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.

 

Almost forget. Here's a picture of my fuel rails after paint and rebuild.

 

I think your on your way to a very nicely detailed engine compartment. I like the Master cyclinder idea.

 

looks very good.. I can only hope mine will look that good when I'm done!

 

heres a question, how much HP does that wood plank add :P

 

looks awesome - it's the small details that really make your car stand out from the rest.

 

looks beautiful except the ugly exhaust manifolds. Paint em or get headers man.

 

Looking good........keep it up!

Are those ASM runners?

 

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.

 

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!

 

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...

 

Looks great!!

 

Looks awesome. I am currently doing the same on my engine compartment.

 

sweet, lots of elbow grease right there. looks sharp!

 

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

 

Ohhhhhhh Shiny

 

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.

 

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?

 

can you get some pics of the brackets for the accessories after smoothing them out. i really have been wanting to do that.

 

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.

 

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

agreed P.I.T.A

 

i like the wood accents looks great

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

This is th brackets after pressure washing them.

 

Heres the master cylinder