LS1 is getting ready to be dropped into my '91, just need to pick out a color for the block but I'm conflicted. Here's a pic of my car:





The engine compartment will be painted black and the interior is flame red.


I'm trying to decide between the following but I have concerns for each:
-black (difficult to see leaks)
-red (possibly overkill with red Spohn k member/suspension)
-white (difficult to keep clean)
-silver (boring)


What do you guys think?

 

Well, we each have our opinions, and here's mine.

MY first choice would be white engine bay, as your car came with, and a black engine. Maybe red accents/intake, etc. etc. , but I'd keep it black overall. Nice, crisp, clean, very close to how the LS comes factory.

....OR....black engine bay with a Chevy Orange engine. Old school meets modern tech.

JM2C.

good lookin' car btw!

 

This is what I was of thinking when considering the red. Not quite Chevy Orange but still gives it the same type of old school feel.


The valve covers are already powder coated:


I appreciate it. As you can see from the timestamp on the photo, it's an old picture and unfortunately the car has had some significant wear and tear on it since then. The LS1/4L60E swap is the first step in returning it to its former glory.

 

I don't know how old you are, or what your personal tastes are, but for ME.... -my car was bone stock, and I couldn't wait to start doing little things. Mind you this was almost 20 years ago. New "red" spark plug wires. Polished this. Painted that. removed this and that...and before you know it.... -I realized I liked the look of "stock" (or at least almost stock) better than all the flash and paint, and polish etc. etc. I like the look of clean parts, black hoses and brackets and such. clean looking hardware and fasteners etc. etc. Even still, my instinct is FLASH....but my taste is subtle.Just this year I polished my strut tower brace and was excited to install it. Once on, it was too much. Took it off, scuffed and painted it black.

It's a very fine line between gorgeous flashiness and tacky! ....but you're lookin good. Just don't over do it. With those VCs, I can see maybe a grey FAST intake, but don't "over" color things. But I mean....it's your car! just my two cents and experience.

 

I think I'm gonna try a dove grey next time.

 

I like grey myself. My next engine will be grey. Black is always good though. Ive had orange, blue, and even gold in the past but when its dirty it shows.

 

I want to go dove gray so the leaks do show up. Kind of like how racecars use white of gray.

 

I appreciate hearing others' opinions.


If I had to describe it, I would say I'm going for a factory special edition look (or maybe a dealership special edition?). Most of the cosmetic changes I've made were available from the factory. For instance, I changed out the grey emblems for red, replaced the RS grille with the bow tie and fog lights, and painted the white headlight buckets flat black. It's also the reason I went with IROC replica wheels, wanted to maintain the factory stylings. The stripes were designed similar to the heritage stripes. Other than the block and valve covers, everything else will be kept original or painted black in the engine bay. I've decided to use a TPI factory air box instead of doing a traditional cold air intake to maintain the factory-esque look.

 

Amen brother!!!! -me too! ....I've researched what our factory airbox is capable of (I did cut the baffles) and people go back and forth. Seems most who have ditched it in favor of a custom cold air set up all noticed a difference, while those who've kept it all seem to hit their projected power numbers with the factory box still in place. Amazing how that happens. Seems to be that it'll support upwards 400 flywheel hp. Mine is probably in that ball park, so I'm cool with it, even if it possibly robs a few ponies.

 

Check out this thread in the June COTM voting COUGH I won COUGH...sorry...something stuck in my throat! LOL....anyhow....check out post 22. Got some pics of Porkenstein's engine bay. Veeeerrrrry similar to what you've got going on. Not saying every choice of HIS...is exactly what I would do, or what YOU should do....but I DO like how it looks mostly stock, and while I'm not huge on plastic engine covers, the red LSA cover really works on his car.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/auto...tm-voting.html