Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Exactly. Isn't that what everyone else is saying, their own preference?

curlybillbrosie

yeah. im not trying to convince people not to paint the engine bay here. im just trying to understand why its so important to everyone but me.

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Personlly, I'm with you on part of it. If you are going to be **** and require the engine bay painted to match the body, don't put an unpainted CF hood on the car. That's just my opinion though.

However, it's just a pet peeve for some people. One of those things that would bother them but they can't really explain why. It just does.

Crackers

Well in my opinion I would have the bay painted my self but if you would rather paint the car leave the bay the same and put the money into mods for the engine be my guest it's your car you can do what ever you please with it. Just don't crash it or put a GT-R symbol on it. =]

93redFD

pull the motor have the engine bay painted. If you are considering a rebuild a and will have some money left over but not enough for a piant job, go ahead and have the engine bay painted the color you like it(thats what im doing).
It devalues a car to have it repainted a different color anyway. Unless you strip the car down int, ext and of corse the engine bay and have it painted also. If you know how to pull a motor then why not spend a extra 300 bucks so your car wont have a "shity" paint job.
If you have the exterior of the car replainted the same color, the engine bay will still stand out and look not so good, especially if you have had a few engines pulled..

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Yea, but having the engine bay scratched up a tad verses an entirely different color are two completely different things.

rynberg

To me, the ONLY reason not to paint the engine bay is to save a few bucks, which to me, is a ****-poor reason. I see people on the forum justify doing, IMO, stupid things to their cars because they can't afford it or don't want to pay to do things right. And then argue that what they did was right just to satisfy themselves.

If you are not in that category and just really don't care what your engine bay looks like, go ahead and leave it as it is. Personally, I think you'll regret it later and if you decide to sell the car, it will be a negative. I just saw a silver FD a few weeks ago with the original red engine bay. I hope I don't offend the guy if he's on the forum, but I thought it looked very ghetto IMO.

jimlab

It's definitely a matter of personal preference, but I'm with Mahjik. I think a mismatched engine bay looks like ***.

Which would you rather have? This...

jimlab

Or this?



Yes, even my bumper insert is painted to match, and the entire engine bay was stripped and the fenders and doors removed so that we could get everything.

mazdaspeed00

iTrader: (6)

POOR POOR CYM

JimmyJimboJet

jim, i may have missed something, but all the holes in the re-bar? why?

curlybillbrosie

#1 I dont care what color the engine bay is, at least not enough to pay to have it painted

#2 It doesnt matter what other people think since they are never going to see my engine bay anyway

#3 I dont care about resale value since im never going to sell my car. If I was going to buy a car, Id rather see that it had a quality repaint job with a mismatched engine bay than the old worn/faded paint that does match.

r0t0r-rooter

It's all you to you, man; my opinion is that it's comparable to wearing mismatched socks....

Carlos Iglesias

iTrader: (6)

Funny you should pick JVOB's old car as an example of a non-painted engine bay. Not a lot of cars that are more famous to the "FD Old Guard" than that particular example. I don't think either Jim (JVOB or JimLab) would have any trouble showing off what was under the hood... especially if you were at a road course, and JVOB blew by you like you had left your parking brake on. Needless to say that car (with JVOB at the wheel) has made more than one "fast" passenger soil themselves during a "familiarization lap" around Sebring, VIR and a half dozen other East Coast road courses.

Also, that car was repainted four times, and it's latest CYM exterior does match the color of the engine bay (Hi Brad).

Hey JimLab, do you recognize the EXTREMELY rare and famous intake on JVOB's old car? Also, I like the whole polar moment reduction project you've undertake on your car... by that I mean the missing drivetrain, not the bumper!

DamonB

That's one of mine too. Ugh. Must stop fist of death!

jimlab

Of course I do... that's why I have hi-res test fitting pictures of Trev's "FTL" IC duct, intake, and hard pipe kit on Jim's car.

The weight savings is incredible.

jimlab

Agreed. If the car is completely raw carbon fiber, that's one thing, but a raw carbon fiber hood on an otherwise normal painted car is about as classy as a rapper's gold 4-finger ring, in my opinion... you might as well get a big vinyl decal for it that says "LOOK, I'VE GOT A CARBON FIBER HOOD", because that's really what you're saying by not painting it.

jimlab

2 lbs. It all adds up.

AMRAAM4

Are some people forgetting one of the critical factors....the pain in the *** of pulling the motor???

I don't know how to do it, and I am sure as hell positive the paint shop doesn't know how to do it (le alone if they did the labor cosy associated with it). In addition, say I did have it done somewhere else, then I have to flatbed it somewhere.

I'm not pointing fingers here, but in general some people are too ****** critical...at some point I even have to say IT'S A GOD DAMN CAR!! Or if someone wants to make a comment after, maybe they would like to remove the God damn motor at that point and finish it off for me. It's not about $$ really, it's about process...not all of us have a garage or a mechanic around the corner.

Shinobi-X

Is that the project so far Jim? I like what I'm seeing.

Using that as an example, my opinion is, if you are going to do any sort of paint job period, engine bay or not, make sure it's a GOOD paint job. There is nothing worse than trying to save money, by cutting corners. In the end, it's simply not worth it. Depending on the colors you use, you can get away with not painting the engine bay- dark colors work well together, but largely contrasting colors do not. It's your car, and you can do what you want with it, but it looks cleaner, and more professional to pay (literally too) that extra attention to detail and get it all done right.

I agree with mahjik,
I too will be getting a vented CF hood to place on my black FD, but it is not going on until I'm ready to re-paint the entire car (along with 99 front end) black.

jimlab

Nope, that's a shot from last December when I was rewiring the engine bay.

I know that not everyone has the opportunity or skill to remove the engine and/or strip the engine bay. I had the luxury of not having to drive my car and a means to transport it while it has no drivetrain, so it wasn't a problem, and while I was painting the car, it might as well be a complete color change.

The paint under the hood of a factory car rarely matches the exterior paint. It's often a base coat without metallic or clearcoat, or in other words, not an "exterior" finish. If you pop your hood, you'll see what I mean. It's a close match as far as the base color, but the finish doesn't match the finish on the exterior panels.

The best bet, if you don't have the means, time, or patience to strip your engine bay is to paint the car a color that is close to the original. A base red engine bay, in other words, works with any maroon, burgundy, or red. The "blue" that came in Montego cars goes pretty well with darker greens and blues. In other words, stay within the same color range as the original car, but there is some latitude.

In the example above, though, Jim O'Brien's car had a CYM engine bay and pearl white exterior. Not even close to a match. After that, he went to a burgundy metallic with a silver stripe, if I remember correctly. Still not a great match, obviously. If you don't care, that's fine. Saying that you'll never sell your car, though, is no excuse. You don't know what the future holds and you may end up selling a car you originally planned to keep. Explaining to the buyer why the engine bay looks like a raw ******* is something you can avoid if you're intelligent about painting the car, even if you don't do the engine bay.

And black cars work pretty well with a number of colors. Many cars originally came with black engine bays regardless of exterior color. The 1st and 2nd gen. Camaro is a good example of this. The combination doesn't look that bad regardless of what exterior color you choose, so if you're buying a new car and have even the slightest intention of painting it in the future, starting out with black can save you a lot of work down the road.

That said, I wouldn't accept anything less than a total repaint on my own car. I had the time, the means, and the facilities to make it happen. My wheel wells, even the area that will be covered by the liners, got the same attention and finish that the exterior of the car got...

jimlab

jimlab

Double post. Ever wonder why there's a delete post option on the edit page but you can't delete your own posts?

curlybillbrosie

I think its debatable whether having a different color engine bay would devalue a car enough to justify the cost and hassle of painting it. I dont know how much extra it would cost to paint it but I dont see potential buyers demanding that I take a thousand dollars or something off the asking price just because the engine bay is a different color from the exterior.
I dont see the point of spending money to paint it for a buyer who will never exist when i dont care what color it is in the first place. There is zero chance that I am selling this car.

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

I don't think someone is going to necessarily "low ball" a car because of different paint in the engine bay verses the body.

However, they might look else where for a different FD. In my mind, I would think that if someone took a short cut and did not paint at least the visible areas of the engine bay, what other short cuts did they take with the car? I would cause me to look for a different FD for purchasing. But, like I said either, it's personal preference. Some people wouldn't care, some would.

Once again, you CAN have the engine bay painted without completely removing the engine.