Engine bay clean and dress up....

[SMok3 Em A11]

Decided to tear some stuff apart and do some much much need cleanup and dressup under the hood of the Z. Im taking my time with this so I probably wont update again till Im done.

Here are some before pics minus alt. removal and i already pulled the valve covers and wiped them down for paint prep.9957
Yuck!!!!
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And some help from my 3&1/2 yr old lol!!!
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[zmm95]

Lol! Love the picture with the kid! Haha are you gonna paint the entire bay? Or just clean up the engine?

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[SMok3 Em A11]

Yea she and i went to autozone together the other day and the convo went somethin like this.
Her:" hey daddy"
Me: " yes baby girl"
Her:" I WANNA BE A RACE CAR DRIVER!!!!"
LOL it came outta no where.

No im not painting the bay it will look a ton better if i just do some fine detailing. And yes i will be painting a few engine parts.

[biggriff]

BAG the Opti...should look good dude

[SMok3 Em A11]

Yea did the bay cleanup on the T/A when it was running and it look like i opened someone elses hood.lol. Got some pretty intresting ideas for the manifold and valve covers. Also thinking of throwing some paint ob the intake elbow and cold air pipe.

[meissen]

Let's see the after pics! :D

[SMok3 Em A11]

As soon as i get it done i will post some stuff cleaned up i will. Its been hot as hell in va so its hard to work on a roof all day the stand in a humid garage and work on the car too long lol.

[SMok3 Em A11]

So I got off to a slow start do to some sort of chest cold starting Friday I was down and out all weekend and only worked a half day today. Altough I truely love my cars so I tuffed it out this evening through the terrible Va. humidity(makes it very difficult to grip anything w/ sweaty hands). And here are a couple pics of what went down.

Driver VC painted and OTVC wire kit installed.10070

Passenger side VC painted and OTVC kit installed.(pia btw do to TB coolant delete never being done before tonite)10071

Intake elbow painted.10072


BTW got it back together enuf to get it fired up ran amazing but need to button up a few more things before drive time. Also have a hella header leak @ head need advice on some good gaskets???

[Badbird_96]

Easy Percy shop seal for good gaskets. Reusable and work amazing. Also would reccomend getting split lock header bolts while your there. They are kinda high but worth every penny. That's what I used on my header install.

[SMok3 Em A11]

Made a lil more progress this afternoon. Some of it noticeable and some progress on a future project.

Cleaned and tried to polish the maf a lil. And painted the down pipe on the cai.
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Started cleaning my extra fuel rail that will go back on the extra intake i just had glass beaded.1010910110

On a somewhat sad note i almost had a catestrophic failure. When i was doing my tb coolant delete i broke the metal coolant pipe that runs along the intake and when i fired it up i almost didnt notice before it flooded the opti:eek:

[SMok3 Em A11]

So i need some help making a decision. I want to start preping my spare intake mani to paint it. My delima is what color. I was thinking chevy red but with all the green and red already under the hood i dont want it to look Christmas themed lol. I do want something that stands out like a brite color but what would go well with my current scheme???? Take a look at the pics and give me some ideas please fellas....

Red is still not totally off the list either so keep that in mind guys.
Thanks

[CamaroGirl]

Black!! Goes with everything!

[SMok3 Em A11]

Black!! Goes with everything!

I had considered that but was thinking somthing a little briter... But with everything else painted and polished fuel rails that may be a really good idea.

[Badbird_96]

Polish the whole thing. I used to have a polished one and a black one with polished ribs. Or do it green with polished ribs. Or a very bright silver or possibly a charcoal with green ribs Already thought of Xmas with the red otvc looms lol.

If you do polish it I would do it like I did mine and paint the bolts and brackets and the lines between the rails black. Just enough to set it apart and be sure to clearcoat it with engine clear so it doesn't oxidize

[CamaroGirl]

Black w/ polished rails for sure, or you could go all polished. I just find that it would be a bitch to keep clean right,
Either would looks great IMO

[zmm95]

I'd say black.

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[v7guy]

I'd have a hard time with the green red combo. I'd be looking at a dark grey or a black for the intake with maybe a polished top. The idea being that the dark background will help everything on top of it pop.

[SMok3 Em A11]

I'd have a hard time with the green red combo. I'd be looking at a dark grey or a black for the intake with maybe a polished top. The idea being that the dark background will help everything on top of it pop.

Do they sell a gunmetal type high temp paint if so i think thats what i will go with. Thanks i hadnt even thought of grey.

[meissen]

Looks great so far! PS your passenger side OTVC wire holders are backwards bro :jest: Should be like how you have it on the driver's side.

[bRock]

Black!! Goes with everything!

+1 I almost did mine black, but I went w/ red since everything else was black; wanted to break it up.

[Badbird_96]

Don't know what type of paint you use. I recommend duplicolor high temp engine paint. I know they have a charcoal but dunno about gunmetal

[SMok3 Em A11]

Looks great so far! PS your passenger side OTVC wire holders are backwards bro :jest: Should be like how you have it on the driver's side.
Yea that is the way they were cut i bought them from Zmm95 thats how he had them on his car. I kinda like them that way because it clears the oil fill better.

Don't know what type of paint you use. I recommend duplicolor high temp engine paint. I know they have a charcoal but dunno about gunmetal

Dupli color is what i was gonna use charcoal should look good ill look and see what they have though. Thanks for the input and compliments guys.

[Badbird_96]

Just a fyi the rustoleum engine paint sucks. Its so thin you can't keep from running it. I use duplicolor on everything lol

[Spartan7]

Another vote for black and polished fuel rails. I had mine powder coated though.

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff114/malomanm/Firebird/IMG_2364.jpg

[SMok3 Em A11]

I like that look Spartan. I think i have decide on some sort of dark grey or black.

What is the process to polish the ribs on the intake? Never polished cast before what will i need?

Who ordered the whup ass fajitas?!

[CamaroGirl]

I used my wheel polish and a mothers powerball. Afterwords I used auto-sol polish to keep it up. Has just enough abrasive to work perfect.

[Spartan7]

Thanks. Mine are actually chrome overlays from Brent Franker. You can't even really tell they're overlays by looking at them.

[SMok3 Em A11]

I used my wheel polish and a mothers powerball. Afterwords I used auto-sol polish to keep it up. Has just enough abrasive to work perfect.
Ok so I spent quite a while today with my Mothers cone and aluminum wheel polish the fuel rails are easy. The cast intake on the other hand dosnt seem to be getting any brighter? Is there some other way to get that come shine on those ribs?

Thanks. Mine are actually chrome overlays from Brent Franker. You can't even really tell they're overlays by looking at them.
What exactly is over layed the rails? It looks really good.the lighting almost makes it look gold lol.

[Spartan7]

What exactly is over layed the rails? It looks really good.the lighting almost makes it look gold lol.

Huh, I just noticed that. But they do pretty closely match the fuel rails in person. They're just adhesive-backed vinyl, Brent will make them in almost any color you want. Scroll about 1/4 way down and you'll see them.

http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/vinyl/vinyl.htm