Painting an engine

Just curious on peoples experience in painting/detailing an engine. Planning to clean mine up & put a nice new coat on it soon. currently the paint appears pretty thick in some areas from prior attempts. some areas are flaking & chipping off. Once I get it cleaned & de-greased, what would be my best bet to get the new paint to stick to any bare iron areas? Is there a primer that would work out better prior to paint? Not necessarily looking for a show car quality, but if it turns out that well, hot damm for me... Thanks....
Author: rnb69