Decorating advice
Discussion
This winter I plan to get the bonnet off and spruce up the engine bay and chassis that is accessable in there. The chassis is in good shape with the powder coating still intact except for the offside upper wishbone which needs painting. The rocker covers, swirl pot, battery tray, alternator bracket, etc are all a little corroded or mucky and just generally make the engine bay look like its from a 20 year old car (funnily enough).
I want to clean them all up and paint them pretty colours so the engine bay looks the part. Problem I have is deciding on the colours to use.
The car is red and the chassis is powder coated white, I'd probably keep the chassis white but what colour do I paint the swirl pot, battery tray, alternator bracket etc...
I was planning to get the hoses replaced at some point in the future (ie when they start failing or I have a spare £200) with the blue silicon variety so I think blue wouldn't be great. I was going to paint the rocker covers but after seeing TVR-Stu's alloy ones after a bit of TLC I might have to get some of those and follow his lead. Seems like a lot of work compared to reusing my current ones though.
Also is there any way of protecting the exhaust manifold or do I just rub them down and leave them?
I would rather the engine bay looked good not garish so thought I'd seek some advice from others who have done this, especially after seeing some lovely engine bays at SCH09
Apologies for the long post and thanks in advance.
I want to clean them all up and paint them pretty colours so the engine bay looks the part. Problem I have is deciding on the colours to use.
The car is red and the chassis is powder coated white, I'd probably keep the chassis white but what colour do I paint the swirl pot, battery tray, alternator bracket etc...
I was planning to get the hoses replaced at some point in the future (ie when they start failing or I have a spare £200) with the blue silicon variety so I think blue wouldn't be great. I was going to paint the rocker covers but after seeing TVR-Stu's alloy ones after a bit of TLC I might have to get some of those and follow his lead. Seems like a lot of work compared to reusing my current ones though.
Also is there any way of protecting the exhaust manifold or do I just rub them down and leave them?
I would rather the engine bay looked good not garish so thought I'd seek some advice from others who have done this, especially after seeing some lovely engine bays at SCH09
Apologies for the long post and thanks in advance.
Tom
When I did mine last winter I opted for blue - as my car is dark blue & the silicon hoses were blue. Got some heat resisant (brake caliper) paint for all the brackets/battery tray and then just stuck with 'shiny' for the swirl pot and phelm chamber...
Still have more 'sprucing' to do this winter.
HTH
Cheers
Jaye
When I did mine last winter I opted for blue - as my car is dark blue & the silicon hoses were blue. Got some heat resisant (brake caliper) paint for all the brackets/battery tray and then just stuck with 'shiny' for the swirl pot and phelm chamber...
Still have more 'sprucing' to do this winter.
HTH
Cheers
Jaye
This is the time line of my car.
Sept 2005 - 1 month after I got her.
Sept 2008 - Just before I replaced the coolant hoses/pipes/swirl tank due to perished hoses and weeping pipes.
A few months back @ SCH09
I did similar to Jaye except I went with powder coat (dark green - car color is Cureton Green) on the rocker covers, alternator bracket, coil bracket. The plenum was sprayed with Silver hammerite and a lot of elbow grease to clean alternator, coil etc.
Looking at the difference between the 1st and 2nd pics, I didn't spend to much time cleaning the engine bay
Sept 2005 - 1 month after I got her.
Sept 2008 - Just before I replaced the coolant hoses/pipes/swirl tank due to perished hoses and weeping pipes.
A few months back @ SCH09
I did similar to Jaye except I went with powder coat (dark green - car color is Cureton Green) on the rocker covers, alternator bracket, coil bracket. The plenum was sprayed with Silver hammerite and a lot of elbow grease to clean alternator, coil etc.
Looking at the difference between the 1st and 2nd pics, I didn't spend to much time cleaning the engine bay
Edited by Russ35 on Sunday 6th September 00:22
bridgdav said:
Come on then...
What's that for..?
Another reservoir..
That is the normal sierra expansion bottle. It was put on by the previous owner. Pressure cap was on the swirl tank, but the overflow pipe on this bottle was blocked of with a bolt. So I was never happy with it this way as it was running as a totally closed system. It did work Ok, although it defiantly warmed up quicker and when driving in slow traffic/stationary it would get warm very quick.What's that for..?
Another reservoir..
When I put the new hoses and pipes on I refitted the normal expansion bottle (see 3rd pic), I finally managed to unbolt the sierra bottle a couple of weeks back.
Still cannot make my mind up if I should have gone with black silicon pipes.
Hmmmm, looking at those pics I'm gonna have to do some serious scrubbing to get it up to scratch!
Jaye, I didn't think having everything in the engine bay the same colour as the car would look good but yours looks really nice. I think I'm gonna have to pick a few colours like yours Ketvrin and stick to them.
I didn't actually think you could get anything other than blue (or black) hoses but about 2 minutes before I read your thread Hoover I saw an add in Sprint from ACT mentioning other colours are available so I'll ignore them for now.
Just need to decide if I'm going for shiny (swirl pot and rocker covers) and colours or just colours.
Couple of questions, I was going to use plain old Hammerite after I had cleaned the surface up a bit but I'll use brake caliper stuff if Hammerite isn't heat resistant enough. And Russ is that the same swirl pot or an ally one,
if its the same one!
Also Ketvrin, that paint you used on your manifolds looks great, any chance you could let me know where I could get some! Oh and BTW, I like the detailing on your Plenum, did you remove it to do that?
Sorry for the masses of questions!
Cheers all,
Tom
Jaye, I didn't think having everything in the engine bay the same colour as the car would look good but yours looks really nice. I think I'm gonna have to pick a few colours like yours Ketvrin and stick to them.
I didn't actually think you could get anything other than blue (or black) hoses but about 2 minutes before I read your thread Hoover I saw an add in Sprint from ACT mentioning other colours are available so I'll ignore them for now.
Just need to decide if I'm going for shiny (swirl pot and rocker covers) and colours or just colours.
Couple of questions, I was going to use plain old Hammerite after I had cleaned the surface up a bit but I'll use brake caliper stuff if Hammerite isn't heat resistant enough. And Russ is that the same swirl pot or an ally one,
if its the same one!Also Ketvrin, that paint you used on your manifolds looks great, any chance you could let me know where I could get some! Oh and BTW, I like the detailing on your Plenum, did you remove it to do that?
Sorry for the masses of questions!
Cheers all,
Tom
Edited by orange_dodo on Sunday 6th September 23:19
Tom,
That is a new stainless swirl tank bought from a poster on PH called The Gamekeeper. He usually gets a batch made every know and then. He used to also supply stainless fuel tanks.
I would think that Hammerite is Ok for the swirl tank and rocker covers as they don't get that hot. To get the rocker covers, and various brackets sandblasted and then powder coated and the plenum hammerited cost me about £70. It might be worth seeing if there is anyone local as there are plenty of colors that they can do powder coating in.
My plans for over the winter:
Fit the shiny bonnet brackets bought from Gerald-TVR.
While the bonnets off tidy up the radiator frame and chassis area that I can now get to.
Remove the passenger fresh air hose, as it isn't needed due to the modified switch panel I have.
Replace the 2 air intake hoses.
Clean the shiny metal things properly.
That is a new stainless swirl tank bought from a poster on PH called The Gamekeeper. He usually gets a batch made every know and then. He used to also supply stainless fuel tanks.
I would think that Hammerite is Ok for the swirl tank and rocker covers as they don't get that hot. To get the rocker covers, and various brackets sandblasted and then powder coated and the plenum hammerited cost me about £70. It might be worth seeing if there is anyone local as there are plenty of colors that they can do powder coating in.
My plans for over the winter:
Fit the shiny bonnet brackets bought from Gerald-TVR.
While the bonnets off tidy up the radiator frame and chassis area that I can now get to.
Remove the passenger fresh air hose, as it isn't needed due to the modified switch panel I have.
Replace the 2 air intake hoses.
Clean the shiny metal things properly.
orange_dodo said:
Also Ketvrin, that paint you used on your manifolds looks great, any chance you could let me know where I could get some! Oh and BTW, I like the detailing on your Plenum, did you remove it to do that?
Hi TomHi-Temp exhaust paint is available from Halfords and most motor factors I would think, comes in a small tin to be applied to cold exhaust by brush and then cures when the zorst gets hot and gives a nice even Matt finish which lasts a while - I do recoat it from time to time. I also used the same paint to detail the plenum (it had previously had the red bits done with smooth hammerite) and I just used a small brush to apply the black in-situ...
you can see the finish better on this shot...
K
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