best way to clean and paint an iron block?

[Bowtie-Bri]

Originally Posted by 70SS396

An engine degreaser and washing with warm water and a scrub brush should work. If you want to wait until the weather clears, take it to a spray car wash and hit it with the high pressure washer, that will take it all off.

I would leave the heads as is, just polish them up a bit though.

Have fun!

What he said, should be good. I would throughly clean the heads, polish them, ect. till your happy with the way they look. Then I would mask them off, and paint the block. When I had my engine out a couple of years ago, I cleaned it and had a friend of mine spray the block with a white epoxy primer, then shot it with Hugger orange body paint and followed that with a glossy clear. It turned out really nice and it still looks fresh today. Take your time and do it right. If you rush it to meet a goal, you'll never be happy with it. The more detail you put into it, the better it's going to look.
Remember to post pictures, we all want to see your progress.
Good luck!