seal it......paint it !

Hear, Hear

[70charger_boy]

Any progress yet?