Reply to "Engine Bay Finish"

If you're looking for the speckle finish, trunk paint looks pretty close. You have to use a clear coat over it, however, or it will soften and wash off at the car wash. I have not been able to find anything else like it, either at the local auto paint suppliers, or from Eastwood.
I did it in my engine bay, which is how I found it was easy to wash off. Now I'm about to re-do it using a matte finish clear to seal it. I cannot vouch for it's durability, but I expect it to be relatively poor. On the positive side, I think it will touch up pretty easily.
I had some areas where the original material had flaked, cracked, and broken away. I found some black roof sealant that comes in caulking tubes at Home Depot. It was in the roofing materials dept. not the paint dept. I gobbed it on and spread it out with a bondo spreader. Some of the deeper areas required a couple of applications, After a couple of days it had stiffened up enough to paint it with the trunk paint. The trunk paint has a real nice "build" characteristic to it and I was able to restore the engine bay pretty nicely. Unfortunately I didn't know about the clear coat, but the chip and crack repairs are holding fast and do not require any further attention.
If you find something better, please post it!
Later, Mooso.