After three long months (and a boat load of money) I am finally finished with the restoration of the engine compartment on my 69 pace car. graemlins/hurray.gif Kudos to this site and everyone for providing me with answers to numerous questions along the way. Overall things went very nicely. I tried to stick with originality as much as possible. Not a perfect restoration but turned out pretty good. The only major non-original item I kept was the aluminum valve covers. Liked the look so much that I decided to leave them on but not before sending them to be reskinned by Jerry McNeish as Camaro Hi-Performance. Brake booster was replated by Steve Gregori at www.brakeboosters.com. (http://www.brakeboosters.com.) I picked up a remanufactured carb with correct numbers and date code from Custom Rebuilt Carburetors. Most expensive item I bought but worth every penny! Runs beautiful. Alternator restored by Stan's Auto Electric here in Indy. Probably not as good as John Pirkle would have done but was one quarter the price and done in two days. Refinished the exhaust manifolds with POR15 gray and the brake booster with POR15 metal mask. New correct water pump and fuel pump. I replaced almost every nut, bolt, clamp, hose, fuel lines, brake lines, belts, plug wires and shields, battery cables, etc. Also put on a new new engine harness since a previous owner butchered the old one. This project was alot of fun and definitely more work than I had anticipated. I was amazed at the number of items that were either incorrect or missing so needless to say the expense kept growing. Oh well, does any auto restoration project ever get done under budget and on time? Still have to finish the air cleaner and a few odds and ends but the car is back on the road, finally!

Here are a few pics.

BEFORE:

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v236/lgwright/before1.jpg

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v236/lgwright/before2.jpg


AFTER:

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v236/lgwright/HPIM0221.jpg

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v236/lgwright/HPIM0228.jpg

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v236/lgwright/HPIM0225.jpg

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v236/lgwright/HPIM0223.jpg

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v236/lgwright/HPIM0222.jpg

[ 06-01-2004, 09:22 PM: Message edited by: Indy Z11 ]

super job! :cool:

Im bringing my fork and spoon and we can use that engine bay for a dinner table. Awesome job
graemlins/thumbsup.gif graemlins/beers.gif

looks great did you paint or powder coat

Most everything was painted with spray bombs. Since I didn't go all out and remove the engine, inner fenderwells and radiator support, I decided to see what I could do with ordinary spray paint. It's easy and very effective.

Engine: Duplicolor Chevrolet Orange

Firewall: Krylon Semi-flat black

Black engine parts: Combination of Krylon Semi-flat black and Rustoleum semi-gloss black.

Natural metal pieces: Krylon clear or POR15 metal mask (sponge brushed on).

Exhaust manifolds: POR15 gray (sponge brushed on)

i think i am going to power coat vs paint. i think they both look good but i DO NOT WANT TO DO THIS OVER IN 5 YEARS. some of us think paint is the way to go and others think power coat. the shop will do all the stuff i bring in for $350 in black. time will tell if i did the right thing