Hey guys im currently in the process of planning and researching ways to clean up the engine bay of my car. So far i have bought a battery box cover, which i am going to paint, i also plan to paint the washer bottle and engine cover, colours yet to be decided.

Im also planning a CAI intake of sorts. Im basically looking for ideas and advice from what others have done. Things like these (http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showpost.php?p=950457&postcount=351), and painting other parts of the bay or HPC coating them which i know is quite exp. Any help would be great as im a bit lost a the moment.

The only usefuly pics i have found so far was Blakes old car and a few others but not much advice.

Cheers
Timmy

if you go the hose covers get the more expensive ones as the cheap ones tend to change colour over time

if you go the hose covers get the more expensive ones as the cheap ones tend to change colour over time

Yeh figured that would be the case, also heard though putting on the covers "dramatically shortens the life of the hoses" any truth to this?

Yeh figured that would be the case, also heard though putting on the covers "dramatically shortens the life of the hoses" any truth to this?

Don't know if its true or not, but personally I can't see how putting those covers on could 'dramatically' shorten the life of the hoses, I would think most of the wear comes from the stuff running inside them.

I read a couple of interesting articles on AutoSpeed recenty, one on powder coating, and one, which was quite interesting is metal polishing. I reckon with a bit of metal polishing and maybe powder coating (I think its a bit more expensive) you could really tidy up the engine bay and make it look good. Either way, its an interesting read.

AutoSpeed - Metal Polishing (http://autospeed.com/cms/A_110833/article.html)

AutoSpeed - Powder Coating (http://autospeed.com/cms/A_110844/article.html)

Ollie

I would go the cheap ones to start with personally as its an acquired taste and you may find that you don't like it... or need two kits etc...

coolant doesnt wear out the hoses. If there is no rubbing or movement between the hose and the braided sleeve, then i cant see an issue. As for taste factor/looks.....personally leave it on a vl. My personal taste is a new set of black hoses, cleaned and prepped to look a nice lustrous black.

the wear comes from the contracting and expanding of the lines. Stainless braid is a very abbrasive twine. also anything the braid comes into externally is also bound to wear, like paint and other hoses (from movement with the car in montion)

personally, a nice clean and neat mostly black under bonnet is the best effect. the more vibrant the colours you chose the more it brings attention to it which makes any flaws that much more obvious. The more black you put in there the less any defects will be noticed, as black likes to hide reflections and what not.

Just a nice tidy up of loose connection, wiring if possible, some well placed alloy/sheet metal to partition things off. Leave engien covers on if you have them. Get a hold of black silicon vac tube in the neccessary sizes and replace all vac and coolant lines. Make sure all leaks are stopped and cleaned up. get a nice oil filler cap.

I agree as much black as possible, thats why I'm changing my silicone pipes to black...

however I like a little bit of bling, so will look to pollish the manifold at some stage, so there is the polished manifold, polished pipe in the middle for supercharger, and pretty much everything else black except the supercharger and the strut brace..

but maybe a couple of small pieces of braided hose.. like maybe in behind the front grill where my oil cooler lines are or something..


question I have is how do u paint the washer bottle? is it possible to buy a generic black plastic one?

I thiknk its possible to get a 'more schmick than usual' type of hose clamp?
Either polished stainless, or chromed?

These, placed carefully to allow good access but consistently lined-up adjusting screws, or placed to show the "bling" and hide the screws, can look good. If new hoses, some of that tyre-black/bumper/trim gel might bring things up mint. Could also try that on black plastic trims like air-intake etc.

Attention to details, like lining up clamps, screw-heads etc wins points IMHO. Clean and straight plug leads and vacuum hoses etc. Being "anal" (ie fussy) in other words :D

Painting the washer bottle, good clean-up and degrease, you can get "plastic primer" from KindaCheep Auto lol in a spray can, but the primer was much pricier than the "plastic paint" spraycans I recently bought on special. Haven't used this yet. {{ BTW - If anyone has used Septone branded "plastic trim paint" - I'd love to hear how it goes? Was planning to spray centre console "satin red" in effort to match the Ralliart steering wheel mod. }}

As I live in the bush and drive dirt roads regularly, under-bonnet detailing is pointless for me - if I am at the farm I can't drive to the mailbox without dust/sand/mud (depending on season) getting everywhere under there!! Plus you need a wheelbarrow to get the sand/stones/burrs out of the carpet and mats. Needless to say, my poor cars will never win a show-n-shine.

I am looking to do a engine bay clean up aswell!
I'll be starting with extractors being HPC coated then i'll move onto a front strut whiteline bar and paint the outer mounting rings the same colour as the car.
Then i'll be getting the bolts for the bonnet,guards and across the radiator support all polished.Will make a massive difference to stock and wont cost an arm and leg.
I wouldnt paint the washer bottle due to the fact that its good to see the levels.
A new one from mitsubishi is $70 the last time i purchased one because my original one was torn to bits by a gernie which more than likely the dealer did that before i bought it.
I may even paint my engine cover and do somethin different to it but my car is black so there may be no point really.
I might even look into getting a clear engine cover made up,i know someone who works with perspex but my only concern is how the heat will affect it?

I might even look into getting a clear engine cover made up,i know someone who works with perspex but my only concern is how the heat will affect it?
probably warp it hardcore. The temps under there are amazingly high

wats the point in a clear engine cover????


imo the polished nuts will look pretty crappy.. will give the bolt on effect... its only my opinion... i prefer the blended look and like eveything belongs...

OP, colour code your engine cover to the body colour. This is what mine's like and it looks tops.

OP, colour code your engine cover to the body colour. This is what mine's like and it looks tops.



I will second that Mohits engine cover looks tops

if you get the proper teflon braided hose, with speedflow fittings, which you can get in black, thats a totally different scaenario when compared to those braided sleeve kits you see.

Personally (but only because i only have to pay for materials) i like the fab'd up look. All piping made from aluminium with silicon joiners (including rad pipes) I like black engine bays but love polished alloy piping so its kind of a dilema.

all my rada is now back to stock, trying to chase random ****ty running issues so i shelved my intake piping i made and my catch can and what not. Maybe might put them back on when the engine is changed for soemthing in better condition whether it be another SOHC or what not

OP, colour code your engine cover to the body colour. This is what mine's like and it looks tops.

what did you use to paint it?

what did you use to paint it?
Panel shop did it. Think they used normal car paint, topped off with clear coat. Had it for a year now no issues.

2pak is used just like you would use for the body.
Its high temperature resistant so no probs doing it but use a plastic primer before painting so it has proper adhession but also gotta be careful of silicon because of products used on engine bays like armorall!

2pak is used just like you would use for the body.
Its high temperature resistant so no probs doing it but use a plastic primer before painting so it has proper adhession but also gotta be careful of silicon because of products used on engine bays like armorall!

looks like i'm not painting mine lol, i used spray to keep things black :D