I finally got around to painting my engine cover. I saw that some users used vinyl but i decided to go with the same paint that I used on my brake calipers, DupliColor Engine Enamel 500 degree (Daytona Yellow). Let me know what you guys think. Next on my list is to powdercoat the OEM 18's and two-tone the the top of the car from the A and B pillars up.

 

I would have liked it better if you inversed the scheme, I m not a big fan of how the lines are blocked off by the other panels.
Get some daytime shots so we can see the craftsmanship though...
Again personal preference I like the inside painted,,,

 

i almost did the inside, but when i two-tone the exterior paint, i am gonna paint the inner part of the hood in black as well. I tried to be somewhat different. Day-time shots will be up tomorrow. Thanks for the input.

 

Rotor8 nailed it for me...

 

while you were away on business?

 

 

Here are the daytime pics that i promised. The paint looks darker in the daytime but they are actually pretty close in color. I wanted to give this a try to see if the paint would hold up under the heat of the motor and to see how well it would adhere to plastic. I might keep it or try the inverse scheme on the other engine cover that I have in the garage.

 

I don't mean to be critical, hopefully you'll take it as comical but when I look at the thumbnail pics of the cover it looks like you painted a bikini top or bra in your engine bay.

 

funny sh*t nice pic

 

412to212, that is some funny sh*t. thank you for bringing that to my attention, i think i might add some more detail to try to steer away from the ***** in a bikini look.

 

Ahahaha I never noticed that. that is hilarious.

 

Wow, I can only imagine whats on your mind. Nice job with the painting though.

 

the Bikini/bra thing was the first thing I noticed/thought of when I saw it.

I just painted the U-shaped raised part of the cover.

 

i fixed it. it did look like a bra. it looks much better now...no more *****...haha.

 

did you sand it down smooth before you painted it? i don't like when its textured.

 

This was my initial thought LOL, looks like a bra...

I respect the attempt to make the inside different from the outside, but still looks like a bra... But hey, what draws people in more than anything? Two words... Sex sells... :p

 

Paint job improves the look but can anyone tell me the purpose of the engine cover? Seems to me that it traps heat needlessly...

 

As far as I know its just an aesthetic piece... I wouldnt think it would trap heat any more than the hood does...

 

crap

 

I remember reading that someone seemed to think it would direct airflow directly over the engine but that was probably just a guess and probably not true... who knows. Best way to find out would be to watch engine temperatures with it on and off... I'm sure someone has... I just washed the car and it just rained/might rain again so I'm not going to run out to test that right now lol.

 

Somebody did a temp test with the cover on and off somewhere on here, and it was much cooler without it.
Anyways, the cover does look like a bra at first glance. Probrably look good if you painted the rest of the plastic covers around it.

 

nuke: yes i did sand it all back down.

I have actually left it off for the past week. I dont think I am going to put it back on. To me, I just feel it gets way to hot in there, especially with the cover on. I think I am going to mod my hood, so I can get more airflow through the engine bay. Any thoughts?

 

I've considered doing the same thing Mello - just leaving my cover off for the summer months, and then putting it back on once the weather starts to cool off again.

In fact, I've even considered lining the bottom of mine with heat reflective materal to help bottle in the heat during the winter months to help my car warm up more quickly.

 

looks nice i did the inside. yeah it took more time but i didnt want a half-*** look but the yellow pulls it off nice job

 

The cover is plastic - and as such has a pretty low thermal conductivity - the heat is coming from the lack of airflow through the engine... take the weather strip off and your cruising temps go down by quite a bit.

Painted all of mine Piano Black