I've trawled through thousands of posts about painting engines so I know the engine painting thread has been done to death...however I didn't find too much advice on prepping the block.
She's a bit of a rusty bandit that looks like it was painted black in a previous life. At the moment its stripped down to just the block and the gearbox.
Obviously I will need to reassemble the clutch and flywheel and reinstall the flywheel cover and put my new head on first, but once it is to that stage what is the best method?
Sanding? Paint stripping? Pressure wash? Rust converter?
And would people recommend a hand paint or grab some VHT paint?

Any comments and suggestions are appreciated as I would love to have all the gear ready to paint it up the second it is back together shortly.

I usually clean and paint strip all parts then wire brush on an angle grinder before reassembly. Make sure all the rust is gone or the new paint will flake off
Most paints work ok as long every thing is nice and clean

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1969 Cooper "S"
1967 Mini Deluxe
1973 Clubman Van (the fleet spare)
1978 ex 1275 LS ("Wizard" Eaton Supercharged)
2015 HSV GenF GTS(occasional drive & tow car)
2019 MINI F55 Cooper S

When I painted mine, it was so covered in oil the metal underneath was completely rust free. But after leaving it a day it had a fair bit of surface rust. I cleaned the rust off with metho and a scotchbrite pad. Worked fine for me, and the paint stuck really well.

I used an engine enamel aerosol (3M, I think), and it's worked really well and dried very hard. I'd stick with an engine enamel, because it keeps good thermal properties, and allows the engine to breath. VHT engine enamel would do the trick nicely. I haven't tried rust converter on a block, but I don't think it would be good, simply because engine enamel fuses and hardens with the engine heat. I think rust converter may affect adhesion.

Awesome, great responses.
Howd you get the oil off mate?

When I did my engine, I removed as many parts as I practically could, then blocked up anything I didn't want water getting into with aluminium flashing tape. Sticky stuff, water doesnt get it off. I then went to supercrap and got some VHT engine paint and half a dozen cans of cheap and nasty degreaser and some metho.

To do the engine, I merely scraped as much dirt off as I could with a wire brush, then drenched the engine with a can or two of degreaser. Let it soak for a bit then hit with a high pressure cleaner. That'll get rid of most of the top stuff.
After that, hit with 2 more cans of degreaser and wire brush again, and rags and scourers. Then, get some white rags and wipe the block and painting areas down with the metho. Keep doing this till the rag only discolours minimally.
The metho will evaporate, but go over the lot with a heat gun anyway to finish off any moisture, then mask and paint.

Seems tedious, but the more you prep the better it'll last. When my engine was later rebuilt, the block was hot tanked, but a few places still had paint on them!

When you have degreased and cleaned all the rust and crap off it clean it with prepsol/paint cleaner (then leave it for 30 minutes for the spirit to evaporate) then the paint will stick like glue.

Pete

Alright, I'll be going past super cheap today to stock up!
Big thanks everyone.

I didn't have a pressure cleaner, but it would really help. On my engine there was about 1/2 an inch of oil mixed in with dirt caked over the back - the diff cover looked like a big ball of dirt. I used a piece of wood to scrape as much off as possible, then used a cheap scrubbing brush with degreaser. You should be fine with degreaser and a brush/pressure cleaner, since yours looks pretty good.

I degrease them then hit with a gurney.
When dry, wipe with grease and wax remover.
I found I get better adhesion with a paint brush rather than a spray can, colour painted straight onto the bare block.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.