crimson_bird

iTrader: (4)

Well, I decided to spruce up the engine bay a little bit. I thought I was just gonna clean up a tad bit, ended up going a little more

This car, along with the Trans Am are going up for sell very soon, just doing a few final touches before they go. So DON’T mention the hidden wire mod. I’d do it if I were keeping the car, but stuff like that will only hurt the sell. My goal was simply to bring it back to looking new again. I'm not done yet, but i've pretty much accomplished that i think

Let me get right to the good part…. The Before and After!!!



also got rid of the blackouts to show the whistlered lights that hid beneath.



Okay, now for the step by step.

How the car looked when I pulled it in for the day.








Began pulling stuff out- headlights and bumper supports came out first.





Then pulled the windshield wiped fluid bottle out.




Pulled the black thing out and emptied the bottle. -empty into a CLEAN bucket so you can reuse it once you're done



cleaned up



cleaned and prepped for paint. Used some paper towels to stuff the hole, so as not to get paint inside





Pulled the lights apart to fix the mistake I made last time I did the whistler mod. And I painted the housings so it would look better with everything.

crimson_bird

iTrader: (4)

You can see how worn the bumper support was. looks BAD



All of the screws, nuts, clips, fastners soaking in HOT, soapy water.



first coat of paint




covered up the electrical to get ready to clean.






decided to pull of the air box and pull the battery out, so I could clean up better.



second cleaning done. scuffed up, masked off, and ready for paint.




masked off the factory labels, instead of removing them. I’m about to sell the car so I figured I’ll leave all of the factory stuff. I’ll let the new owner decide if they want to remove them.



lower air box- only thing painted Hammer-tone Grey, instead of black



getting the fastners ready to be painted as well.



label masked off on the air lid



engine bay paint done. (pictures do it no justice)




labels came out perfect.

crimson_bird

iTrader: (4)

shaved/painted the engine oil dipstick





once it was back in, I realized I didn’t like the green **** either. Painted that black





Trans/Lock got repainted black and a new label, courtesy of my mom (asked her to make it with her label maker). Then cleared over it all.




NO way to stop this from scratching (place where hood latch catches), when there is constant metal on metal contact. So I found a fix (thin strip of Velcro). Did this on my Trans Am months ago and it still looks perfect. prevents the metal hook from scraping this when you close the hood





More of the after shots.








chrome power steering cap from emblempros. I’ve had it lying around for 6 months, since I did the T/A’s engine bay, but didn’t need it since I bought the power steering/abs back cover.

Pitbull329

iTrader: (3)

Nicely done

Looks badass

McNord

iTrader: (1)

That came out nice!

LS1_Sean

iTrader: (1)

wow nicely done.

Trans Am Jam

iTrader: (7)

looks great, what paint did you use on the dipstick that you think is going to hold up w/ the heat and wheres the pic of the windshield washer fluid reservoir painted black!!

wowsers

iTrader: (7)

the first picture i was like whys he got the alternator on top? so i started looking for a turbo...then i realized it was a 3800.

ill have to do that to my oil dipstick. it looks gross.

black_sheep454

iTrader: (9)

Looks great man, what do you plan on getting when you sell the Camaro and t/a

crimson_bird

iTrader: (4)

thanks guys.

there's a picture in there somewhere after i did the first coat of paint on the windshield wiper reservoir. you can barely even see it once everything's back in though, since the bumper supports block it.

for the dipstick i used some of the spray on caliper paint i had sitting around. so it'll hold up to the heat just fine. used the same stuff on my trans am's dipstick when i did it 6 months ago and it's still perfect.

LS1 camaro. there is SOOOO much more you can do (appearance wise) with the camaro than what you can do with the trans am. so, personally, i have more fun working with the camaro. I already have most of the stuff planned for the next car as far as appearance, suspension, interior. performance will be mild though, initially, probably just do full bolt-ons. as time passes, performance will become more of a priority though.

the next camaro i get will truly look amazing when i'm done with it, and definitely stand out (but not in a bad way). i already have the vision in my mind of the finished product just need to bring the vision into fruition.

OR, dump the money into my moms '78 Z28 and have one bad *** 2nd gen we'll see how it goes...

malw_95z28

i was thinking the same thing. hopefully another fbody?

ls6firebird

what did u use for paint on the metal? im gettin ready to do the same thing and was plannin on usin the duplicolor wheel paint, but not sure if thats the best choice yet. what about the lid and washer fluid reservoir? last time i painted stuff like that i wasnt happy with how it turned out.

LS1RedZ

iTrader: (19)

Man, that absolutely looks killer! Hell of a job. What do you think would look good on a red camaro? What color would you paint those things you pulled out?

brian_rs/ss

good **** man! u know what color camaro your gonna go with after you sell this one?

Prediluted

Nice, looks great!!...I am on spring break next week, I might have to give this a go.

Soul TKR

iTrader: (4)

great job!

I wanna see how that trans brake label came out though

SIK02SS

iTrader: (11)

Good job! Was that a solid weekend of work?

99_Z_155

iTrader: (7)

damn, that looks pretty good actually. if i wasnt such a lazy *** i would do something like that. but, i figured you would have painted the lower air box/radiator support also. i think the gray is blaring out in that last picture. but thats just me. its all really clean though.

Reaper-Z

iTrader: (9)

That is some tedious work dude, awesome job!

crimson_bird

iTrader: (4)

i used Krylon's Fusion paint. works great on plastics and metal. everything i did black got this stuff. the grey on the lower air box was a rostoleum paint. Everything was clear coated with Dupli-Color's wheel clear. i used that because its made for high heats, and it doesnt give it a very glossy look at all. everything has a nice satin/semi-gloss look. and the clear coat has a little metallic in it, so that gives it a nice touch, but it's very subtle.

thanks! i did pretty much the same thing with my red trans am. everything is black in there except, i left the wheel wells red, and also the part of the frame the air box sits on.

satin black. its gonna look mean as hell

2 days worth. but lots of down time in between. i ended the first day with everything pulled out and cleaned up. i was working with my headlights at the same time, and that took forever. i had to remove the VHT that was on them, and while i was at it i shaved the nips off of them. and i also had to pull them apart to finish the whistler mod on them. so that took a lot of time.

the second day i got out there and masked off everything and painted. and then had to reinstall everything.once i was done, i went through there cleaning, and wiping down down everything

i was just gonna do it black like everything else, but i wanted a tad bit of contrast. but, i might go back in there and paint it too. my goal was to give the engine bay a very mono-tone appearance. so doing that black as well should look good. just depends on if i feel like doing it again.

i'll get that picture for you shortly. once it was painted black, and i laid it in place, i didnt really like how much white there was. so i sprayed a light mist of black over it, and it actually came out pretty good. much better than before.