Did some work under the hood today, how's it look?

[Bama 2SS/RS]

So I got tired of looking at the plastic engine cover every time I opened the hood, so I decided to start dressing up my LS3. I got a kit from TechAFX that relocates the heater hoses along the side of the engine (instead of on top) and also comes with a fuel hose to allow for rotating the stock fuel rail 180 degrees to get the excess fuel hose off the top of the engine. The kit also came with a hose to reroute some emissions hose (I think it's the fuel tank vent) that connects up right beside the fuel line where it goes into the engine bay. That one kit got a bunch of junk off the top of my LS3. While I had the everything pulled apart, I decided to paint my intake manifold cover to give it a better look.

I have a coil relocation kit and some better valve covers on the way, so my project isn't over with. As soon as more parts come in, I plan to relocate my coils to get them off of the valve covers, and put on some "CAMARO" valve covers to complete the look.

Anyway, PICTURES!!!

Here's how it looked before I started (I had the RotoFab CAI for a few months now, so that's not new).







And here's how it looks now. You'll notice the new routing of the heater hoses, the new routing of the fuel hose and vent hose, and the rotated fuel rail. Also, is my newly painted intake cover.











It's going to look so much nicer with the coils relocated and some better looking valve covers. It's also going to look a lot better when I get a supercharger on top, but it'll be a while before I get there.

What do you guys think? I think it turned out pretty good, so far.

[2010 L99]

[SlingShot]

Looks good, you just need to clean and detail the bay a little. Also if you have time on your hands, you can polish out the aluminum part of your hoses with some ScotchBright ...

[Bama 2SS/RS]

Originally Posted by SlingShot

Looks good, you just need to clean and detail the bay a little. Also if you have time on your hands, you can polish out the aluminum part of your hoses with some ScotchBright ...

Yeah, not really "show-worthy" just yet. I haven't cleaned it since we got a bunch of pollen about a week or two ago. That's a good idea on the scotchbright, though, thanks!

[boltmark]

Looks good, nice work.

[camaroitalia]

looks great, i actually have not seen anyone paint that part before. i love the way the V8 looks without the engine cover. quick question i had after looking at your engine, may be dumb though. Is there a way to look at the engine to tell if it is a LS3 or L99? Or are they same and the ls3 just has more power from being a m6?

[BackinBlackSS/RS]

Love the orange intake, but all that exposed wire and stuff just does not look good.

[Pollock]

I like the factory took better but what you did makes it better than none

[daveagogo1]

Looks good. I'm all about the under hood stuff. Here is a tip for cleaning. Many places will be very hard to clean and now that the cover is off. Your going to get dirt in all sorts of nooks and crannies. Buy some cans of compressed air or invest in a cheap air compressor and blow out a bunch of the dust and crap that is going to collect in areas.

I clean, polish and shine my entire engine bay a minimum of every two weeks.

[Bama 2SS/RS]

Originally Posted by camaroitalia

looks great, i actually have not seen anyone paint that part before. i love the way the V8 looks without the engine cover. quick question i had after looking at your engine, may be dumb though. Is there a way to look at the engine to tell if it is a LS3 or L99? Or are they same and the ls3 just has more power from being a m6?

LS3 vs. L99 by look? I don't know. I haven't personally laid eyes on an L99 so I don't know if anything looks different or not. Sorry, man, just not sure.

Originally Posted by BackinBlackSS/RS

Love the orange intake, but all that exposed wire and stuff just does not look good.

Actually, with all the orange stuff on the car, this is one thing I've done that's NOT orange. I actually painted the intake red. I can't remember where I saw it, but I saw someone's Corvette one time that had the intake red like that, and I just liked the look. So I did it to mine.

As far as the wiring, I have some coil relocation brackets on the way, and I will be tucking my coils away, off the valve covers and routing some new spark plug wires along the sides of the engine. After that, I'll only have two wire harnesses on top of the engine, one each for the left and right side injectors. After I get the junk off the top of the valve covers, I've got some GM Performance valve covers already on order that say "CAMARO" on them, and do not have the brackets for the coils. It will look a lot better after that. This is just step one, here. The stock valve covers are also what kind of makes it look a little "junky" right now, especially with the extended fill spout for engine oil on the passenger side valve cover.

These are the valve covers I bought:

Originally Posted by daveagogo1

Looks good. I'm all about the under hood stuff. Here is a tip for cleaning. Many places will be very hard to clean and now that the cover is off. Your going to get dirt in all sorts of nooks and crannies. Buy some cans of compressed air or invest in a cheap air compressor and blow out a bunch of the dust and crap that is going to collect in areas.

I clean, polish and shine my entire engine bay a minimum of every two weeks.

Yeah, I'm definitely going to have to figure out a good system to keep everything clean. I don't know about every two weeks, that may be a bit too much for me, but I'll probably at least give it a real good going-over every month or so. Do you get in there with some car soap and a hose and stuff to keep everything clean? I can see blowing out dust and loose dirt with compressed air, but I would think that it needs to actually be washed with soap and everything.

[SlowSS]

Looks pretty good!!

[daveagogo1]

If you waited good periods of time yes you would need to do some washing. Since i do mine no more than 2 week intervals i really don't have this issue. Other than air i do use some Adams products under the hood to keep things clean. My engine covers come right off so i can clean and polish them and pop right back on. As for all rubber, vinyl and even plastic i use Super VRT. The most i ever have under the hood is basically loose dust and lately some pollen so it goes pretty fast. I typically spend about 2hrs cleaning under the hood every two weeks and it stays in nice looking shape. Compressed air, Super VRT, All purpose cleaner, waterless wash and lots of rags and she shines better than new on most all days.

Need to update my photos since i have added lots more parts.

[Epitaph]

The car that is left outside is rinsed every few days due to pollen, therefore I don't need to wash it but every month or so. The less time something has to adhere means it's easier to clean it. Spend 2-3 minutes every few days (and then an hour doing a detail once per month) vs an hour every 2 weeks.

[2010 SSRS]

looks good