Finally got my engine bay decent looking
06-16-2010, 01:24 PM
#42
you polished your brake lines! you are funking serious. and as for the intake, i wouldn't paint it black. It "pops" pretty good in there. It kinda works with the color of the heads. If you do pull the motor, i would go all black with it (also its an old school, wives tale, horsepower trick) and then paint the intake black. just my preference.
06-16-2010, 06:21 PM
#45
Supplies: 200, 400, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 wet/dry sandpaper, Dremel, small dremel polishing/buffer rolls, aluminum polish.
Steps:
- Begin with 200 grit sand paper (I wet sanded) and sand all the lines and every crevasse you can get too and basically after your done with 1 grit sand paper, move to the next finest.
- After wet sanding, grab your dremel with the buffer roll on it and the aluminum polish and rub a good amount on each line and go to town. I used settings of 10,000 RPM - 20,000 RPM and they came out like shown in the pictures.
You will be amazed at how much the dremel helps when you do it and you'll ask yourself why didn't you do that earlier lol because it IS really that easy.
Total time I spent on them was about 1-2 hours. Regular upkeep is required however as this is aluminum it will start to lose the fresh polished finish. But just pull out the dremel again and hit it up for 5-10 mins and its good again.
06-16-2010, 06:23 PM
#46
yes I did lol.. I removed the battery's stickers and pulled out my 2 in 1 touch up paint from Autozone. I used the brush part of the touch up paint and did it slowly by hand. Made a big difference. I thought about painting the top of the radiator over flow tank where it has white lettering but haven't gotten around to it yet.
06-16-2010, 06:25 PM
#47
you polished your brake lines! you are funking serious. and as for the intake, i wouldn't paint it black. It "pops" pretty good in there. It kinda works with the color of the heads. If you do pull the motor, i would go all black with it (also its an old school, wives tale, horsepower trick) and then paint the intake black. just my preference.
06-16-2010, 06:30 PM
#48
A couple of comments:
-You could remove the dash if you are ambitious and hack the heater box. That's easier than removing an engine in my eyes
-I removed TCS all together. My TCS is my right foot
-I want to relocate the PCM inside as well. All you need to do is remove the harness/PCM, figure the length of wire needed to lengthen them inside, mark every wire on both ends, cut/solder/heat shrink, and as they say......voila! 60-80 wires later you have a custom relocated PCM. Reinstall harness and grab a beer or two or six
-You could remove the dash if you are ambitious and hack the heater box. That's easier than removing an engine in my eyes
-I removed TCS all together. My TCS is my right foot
-I want to relocate the PCM inside as well. All you need to do is remove the harness/PCM, figure the length of wire needed to lengthen them inside, mark every wire on both ends, cut/solder/heat shrink, and as they say......voila! 60-80 wires later you have a custom relocated PCM. Reinstall harness and grab a beer or two or six
****, even doing a #8 cylinder spark plug change now is easier with the A/C and TCS outta the way. I can't imagine what its like to put my nose next to it after the heater box is gone lol
06-16-2010, 06:52 PM
#49
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i'm pretty sure the brake lines aren't aluminum, and are probably plain old steel. Did you try putting a magnet against them? I've never seen aluminum brake lines before. AC lines are aluminum, but I don't think aluminum tubing will stand up to the kind of pressure that are in brake lines.
06-16-2010, 09:29 PM
#51
i'm pretty sure the brake lines aren't aluminum, and are probably plain old steel. Did you try putting a magnet against them? I've never seen aluminum brake lines before. AC lines are aluminum, but I don't think aluminum tubing will stand up to the kind of pressure that are in brake lines.
06-16-2010, 09:30 PM
#52
I just finished up re-doing the FAST logo and 92mm in red touch up paint.... looks 10000x better.. the original red paint that was on the FAST when it was brand new started to rub off everywhere and fading.. this new red touch up paint has brought out the brilliance of the logo again and it shines nice now!
06-16-2010, 10:03 PM
#53
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yeah you can polish plain old steel brake lines, but if any moisture gets on them they will flash rust instantly. You could spray some clearcoat on them to keep that from happening. This will also get rid of you having to re-polish them all the time.
06-17-2010, 01:08 AM
#55
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polishing the brake lines was easy. Here are the steps and supplies I used:
Supplies: 200, 400, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 wet/dry sandpaper, Dremel, small dremel polishing/buffer rolls, aluminum polish.
Steps:
- Begin with 200 grit sand paper (I wet sanded) and sand all the lines and every crevasse you can get too and basically after your done with 1 grit sand paper, move to the next finest.
- After wet sanding, grab your dremel with the buffer roll on it and the aluminum polish and rub a good amount on each line and go to town. I used settings of 10,000 RPM - 20,000 RPM and they came out like shown in the pictures.
You will be amazed at how much the dremel helps when you do it and you'll ask yourself why didn't you do that earlier lol because it IS really that easy.
Total time I spent on them was about 1-2 hours. Regular upkeep is required however as this is aluminum it will start to lose the fresh polished finish. But just pull out the dremel again and hit it up for 5-10 mins and its good again.
Supplies: 200, 400, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 wet/dry sandpaper, Dremel, small dremel polishing/buffer rolls, aluminum polish.
Steps:
- Begin with 200 grit sand paper (I wet sanded) and sand all the lines and every crevasse you can get too and basically after your done with 1 grit sand paper, move to the next finest.
- After wet sanding, grab your dremel with the buffer roll on it and the aluminum polish and rub a good amount on each line and go to town. I used settings of 10,000 RPM - 20,000 RPM and they came out like shown in the pictures.
You will be amazed at how much the dremel helps when you do it and you'll ask yourself why didn't you do that earlier lol because it IS really that easy.
Total time I spent on them was about 1-2 hours. Regular upkeep is required however as this is aluminum it will start to lose the fresh polished finish. But just pull out the dremel again and hit it up for 5-10 mins and its good again.
06-17-2010, 01:56 AM
#56
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Wow im jealous, i realized i needed to hit mine the other day as well cept it doesnt look near as good! I also though of taking the washer fluid out-its pointless your going make your car look bad if you use and it needs washing anyways so i never use it. I woulda left your slp lid on cause i like it better but damn man nice job!!
Love the lid too. Does that clear the stock hood? 
06-17-2010, 07:55 AM
#60
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So you polished all of the brake lines while they were still on the car? You sir, are my hero and that is one of the nicest looking bays I've seen. It makes me realize just how much work I have to do to mine!