I always hesitant at car shows to open my hood. It's time to fix that. This winter I plan on pulling my engine and sprucing things up. Problem is, I don't know what or how to do it. That's where you guys come in, right?

Here's some pics and some of my concerns. Any input is appreciated.

OK, here's a wide view of the engine compartment. I'll point out some issues I'd like to resolve, but would appreciate any other advise. Keep in mind I'm not looking to drop big $$ into this project. I don't mind spending money on it, but I don't need all the coolest bling.

http://www.vinnedges.com/gallery2/d/1077-2/IMAG0075.jpg

Here's a list of some of the things I'd like to work on:
1. Engine compartment paint
2. Make the firewall look better. I really dislike the looks of the vintage air filler panel.
3. Corrosion on new parts. The master cylinder and A/C compressor bracket are less than two years old and have corrosion.
4. Engine paint.
5. Carburetor leak.
6. A/C hoses.

Here's the Vintage Air panel I'm talking about. Short of cutting and welding a new filler panel, any ideas on making it look better?

http://www.vinnedges.com/gallery2/d/1051-2/IMAG0079.jpg

The chrome compressor bracket and the steel spacer are corroded. Should I just clean them up and paint them?

http://www.vinnedges.com/gallery2/d/1057-2/IMAG0076.jpg

So is the new master cylinder:



http://www.vinnedges.com/gallery2/d/1087-2/IMAG0078.jpg

What's the proper way to paint an engine? I rattle can painted this about 5 years ago. Pretty embarrassing job. It didn't hold up very well.

http://www.vinnedges.com/gallery2/d/1090-1/enginepaint.JPG

Is this carb gunk from a leak or normal...just lack of proper cleaning?

http://www.vinnedges.com/gallery2/d/1072-2/IMAG0077.jpg

This is a driver. I'm not looking for the "correct" return springs or $800 chrome hood hinges. I just want it to look good with the hood open. Maybe one of those "Caution Fan" stickers.

first off dave, i cant believe you said the W word (winter).

anyway, one of those firewall cover up plates would be nice. mostly that air cleaner has to go. look into one of those cold air systems (saw it on two guys garage yesterday) it has a lot of flash and covers a lot of engine compartment. some carb cleaner will clean that carb right up.

Sorry about the "w" word, but it's gonna happen. :(

I'm not familiar with the firewall cover up plates. Any more information...link...pictures?

Mark, is this what you're talking about?
http://acdelete.com/pages/67-9_F-Body.htm

That might work pretty well if it fits around where the vintage air hoses go through.

get your brackets powder coated,

I'm no expert, but I think if you pull the motor, you can probably clean things up pretty well in there. I'm going to be doing some of the same this "off-season" as I have a 302 on order and will be pulling out my 350. Good advice on the powder coating - I pulled my control arms this Spring and had them done and they came-out great. Grease and grime just wipes off of them now. Definitely a different air cleaner; I'm running a K&N with the filter top and it gets a lot of attention. I've heard great things about POR 15 Engine Paint; guys seem to be VERY impressed with it. Hope this helps.

Great idea on the powder coating. Do the kits you can buy at the hardware stores work or is it just better to send them out? Can you powder coat over chrome? How about powder coating the master cylinder? Intake manifold?

Great idea on the powder coating. Do the kits you can buy at the hardware stores work or is it just better to send them out? Can you powder coat over chrome? How about powder coating the master cylinder? Intake manifold?

yes you can powder coat over crome, and you can do intakes as well.
heres a pic of the Holley MPFI intake on my ZZ502 and my custom throttle assy. (also powder coated). the water neck is crome and the intake is aluminum. I powdercoated both at home using the Eastwood kit and an electric oven from Lowes. dunno about doing a master cyl, you'd have to fully disassemble clean and coat it, then reintstall all the internals. I have done valve covers ,brackets ,intakes and other pieces for myself and customers. powder coat is very durable and holds up very well to underhood temps and the elements. it's more durable that regular enamel paint but it's not bullet proof!

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o189/RemoWest/newcam0.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o189/RemoWest/intakezz502working.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o189/RemoWest/502IntnoTB.jpg

Dave I did this exact think last winter.Needed to freshin up my engine and 1 project turned into about 7. As far as the firewall yes you can buy pre cut plates or do it yourself,check out my signature,I have about a zillion pics in folders on my webshots page.Step by step.
I experimented with powdercoating myself and did a few small alternator brackets in a toaster-over that came out awsome.
I also hide my wiring harness between the inner and outer fender,nice and clean.While I was at it I painted the engine bay car color (personal pref.) I never painted before either
Check my sig. at the least you may get some Ideas.
Jeoff J
http://thumb3.webshots.net/t/66/766/5/59/72/2541559720049257303GphRMV_th.jpg (http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2541559720049257303GphRMV) Before http://thumb3.webshots.net/t/75/175/1/67/62/2167167620049257303hjBktE_th.jpg (http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2167167620049257303hjBktE) After

The vintage air compressor brackets are made by Alan Grove and they come in raw steel, so you can paint, chrome, powdercoat... or do whatever you want ! Same with your master cylinder, except they are just the raw castings. Same as stock brake calipers and the center of the rotors or the brake drums, driveshafts etc. You have to do something with them or they will just rust.

dave, what about taking out that ford solinoid or hiding it better

Angel,
Blasphemy! There are no Ford parts on my car! :noway:
There is an After Market solenoid that has solved all my starting problems. :D But if people think it's a Ford part, then by all means I will hide it. :thumbsup:

LOL. i too have an aftermarket starter solinoid on my k5 blazer. my k5 has a hi torq mini starter but it works alot better with the aftermarket solinoid

I'm no expert, but I think if you pull the motor, you can probably clean things up pretty well in there. I'm going to be doing some of the same this "off-season" as I have a 302 on order and will be pulling out my 350. Good advice on the powder coating - I pulled my control arms this Spring and had them done and they came-out great. Grease and grime just wipes off of them now. Definitely a different air cleaner; I'm running a K&N with the filter top and it gets a lot of attention. I've heard great things about POR 15 Engine Paint; guys seem to be VERY impressed with it. Hope this helps.

I just finished using the POR engine paint kit. It worked well but you have to make sure the engine is very clean and dry. I had a couple very small sections (dime size) where the paint didn't stick but I was able to peal it off, clean that part again and re-paint.
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj28/DaralJ/67%20RS%20SS350/August2309005.jpg
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj28/DaralJ/67%20RS%20SS350/August2309006.jpg

Daral,

Great looking engine paint. POR engine paint looks like the way to go. Exactly the kind of info I'm looking for. Was this paint part of a tear down, or how'd you go about cleaning the engine?

Dave - Yes, it was part of a partial tear down. I used Purple Power and a scrub brush to get most of the grease and dirt off. Then I used the POR 15 cleaner that comes in the kit, followed by their metal etch (don’t remember it’s name). The POR primer was silver. According to the directions in the kit, after painting the engine with the silver POR primer, I waited until it was nearly dry but still slightly tacky (about 6 hrs but it will vary depending on humidity) and then brushed on the color.

Aluminum foil works really well for covering parts you don’t want painted and I used blue painters tape on the gasket surfaces. Getting the tape off after the paint dried was difficult, just pulling the tape left a bit where it contacted the paint. But a single-edge razor blade worked great…..cut the edge as you slowly pull the tape off.

my $.02 is I don't care for the plastic loom. I have gone to powerbraid form Painless. It comes in different sizes, is heat resistant and just seems to look better in the engine bay of our first gens. Summit has a pretty good price.

PS I can't wait for winter so I can get some projects done (like finishing up my interior). It's still over 100 here every day. :sad:

Larry,

I also don't care for the plastic wire cover. I just did that recently and want to get rid of it...just wasn't sure what to replace it with. I didn't want to just tape it. I'll probably run much of it between the fenders. I'll look at the painless. Do you have pictures of yours?

OK, POR15 engine paint kit is on it's way. $60 with shipping is about half what I was expecting.

Prep it right and you will like the results.

Here's a link to Summit for the powerbraid: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PRF-70902/. I bought some of Jegs stuff awhile back. Haven't installed it yet as I am getting ready to tear apart and paint this winter... but there is no winter over here!

Robert

Robert,
Thanks for the link. You CA guys do have some pretty nice weather. Right now I'm sitting in the Fremont (San Jose) Hilton about to head out for a walk.

it can make a huge differance in the cars overall apperance!!
before with 20 yr old uneven pin stripes and gold a arms?
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a351/Tonystoys123/yellow%2068/Picture602.jpg
now with a semi gloss even coat and black a arms etc..!!
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a351/Tonystoys123/yellow%2068/Picture889.jpg

new 355 with fresh high temp engine enamel chevy orange 1620
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a351/Tonystoys123/other%20toys/Picture921.jpg

it can make a huge differance in the cars overall apperance!!
before with 20 yr old uneven pin stripes and gold a arms?
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a351/Tonystoys123/yellow%2068/Picture602.jpg
now with a semi gloss even coat and black a arms etc..!!
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a351/Tonystoys123/yellow%2068/Picture889.jpg
Looks good large improvment.Are you putting the pin stripes back...lol....

Looks good large improvment.Are you putting the pin stripes back...lol....

thanx and uhhhhh NO the stripes are gone forever!! and now i have to get rid of the (EL LOCO) on my rear spoiler!!
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a351/Tonystoys123/yellow%2068/Picture468.jpg

thanx and uhhhhh NO the stripes are gone forever!! and now i have to get rid of the (EL LOCO) on my rear spoiler!!
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a351/Tonystoys123/yellow%2068/Picture468.jpg
I say leave it an add hydraulics and get it to bounce...lol...

1 thing you gotta remember is at carshows people are drawn to shiney things.
for your firewall I would install a firewall panel
see them here:
http://www.undercoverinnovations.com/Camaro1Firewall.htm
that will hide all the unsightly stuff.
next i would arrange all your wiring and tubing is some kind of order.
my ignition wires are hidden under the headers make for a clean looking engine compartment.

then get some chrome or billet accesories ( there are tons of that stuff everywhere)
paint all chipped or corroded parts.
get a radiator support closeout panel.
it hides alot of stuff.
i got mine here:
http://www.detroitspeed.com/productpages/indproduct/bodyprod/support_closeout_prod.htm
heres a few shots of my engine bay.
http://webpages.charter.net/harrycoon/IMG_0045%20(Medium).JPG
http://webpages.charter.net/harrycoon/IMG_0047.JPG