Project Cleaning the Clutter in Our Engine Bay

[Moreno1]

Got the Turn One power steering pump back from the polisher today. Here are a few before and afters.....

















I have all the pulleys polished because they come with a bunch of surface sracthes which is not up to par with what I'm doing. This is not the finish product by any means. I'm not looking to have any bling in my build. This is just the first step of several before I'm done with the final look. The polishing portion was just to get them clean up.



Same with the hinges. You could see how when I got them, they had the CNC machined lines. Hence the reason for polishing them. But they wont stay this way.



I should have the power steering billet tank by next Tuesday. So stay tuned.

[572HP]

Damn Nathan!

I'll be in Anaheim again next April most likely. I'll definitely be taking a trip to meet with you. I'm going to have to see this in person!

[bmbbl be]

lookin good !!!....fyi you might want to chrome the the billet hood hinges as they are hard to get at once there installed. thats why i chromed mine.

[Moreno1]

Originally Posted by 572HP

Damn Nathan!

I'll be in Anaheim again next April most likely. I'll definitely be taking a trip to meet with you. I'm going to have to see this in person!

572, that would be great!

Originally Posted by bmbbl be

lookin good !!!....fyi you might want to chrome the the billet hood hinges as they are hard to get at once there installed. thats why i chromed mine.

B, I didn't know you chromed yours. I thought they were just polished. The theme I'm shooting for is "industrialist mechanical racing". I'm just polishing stuff to clean them up as a 1st step. I'm still contemplating the final finish but by the time I'm done, the only shining thing will be the ARP bolts (Wwhich I'm talking to a friend about machining them to get rid of the ARP insignia and giving them a brush look.

One look would be to paint them in the same color as the engine bay "satin gun metal gray". Here are a couple of examples.







The other option I'm considering for the hinges is gray or black anodize.

A big inspiration for my project, is the mechanical look of the V-Max

[Doc]

Don't go all the same color; it flattens out the overall look and you lose perceptive/apparent detail. Choose selective contrast; a base color for the engine like metallic dark gray, then various shades of gray on some items, black, gold in very selective spots like a bolt or a small plate. Polished can work in many places if it's used selectively. You can also try safety yellow in a few spots or on a few areas of a piece. Reds work on items that might have heat danger or work as a "warning" color. Yellow can indicate "caution". Dark industrial blues work against a dark metallic gray.

Bronzes and coppers work great against blacks, dark grays and dark blues.

Contrast colors used sparingly can do wonders to bring out detail and give the overall piece a more functional, "industrial" look.

As an example for that hinge with the piston; do the piston rods polished and the piston in bronze, or even an industrial red.

Just some suggestions.

[bmbbl be]

nathan in that case ,,,for the industrial look i would do a anadize to go with your theme...

[Moreno1]

Originally Posted by Doc

Don't go all the same color; it flattens out the overall look and you lose perceptive/apparent detail. Choose selective contrast; a base color for the engine like metallic dark gray, then various shades of gray on some items, black, gold in very selective spots like a bolt or a small plate. Polished can work in many places if it's used selectively. You can also try safety yellow in a few spots or on a few areas of a piece. Reds work on items that might have heat danger or work as a "warning" color. Yellow can indicate "caution". Dark industrial blues work against a dark metallic gray.

Bronzes and coppers work great against blacks, dark grays and dark blues.

Contrast colors used sparingly can do wonders to bring out detail and give the overall piece a more functional, "industrial" look.

As an example for that hinge with the piston; do the piston rods polished and the piston in bronze, or even an industrial red.

Just some suggestions.

Doc!!! those are some great suggestions. I was thinking of redoing the Katech tensioner pulley bracket in a anodizing gold, funny you mention that. I'm also looking to do some custom warning labels in different colors.

Originally Posted by bmbbl be

nathan in that case ,,,for the industrial look i would do a anodize to go with your theme...

B, I would do black anodizing and call it a day but black doesn't have good UV protection and will turn purple. Even under florescent lighting over time. I leaning towards gray anodizing as of right now.

Guys, keep the suggestions coming!

[E.T.]

I want to relocate my coil packs to somewhere inconspicuous. Does anyone make a good kit? Is this pretty easy to do?

[Moreno1]

Originally Posted by E.T.

I want to relocate my coil packs to somewhere inconspicuous. Does anyone make a good kit? Is this pretty easy to do?

E.T. go to the OP and scroll to the section "Coil Relocation set-up:". It has hyper links to make it easier to navigate. You also want to to at the section "
Reworking wiring harness:" and clink on 77 and 210 and "Rerouting coil harness:" and click on 71 and 72 and lastly "Relocating Coils" and click on 64. And yes, if I can do it, than it's pretty easy to do.

Hope that helps, if you have any questions, fire away.

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Doc, i have a folder with hundreds of pics for references.













You can see how the gold in small portions create a nice contrast.



KJ, this one is for you.

[kjkjr27]

I really like those fittings. I wonder if I can replace the fittings that came with the catch can myself or if i gotta send it back to Rx.

[bmbbl be]

Originally Posted by kjkjr27

I really like those fittings. I wonder if I can replace the fittings that came with the catch can myself or if i gotta send it back to Rx.

rx cans are not threaded for npt fittings....you would have to send to tracy to change the set-up

[bmbbl be]

nathan my trunk hinges are black anadize..here is a pic

[Doc]

The key to successful "contrasting" is to try and be logical as to what might be a different color and why. For example on this image:



It makes no sense for the top of the clamp to be orange; it's completely illogical so it looks out of place. Logically either the whole thing should be orange, or all polished. It would be logical that the bolts might be a different color as they are.

It takes careful thought and study to plan what to do but in the end the whole will be more than the sum of the parts. It will have the kind of look where people will just stare at it for a long time exploring it to "discover" all the various looks the parts have.

It helps to have a theme idea in mind when you begin as I did with "Blue Angel" which gave me an overall look I wanted to achieve.

[Moreno1]

Originally Posted by bmbbl be

nathan my trunk hinges are black anodize..here is a pic

B those are beautiful, who makes them?

Originally Posted by Doc

The key to successful "contrasting" is to try and be logical as to what might be a different color and why. For example on this image:

Attachment 386487

It makes no sense for the top of the clamp to be orange; it's completely illogical so it looks out of place. Logically either the whole thing should be orange, or all polished. It would be logical that the bolts might be a different color as they are.

It takes careful thought and study to plan what to do but in the end the whole will be more than the sum of the parts. It will have the kind of look where people will just stare at it for a long time exploring it to "discover" all the various looks the parts have.

It helps to have a theme idea in mind when you begin as I did with "Blue Angel" which gave me an overall look I wanted to achieve.

Dang Doc, you have an artistic flare! That's some good advice! Your absolutely right, a theme does help you to keep from veering off. Just cause a part or finish looks cool doesn't necessarily mean it will be in keeping with the theme. I find myself redoing things because after giving it careful thought, I realize even though it looks cool, it's not in keeping.

Update on the block: I primer the block to see if it was smooth enough to paint or if there were some areas that would need addressing. I will say it looked killer and most people would had called it a day. But I asked Jeranamo (Owner of USA Metal Polishing) to give me the tools and tips and I would do it myself.

He set me up with three dremels. One had 150 grip cartridge and the second had 220. The 3rd had a grinding stone. He also gave me a block of red rouge compound. Recommended I dip the sanding cartridge every few seconds as a form of lubing. He also showed me how to make my own sanding cartridges. I will get some videos tomorrow and post them of the process.



Because it's unavoidable that some debris is going to get in the engine, I'm thinking I'm just going to rebuild the whole engine.