Need help with engine and compartment appearance.
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From: Houston, TX
Need help with engine and compartment appearance. Im tired of my engine and compartment looking the way it is. Its boring and needs some life brought into it. I have a bit of a scheme going with red, black, and polished. As of right now, I have the coil brackets, the small bracket that holds the throttle and cruise control cable in line, and the bracket that holds the anti-lock control box all powdercoated red to go with the red letters saying "LS1" on my lid, and red plug wires. I applied some Mother's to the a/c dryer or canister whatever its called and it brought out a little shine. I also tried to do the same to the powersteering cooler, but I didnt want to disconnect it. So...I was thinking of getting my valvecovers, powersteering cooler, the pulley for the powersteering pump, and a/c canister either chromed or polished. What do you guys think? What else could I do to brighten up or improve my engine and engine bay's appearance? Thanks and please post pics of your engine and compartment.
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Joined: Nov 2001
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From: NJ
Re: Need help with engine and compartment appearance. Steve's car is the benchmark but it's all about what you like here's mine
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/slapsht25/30th%20page.htm
Jay
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/slapsht25/30th%20page.htm
Jay
Re: Need help with engine and compartment appearance. Just try to do something with every part. It does not happen overnight, but a few appearance mods here and there will eventually add up. 
Re: Need help with engine and compartment appearance. Sounds like you're on the right track with what you plan to do.
Here's what all I've done to my engine bay so far:
-Polished battery cover
-Polished A/C condensor
-Polished PS cooler
-Chromed all hose clamps (an absolute must if you're going to start polishing things)
-Painted gloss black front facia support (that ugly gray fiberglass piece in front of radiator)
-Painted gloss black dip stick handle & gas line valve cap (the yellow & green just didn't go too well)
-Mobil 1 engine plaque & oil cap
-SLP cylinder head plaque
-Used 3M fine-cut polish thoughout engine bay to bring factory paint to a nice shine
-Plus all the obvious stuff: CF FRC's, lid & LS1 emblem, Matching STB, SLP bellows
The fuel rail covers did the most to help cover up some of the cluttered look & the more unique you can make them, the better.
This winter I'm going to have my throttle body, MAF ends & valve covers powdercated bright red.
Here's a few shots of how it look so far. The pics aren't the greatest, but you get the idea......
Shay
Here's what all I've done to my engine bay so far:
-Polished battery cover
-Polished A/C condensor
-Polished PS cooler
-Chromed all hose clamps (an absolute must if you're going to start polishing things)
-Painted gloss black front facia support (that ugly gray fiberglass piece in front of radiator)
-Painted gloss black dip stick handle & gas line valve cap (the yellow & green just didn't go too well)
-Mobil 1 engine plaque & oil cap
-SLP cylinder head plaque
-Used 3M fine-cut polish thoughout engine bay to bring factory paint to a nice shine
-Plus all the obvious stuff: CF FRC's, lid & LS1 emblem, Matching STB, SLP bellows
The fuel rail covers did the most to help cover up some of the cluttered look & the more unique you can make them, the better.
This winter I'm going to have my throttle body, MAF ends & valve covers powdercated bright red.
Here's a few shots of how it look so far. The pics aren't the greatest, but you get the idea......
Shay
Thread Starter
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From: Houston, TX
Re: Need help with engine and compartment appearance. Can you please specify what kind of paint you used for the front fascia support? Did you use the same paint for the dipstick handle? What did you do to prep the both of those? Where did you get the battery cover? Was the plaque for the head from SLP or SLP Engineering? Thanks
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Re: Need help with engine and compartment appearance. Hey Shay, I like what you did with the FRC decals (lower ones) from Afterthoughts Auto. They look like the factory ones but way cooler on the CF.
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Verdad Gallardo Re: Need help with engine and compartment appearance. Thanks Mark! I'm really happy with the way they turned out & the decals were top notch. 
NV, the facia piece was scuffed, primered & painted with PPG paint by a friend of mine at a local body shop. However, I'm sure it could be just as easily done yourself with any automotive paint. The only reason I didn't do it myself was because my friend does all my painting REALLY cheap.
The dipstick handle I simply cleaned & wiped down with alcohol to remove any oil & painted it with Testors model paint (best I've found for use on plastic), followed by a light layer of automotive high temp clear coat. Just mask off the rest of the actual stick & paint away.
The battery cover came from www.mbaproducts.com It's also avalible in black, blue & red anodize finishes.
The SLP plaque though is only for the '01 & '02 cars since the '98-'00 years have the EGR in the location.
Shay
NV, the facia piece was scuffed, primered & painted with PPG paint by a friend of mine at a local body shop. However, I'm sure it could be just as easily done yourself with any automotive paint. The only reason I didn't do it myself was because my friend does all my painting REALLY cheap.
The dipstick handle I simply cleaned & wiped down with alcohol to remove any oil & painted it with Testors model paint (best I've found for use on plastic), followed by a light layer of automotive high temp clear coat. Just mask off the rest of the actual stick & paint away.
The battery cover came from www.mbaproducts.com It's also avalible in black, blue & red anodize finishes.
The SLP plaque though is only for the '01 & '02 cars since the '98-'00 years have the EGR in the location.
Shay
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From: Houston, TX
Re: Need help with engine and compartment appearance. The fascia support was actually sprayed with a gun and not a can? I got the impression that you just spray-painted it, but from the pic, it doesnt look that way. About the head plaque, I removed my EGR because Im running the LS6 intake, so I sure that I could use that plaque because it isnt mounted there anymore. Is it from SLP or SLP engineering? I really cant see what it says, can you post another pic with a close-up on the plaque? The battery cover you have I take is the high polished version correct? Does it just lay on top of the battery? Do you keep it on there even when you drive it? Can you also post a pic with a close-up on that? Thanks and I would really appreciate it.
Re: Need help with engine and compartment appearance. The support was actually painted with a gun & in a professional body shop, but again that's a bit overkill. The only reason I didn't do it myself with a can is because the guy did it for me did it for $20 & it probably would have almost cost me that for the materials.
The plaque is from SLP Engineering. Have your VIN ready when you call, but also be ready for a wait. They only do them in batches & I had to wait almost 3 months for mine.
The battery cover is full polished, but I don't have a closer shot of it. It's held on by a small strip of heavy-duty velcro on top & bottom that you can get at any Wal-Mart. I keep mine on all of the time & it doesn't budge one bit.
Shay
The plaque is from SLP Engineering. Have your VIN ready when you call, but also be ready for a wait. They only do them in batches & I had to wait almost 3 months for mine.
The battery cover is full polished, but I don't have a closer shot of it. It's held on by a small strip of heavy-duty velcro on top & bottom that you can get at any Wal-Mart. I keep mine on all of the time & it doesn't budge one bit.
Shay
Re: Need help with engine and compartment appearance. Todd2001SS
Man that is one bad a$$ looking car you got!! How do you keep it so clean, especially underneath the car? I am guessing this is a garage queen and no rain car huh? Great Job on the presentation, very nice!!
Man that is one bad a$$ looking car you got!! How do you keep it so clean, especially underneath the car? I am guessing this is a garage queen and no rain car huh? Great Job on the presentation, very nice!!
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From: Houston, TX
Re: Need help with engine and compartment appearance. To 98-MongooSSe: Did you get the plaque from SLP or SLP Engineering? Do they offer it in a high polished finish? Do you have to get your car# on it? What other engravings can you choose from? Thanks
Tech Addict
Joined: Dec 2001
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From: Marysville, WA
Re: Need help with engine and compartment appearance. Todd2001SS
Man that is one bad a$$ looking car you got!! How do you keep it so clean, especially underneath the car? I am guessing this is a garage queen and no rain car huh? Great Job on the presentation, very nice!!
Man that is one bad a$$ looking car you got!! How do you keep it so clean, especially underneath the car? I am guessing this is a garage queen and no rain car huh? Great Job on the presentation, very nice!!
Thread Starter
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From: Houston, TX
Re: Need help with engine and compartment appearance. Finally got a pic of my engine compartment! Now tell me what you think that I should to give it a better appearance. Thanks
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From: IL
Re: Need help with engine and compartment appearance.
Check out MBAproducts.com for the headplates with your choice of various engravings and colors.
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From: Houston, TX
Need ideas on what to do with engine bay? Well you guessed it...another 
B O R I N G engine bay!!! What can I change, add, remove, etc. to spice it up. I want it to look nice, custom, somewhat original (reason being, theres so many out there, what I think is original has probably already been done), and detailed, but I dont want to over do it. I want to start off by doing really cheap mods, stuff that I can do in my own garage with a low expense. I'd first like to start off with painting the dull grey/black bumper support or whatever its called, but I wanted opinions on what color I should paint it. I didnt want to just start going crazy on it without some opinions. I then wanted to paint the lid and lower radiator support or lower air box. (whichever its called) I havent decided if I wanted to touch the intake manifold yet or not. I might even change things up a bit, like my throttle body, STB, and all the brackets. Another thing I'd like to do is, maybe change out all the washers and bolts. But I wanted to do it the cheap way, maybe paint a bigger washer red and then throw a stainless steel one underneath or vise versa. Someone on here did that and it came out good! These are the colors that I want to stay with, black, red, chrome and possibly gun metal. Im not sure what color I want where, but I want as many opinions as I can get. Here's of pic of what it looks like now: (please dont laugh or critisize too much. 
But hey...everyone starts from somewhere. Thanks in advance.
B O R I N G engine bay!!! What can I change, add, remove, etc. to spice it up. I want it to look nice, custom, somewhat original (reason being, theres so many out there, what I think is original has probably already been done), and detailed, but I dont want to over do it. I want to start off by doing really cheap mods, stuff that I can do in my own garage with a low expense. I'd first like to start off with painting the dull grey/black bumper support or whatever its called, but I wanted opinions on what color I should paint it. I didnt want to just start going crazy on it without some opinions. I then wanted to paint the lid and lower radiator support or lower air box. (whichever its called) I havent decided if I wanted to touch the intake manifold yet or not. I might even change things up a bit, like my throttle body, STB, and all the brackets. Another thing I'd like to do is, maybe change out all the washers and bolts. But I wanted to do it the cheap way, maybe paint a bigger washer red and then throw a stainless steel one underneath or vise versa. Someone on here did that and it came out good! These are the colors that I want to stay with, black, red, chrome and possibly gun metal. Im not sure what color I want where, but I want as many opinions as I can get. Here's of pic of what it looks like now: (please dont laugh or critisize too much. But hey...everyone starts from somewhere. Thanks in advance.