Engine bay clean up

[Camaro_09]

I am doing an engine build so i have alot of time to clean up the engine bay and make it pop. I got a white 2000 camaro, So right now i got everything stiped from the engine bay and now im working on geting 10 years of grease off, and then i was going to bondo the holes that arnt used and sand them down. Then i was thinking about painting the bay Black. Im not sure how a white car with a black engine way will look, i think it will set the car of but what do you guys think.

[pace2006]

Re: Engine bay clean up

I say go for it. I saw a local white car with satin black engine bay and thought it looked good. Do the wire tuck mod while your at it too.

[bigairboarder44]

Re: Engine bay clean up

I say paint it white and polish stuff like the accumulator and brake lines and such.

[dmw319]

Re: Engine bay clean up

I say paint it white and polish stuff like the accumulator and brake lines and such.

agreed. fill those holes in and clear everything out of the way and spray it then clear coat on top of that. i did that with my old camaro and it looked just as good as the outside of the car!

[truekoa]

Re: Engine bay clean up

make sure you take pics!

[Skinny]

Re: Engine bay clean up

I did something similar with my pewter TA. I removed all of the wiring and cables going across either fender and filled in all of the holes. I also relocated the small ground wires on the radiator support (next to the headlights), then drilled down the empty nuts where those ground wired were bolted down and filled those too. I painted the entire bay with a charcoal grey color that I had matched to the interior color. I topped it with a nice clear coat.
For my first attempt at painting anything, I think it came out pretty well, although I admit now, I didn't know what the f%$& I was doing. If I had it to do again, I might go with a flat black instead of the polished grey. Believe it or not, the flat black tends to stand out more than my charcoal color, although a clear coated black might look pretty good in a white car. One thing I would recommend for sure though is to paint/clear the under side of the hood, if it's not done already. I neglected that on mine, with the intention of replacing the hood soon after anyway. 5 years later, I have yet to replace the hood.

[kristen]

Re: Engine bay clean up

your not gonna wanna use bondo in the bay.....with the amount of twisting cars do, the bondo will crack over time. just use a fiberglass kit

[dmw319]

Re: Engine bay clean up

your not gonna wanna use bondo in the bay.....with the amount of twisting cars do, the bondo will crack over time. just use a fiberglass kit

some might twist more than others ;)

[Skinny]

Re: Engine bay clean up

your not gonna wanna use bondo in the bay.....with the amount of twisting cars do, the bondo will crack over time. just use a fiberglass kit

For the small amount that you would be using to fill in the little tiny holes, you won't have any problems with cracking due to any amount of "twisting" that you might see in the engine bay. In fact, of all places on the car, these spots on the engine bay would be the least of my concerns for twisting and distortion.

[ssms5411]

Re: Engine bay clean up

For the small amount that you would be using to fill in the little tiny holes, you won't have any problems with cracking due to any amount of "twisting" that you might see in the engine bay. In fact, of all places on the car, these spots on the engine bay would be the least of my concerns for twisting and distortion.

I agree. S.

[kristen]

Re: Engine bay clean up

some might twist more than others ;)

lol...not mine:o

[Camaro_09]

Re: Engine bay clean up

Well i have an update for you all, i have got most of the wet sanding done in the engine bay, im gong to bondo the holes tonight and prob. primer it once. Sorry for no updates, i have been busy working. Also i want to shine up the a/c lines and what not so how would i go about doing that? Well here are some pic. after a couple diff. grits of paper.

[truekoa]

Re: Engine bay clean up

I think you can also sand the A/C lines. Are you going to do the wire mod? I think you can also delete the ABS module with a proportioning valve, I'll see if I can find the link from ls1tech

[bigairboarder44]

Re: Engine bay clean up

Polishing brake lines (and I guess any other aluminum).

Supplies: 200, 400, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 wet/dry sandpaper, Dremel, small dremel polishing/buffer rolls, aluminum polish.

Steps:

- Begin with 200 grit sand paper (I wet sanded) and sand all the lines and every crevasse you can get too and basically after your done with 1 grit sand paper, move to the next finest.

- After wet sanding, grab your dremel with the buffer roll on it and the aluminum polish and rub a good amount on each line and go to town. I used settings of 10,000 RPM - 20,000 RPM and they came out like shown in the pictures.

You will be amazed at how much the dremel helps when you do it and you'll ask yourself why didn't you do that earlier lol because it IS really that easy.

Total time I spent on them was about 1-2 hours. Regular upkeep is required however as this is aluminum it will start to lose the fresh polished finish. But just pull out the dremel again and hit it up for 5-10 mins and its good again.

From LS1Tech: http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/appear...t-looking.html

[Camaro_09]

Re: Engine bay clean up

Well im to the point were im ready to paint, now i dont know if i should go with a gloss black or with like a satan black. Im not going to rattle can it i have a pro coming in to spray it. Any input would be great.