Under hood dress up

[Tony91]

Picking up a blue 450 next Saturday It's had a full body off respray new screen new roof and new dash.
I would like to dress the engine bay up, it already has ally rad and braided brake lines.
So any pointers on polished swirl and header tanks also the chrome Chimaera top rad cover,
Blue hoses and HT Leads any info on where these can be supplied from greatly appreciated.

[Tony91]

ClassiChimi said:

My 450
The exhausts rusting is the biggest eye sore, I got busy with a grinder, battery drill with various attachments then finally wet and dry to 2000 and lastly the excellent Solvol metal polish.

As it's going to rust again I have to get some scouring pads on them every now and again, then wash off, Solvol and it stays good for another 3-4 months.
I love opening the bonnet to a clean engine bay, rewarding and easy to see problems like leaks instantly.

This is all much easier when the cars in bits but once it's done it's pretty accessible to keep clean with a few rags etc.
I enjoy it as part of my personal ownership experience.












Over time it inevitably goes darker but hey

Looking good how are your fans fitted to the ally rad as the one I am buying has a black fan mounting plate that fits over the top and down the back of the ally rad.

[Tony91]

davetripletvr said:

Elbow grease and can't beat autosol as mentioned before I would shop around for your silicon pipes as act can be expensive in my experiance, there are plenty of other suppliers out there

Looking good Do you find that the wrapped exhaust helps dissipate the heat from the engine bay but just sends it further along the pipe or does it just run cooler? When I had my Griff before my wife in the summer used to sit with her feet up on the seat as it was so hot in the footwell.

[Tony91]

Richard 858 said:

Tony (OP) I'd certainly recommend OBP (Optimum Balance Products) from Huntingdon/Cambridge for polished alloy tanks of all shapes & sizes. They make a fair range of stock tanks but will make pretty much anything to a drawing for what (i think)is a very reasonable price.
They made both my oil catch tanks and the supercharger traction fluid reservoir on mine in this picture. The standard coolant header & expansion tanks polish up nicely with a bit of time & effort.

Edited by Richard 858 on Monday 28th November 19:22

Very nice where did you get your Braided hose covers and end pieces.
Do the end pieces slide over the exsisting jubilee clips?

[Tony91]

Richard 858 said:

Thanks Tony
I got the braiding & hose finishers from Speedflow, the ends slide over the hose and braiding and then clamp up. Proper measurement of the overall diameter of the complete hose & braiding is needed as the ends have a fairly limited range of fitment.
Be careful when trimming the braiding, the strand ends are sharp! Tape the area to be cut first and a good strong pair of sharp scissors will do the trick.

Thank you do the end clamps tighten up enough to make a good hose seal I see on their web site that they are 50psi max pressure.