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What do you think of my engine compartment?

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Old 09-17-2006, 12:35 AM
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Car: 1989 Firebird Formula 350
Engine: 5.7L TPI
Transmission: 700R4
Axle/Gears: Borg Warner 3.27
What do you think of my engine compartment?

I'm getting a little discouraged because my car has been sitting in my garage for so long, so I thought I'd ask for some opinions on how my work looks so far to keep me motivated. Currently in work are: polishing my master cylinder, removing casting marks from my serpentine brackets so that I can get them powder coated silver, having some of my pulleys chromed (I'm planning on getting a March or BBK billet aluminum underdrive pulley kit), waiting on my Edelbrock valve covers to be mailed, prepping the pulley tensioner and throttle body coolant passage/IAC for silver paint. What I do have finished is painting the fuel lines silver, installed Spohn billet aluminum strut tower braces, installed Edelbrock polished aluminum water pump, installed stainless steel TPI bolt kit, installed Holley throttle body and AFPR, powdercoated ported plenum, TPIS runners, and Accel intake manifold. The not so distant future will include a chromed Powermaster alternator, chromed power steering pump, March or BBK pulleys, billet master cylinder reservoir cover, chromed Hotchkis strut tower brace, and custom red paint and pinstriping on top of my plenum done my myself. So what do you guys think so far? It's hard to really see the silver because it looks so close to cast aluminum. I chose the silver to match the two tone red/silver paint on my Formula.
Attached Thumbnails What do you think of my engine compartment?-progress.jpg  
Old 09-17-2006, 01:11 AM
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Car: 1989 Firebird Formula 350
Engine: 5.7L TPI
Transmission: 700R4
Axle/Gears: Borg Warner 3.27
Almost forget. Here's a picture of my fuel rails after paint and rebuild.
Attached Thumbnails What do you think of my engine compartment?-fuel-rails.jpg  
Old 09-17-2006, 08:52 AM
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Car: 86 WS6 Trans AM/ 95 Trans Am
Engine: 305/Lt1
Transmission: 700r4 / 4L60
Axle/Gears: ? / 3:23
I think your on your way to a very nicely detailed engine compartment. I like the Master cyclinder idea.
Old 09-17-2006, 01:15 PM
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Car: '88 IROC-Z / '91 Z28 / '91 GTA
Engine: LT4 Hot Cam 305 / L98 355 / MR 383
Transmission: 5-spd / 700R4 / 700R4
Axle/Gears: 3:45 / 3:23 / 3:23
looks very good.. I can only hope mine will look that good when I'm done!
Old 09-17-2006, 04:26 PM
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Car: 1989 Firebird formula 350
Engine: L98 long tube headers BBK TB
Transmission: 700r4
Axle/Gears: 3.73 positrac
heres a question, how much HP does that wood plank add :P
Old 09-17-2006, 04:32 PM
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Axle/Gears: Stock / 4:11 Moser 9"
looks awesome - it's the small details that really make your car stand out from the rest.
Old 09-17-2006, 05:13 PM
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looks beautiful except the ugly exhaust manifolds. Paint em or get headers man.
Old 09-17-2006, 06:43 PM
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Looking good........keep it up!

Are those ASM runners?

Last edited by MikeH; 09-17-2006 at 06:47 PM.
Old 09-17-2006, 06:55 PM
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Engine: 355 Super Ram/350
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I like the master cylinder bracket also, never thought of polishing that. I wish I would have done something to the fuel rails/lines when I installed my motor.
Old 09-17-2006, 09:34 PM
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Engine Bay

Beautiful job! Keep it up! I am in somewhat of the same process myself and I can understand how it can get discouraging but it will be all worth it when it is complete!
Old 09-19-2006, 01:44 AM
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Car: 1989 Firebird Formula 350
Engine: 5.7L TPI
Transmission: 700R4
Axle/Gears: Borg Warner 3.27
Thanks for the kudos, fellas. Nobody else seems to understand (including my wife, God bless her) how much work goes into making parts look so good or why I'd want to in the first place. It's kind of an addiction. I had absolutely no intention of polishing the master cylinder at first. In fact, somebody else on the boards did it and I thought that guy was nuts. Then I started looking at it after I'd finished smoothing out my tensioner for paint and I thought why not? Now I have over 20 hours in it and it's still not finished.

84transam78239, the 2x4 adds approximately 10 to 15 horsepower according to Home Depot, but I think they're not on the up and up because I don't see any noticable differences.

MikeH, the runners are from TPIS. Had to wait months for those to come in because they had to make them after I placed my order. I love the quality and I'd probably buy them again, but I've never personally handled any ASM runners. They look nice in pictures.

1MeanZ, yeah the exhaust manifolds pretty much suck, so I'm saving for a set of AFR heads and SLP headers. I figure that'll be a little over 2 grand, so it may take me a few months. I'm pretty much gutting my house trying to find stuff I don't use anymore to sell.

Battmann, yeah the devil is in the details. I could've had this car running months ago, but I'm trying make a name for myself by showing what I can do. I won't be in the Navy forever...
Old 09-19-2006, 02:07 AM
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Looks great!!
Old 09-20-2006, 04:18 PM
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Looks awesome. I am currently doing the same on my engine compartment.
Old 09-23-2006, 02:44 PM
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Car: 1987 Camaro SC, 1999 Z28
Engine: GMPP 350HO, LS1
Transmission: Built 700r4/EDGE 3200, T56
Axle/Gears: 3.42 Eaton 7.625, 3.42 Zexel Torsen
sweet, lots of elbow grease right there. looks sharp!
Old 04-18-2010, 11:17 PM
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Re: What do you think of my engine compartment?

Looks good I'm doing the same thing except I polished my fuel rails and the lines connecting to it do you got a picture of the engine bay with the master cylinder
Old 04-19-2010, 01:34 PM
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Re: What do you think of my engine compartment?

Ohhhhhhh Shiny
Old 04-19-2010, 04:23 PM
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Re: What do you think of my engine compartment?

I plan to make my engine compartment with only black painted parts,some polished parts and the short block is painted silver some other parts might be silver to.All brackets and everything will be painted.
Old 04-19-2010, 04:27 PM
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Re: What do you think of my engine compartment?

Quick question well were on the topic of painting would normal hi temp paint work for parts in the engine compartment or do they need to be powder coated?
Old 04-19-2010, 04:28 PM
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Re: What do you think of my engine compartment?

can you get some pics of the brackets for the accessories after smoothing them out. i really have been wanting to do that.
Old 04-19-2010, 04:35 PM
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Re: What do you think of my engine compartment?

I will be starting work on those parts sometime this week, I'm in middle of a engine swap just waiting for some parts for new engine, I was thinking of taking serpentine setup off the current engine this week to get started on it. I will post pictures of all progress soon.
Old 04-19-2010, 06:28 PM
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Re: What do you think of my engine compartment?

very nice...I even took the stock alternator apart and polished mine..

agreed P.I.T.A
Old 04-19-2010, 07:25 PM
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Re: What do you think of my engine compartment?

i like the wood accents looks great
Old 04-19-2010, 09:15 PM
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Re: What do you think of my engine compartment?

My car has been sitting for so long, but it is coming together to. Keep up the good work, just remember when youdrive it for that first time
Old 04-28-2010, 02:28 PM
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Re: What do you think of my engine compartment?

Did you sandblast your parts or anything before polishing them im working on the master cylinder and getting all of the cast off is hard.
Old 05-14-2010, 12:47 PM
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Re: What do you think of my engine compartment?

high temp engine paint is fine if you follow the instructions on the can, however powder coat will look better and last longer than paint will.
Old 05-25-2010, 05:08 PM
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Re: What do you think of my engine compartment?

This is th brackets after pressure washing them.
Attached Thumbnails What do you think of my engine compartment?-076.jpg   What do you think of my engine compartment?-075.jpg  
Old 05-25-2010, 05:11 PM
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Re: What do you think of my engine compartment?

Heres the master cylinder
Attached Thumbnails What do you think of my engine compartment?-043.jpg   What do you think of my engine compartment?-042.jpg   What do you think of my engine compartment?-041.jpg  
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