Project Cleaning the Clutter in Our Engine Bay

[tonytahoe]

Nathan, Thanks for the info on the fuel lines.Also,did TechAFX make you a custom line to go from AN at the intake to QD at the other end??

[572HP]

Nathan,
I see you have supplies for your inner fender repair work. I have a white car and have used that dupli-color base along with their clear top coat for under-hood stuff. I also have a friend who has used the same. What we have found is that the dupli-color clear will yellow fairly quickly due to the heat. I have bought from autozone the clear engine paint. I painted a test piece with the dupli-color base, and then put the engine clear on top. It seems to be holding up fine. However, only time will tell if it will yellow too.

Guys, keep up the excellent work! This thread is a wealth of information.

[14pilot]

Subscribed!

Read this thread. Went out to the garage, opened the hood and pondered...

...flipped my Evac line from over the throttle body to under it. Then got online and ordered the 2012 heater hoses and the short corvette fuel line too.

Just a small start, but I've got the bug. Thanks guys! Great thread you've got going here.

[Moreno1]

Originally Posted by tonytahoe

Nathan, Thanks for the info on the fuel lines. Also,did TechAFX make you a custom line to go from AN at the intake to QD at the other end??

Yes, that line with the QD has no part number yet. 24" inches was what length that work out. I sent Will and e-mail yesterday so that he can know how long he needs to make them for you guys.

Originally Posted by 572HP

Nathan,
I see you have supplies for your inner fender repair work. I have a white car and have used that dupli-color base along with their clear top coat for under-hood stuff. I also have a friend who has used the same. What we have found is that the dupli-color clear will yellow fairly quickly due to the heat. I have bought from autozone the clear engine paint. I painted a test piece with the dupli-color base, and then put the engine clear on top. It seems to be holding up fine. However, only time will tell if it will yellow too.

Guys, keep up the excellent work! This thread is a wealth of information.

572HP, thats the kind of knowledge sharing that makes this so helpful for everybody. Thanks I'm only using the base coat for the inside panel to get a satin look. I'll let you know how that works out.

[Moreno1]

Originally Posted by 14pilot

Subscribed!

Read this thread. Went out to the garage, opened the hood and pondered...

...flipped my Evac line from over the throttle body to under it. Then got online and ordered the 2012 heater hoses and the short corvette fuel line too.

Just a small start, but I've got the bug. Thanks guys! Great thread you've got going here.

14pilot that's cool. There's a lot of little stuff you can do that wont break the bank and make a big difference. Let me know if I can help in any way.

Nathan

[Moreno1]

Got started on the fender this afternoon.


The goal is to smooth out all the imperfections. Notice it has the sets of numbers stamped on them. There's ripples from the stamping press. Looking to clean all that up.



So I spent most of the time in this position. I hope my Aunt doesn't see this picture. Not sure she'd appreciate my use for the quilts she made us, LOL.



Progress shot. Looking pretty good considering I've never done this before.



I gave it another coat but I ran out of time.



I'll finish up tomorrow.

[572HP]

Looking good Nathan. You can easily remove that top strut cover to get it out of the way. Just don't drive around with it off. Be sure to do the "toilet mod". Also, the LSR Performance billet cover looks/works very well with this toilet mod. I'll try to get a photo tomorrow.

Here is the toilet mod:
http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148648

[572HP]

I pulled the water pump off today along with the power steering pump bracket, the alternator bracket, and the tensioner bracket. I'm going to take these to Mike to have them powder coated. Nathan, I love your new water pump, but I'm not ready to spend that much. Maybe later. For now, I'll see how the powder coating looks.

I spent quite awhile sanding down the throttle body and the whipple tensioner for powder coat. I had Mike powder coat the throttle body when he did my calipers a couple weeks back. The whipple tensioner bracket is sand-casted, and it is already powder coated. I wasn't planning on pulling the water pump, but I was somehow inspired. I would love to take the time to sand this water pump down, but I don't have the equipment to do that large of piece, and I'm not real certain how well it will be visible being black powder coated anyway.

I have finished filling/sanding/painting my coil packs. They will be mounted on the holley valve covers. I'll set them in place tomorrow, and snap a photo. I have also started on moving some of the wire harnesses. I'm going to see about moving the alternator cable to the bottom like you did Nathan. I have also stripped all of the corrugated tubing off of the wiring on the passenger fender. I would like to see if I could reroute this bundle around the strut tower instead of across the top.

Man, the hardest part of this project is drawing a line on what to do / not to do.

[Synner]

If you're wanting it smoothed out and coated ask him to do a primer coat first. There's some that will fill the casting fairly well. It won't be perfect without some sanding but it'll be much smoother than purely top coat on a sand cast part.

[Moreno1]

Originally Posted by 572HP

I pulled the water pump off today along with the power steering pump bracket, the alternator bracket, and the tensioner bracket. I'm going to take these to Mike to have them powder coated. Nathan, I love your new water pump, but I'm not ready to spend that much. Maybe later. For now, I'll see how the powder coating looks.

I spent quite awhile sanding down the throttle body and the whipple tensioner for powder coat. I had Mike powder coat the throttle body when he did my calipers a couple weeks back. The whipple tensioner bracket is sand-casted, and it is already powder coated. I wasn't planning on pulling the water pump, but I was somehow inspired. I would love to take the time to sand this water pump down, but I don't have the equipment to do that large of piece, and I'm not real certain how well it will be visible being black powder coated anyway.

I have finished filling/sanding/painting my coil packs. They will be mounted on the holley valve covers. I'll set them in place tomorrow, and snap a photo. I have also started on moving some of the wire harnesses. I'm going to see about moving the alternator cable to the bottom like you did Nathan. I have also stripped all of the corrugated tubing off of the wiring on the passenger fender. I would like to see if I could reroute this bundle around the strut tower instead of across the top.

Man, the hardest part of this project is drawing a line on what to do / not to do.

Is it possible to powder coat the water pump? I had heard that the heat will ruin the bearing. I hope that bats not for me

I can't wait to see the powder coating. We need picture pretty soon here!

Originally Posted by 572HP

Looking good Nathan. You can easily remove that top strut cover to get it out of the way. Just don't drive around with it off. Be sure to do the "toilet mod". Also, the LSR Performance billet cover looks/works very well with this toilet mod. I'll try to get a photo tomorrow.

Here is the toilet mod:
http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148648

Thank's for the toilet tip. I wasn't aware of it. I'll go by Home D tomorrow. LSR are nice. I'm also looking at http://www.phastekperformance.com/20...a280001blk.htm

[1FAST SS]

I think the engine compartment will look great once you paint the inner fenders. Really considering painting mine also.

[572HP]

Originally Posted by Nathan Moreno

Is it possible to powder coat the water pump? I had heard that the heat will ruin the bearing. I hope that bats not for me

I can't wait to see the powder coating. We need picture pretty soon here!



Thank's for the toilet tip. I wasn't aware of it. I'll go by Home D tomorrow. LSR are nice. I'm also looking at http://www.phastekperformance.com/20...a280001blk.htm

That is the LSR product. The top cap just pushes on and uses an o-ring to keep it in place. I had to leave off the top cap because I have pedders coil-overs.

I wasn't aware of the water pump having issues with powder coating. I'll try to research it. Mike said that he has never done a water pump. Might just be the reason. I guess I could just spray it with engine paint. Black isn't too difficult to match, and with the whipple tensioner bracket, you don't see too much of it anyway. I'm going to spray the aluminum part of the power steering pump too since I don't want to break open the lines.

[572HP]

After some research, I will NOT be powder coating the water pump. Seems like the pulley needs to be cut off to get to the bearings and seals, which need to be removed. I'll just go with some high temp paint.

[572HP]

Here are some pics:

The LSR Performance billet strut covers. Also included is the toilet mod:
Noise in the front, look here....might have something for you, +fill strutplate gap!





The painted coil packs (with ARP bolts). I sanded down the raised part numbers, and filled in the dimple in the center with body filler.





The coil packs on holley valve covers (new plug wires on back order). You can't really see the wire colors without the flash. I would wrap the wires first if I were to do it again.