Engine bay opinions.....

[Ace]

Body color or black?  I'm having a hard time deciding on what to do.  The car will be a silver with a pearl coat in the clear of purple.  I was debating on running the engine bay the silver, or just spraying it black.

Your thoughts and opinions?  Maybe photos of your own stuff?  I plan on the engine/heads to also be black as well, unless I go for some aluminium heads.

[73swinger]

I did mine in matte black to make my engine (turqoise first, now cast iron grey) stand out from the car, but still look understated. Plus my factory paint was all chewed up and repainting the car isn't in my budget this year, in fact I don't know if I'll ever do it, a car is only original once (and this way I don't need to worry bout it too much)

[Ace]

Thanks for the pics.  I forgot to add, I'll be running aluminium valve covers, and an air cleaner to make it "stand out" a little more for sure.  I'll probably be thinking of a dry sump oiling system, and for sure an electric water pump, which will make the engine bay "pop" a little more.

[73swinger]

I went the other way, Mine has eddie heads, alum water pump, manifold, demon carb, etc. I had a real hard time finding roller rockers that would fit under the factory valve covers, and I paid way too much for that air cleaner (which I had to make a dropped base for to be able to close my hood). I wanted the un-educated, to be un-interested......so far it's worked.......till I fire it up that is

[Ace]

I went the other way, Mine has eddie heads, alum water pump, manifold, demon carb, etc. I had a real hard time finding roller rockers that would fit under the factory valve covers, and I paid way too much for that air cleaner (which I had to make a dropped base for to be able to close my hood). I wanted the un-educated, to be un-interested......so far it's worked.......till I fire it up that is

Haha excellent.  I figure the nitrous solenoids will give anything I'm hiding away.    That is until I pull the "dummy" bottle out of the trunk for those friendly small dollar races. 

[Bakaruda]

Body color. Balck engine bays are for the Bow tie crowd.

[Eats4dz64]

I agree with body color, I blacked mine out last time and looking at it now I think the paint match looks much cleaner. Im in the process of stripping and repainting the engine bay also, gotta look good for the new Motor.

[bOb shingler]

body color

[caper]

body color

[Dartsport]

Body color..

[73swinger]

Body color. Balck engine bays are for the Bow tie crowd.

or the crowd who aren't made of money didn't you say in another post that you thought your new hemi sounded like a chevy?

[Crazy68Dart]

I like both.  There is nothing wrong with flat black if that is what you want.  Easy to touch up, clean looking, etc.  I am very much considering it for my car but it sort of depends on what color the car ends up being.

[b569rr]

Body color for me. Your paint shop can mix some spray cans of your body color if you are not set up to paint.

'73's grey engine with black engine bay looks great also.

[Bakaruda]

Body color. Balck engine bays are for the Bow tie crowd.

or the crowd who aren't made of money didn't you say in another post that you thought your new hemi sounded like a chevy?

I am sure I have never said that. The cost of painting it black or body color is not that much. The look is well worth it. Even for a race car, the paint will reflect light.

[illfish]

Body color for sure.  I painted it black and everything kind of disappeared into the black. 

[A13Dart]

Both.  Body color for the engine bay.  Semi gloss or flat black for the radiator support behind the grill. 

[Joe-Dokes]

Body Color,

Think of it this way a quart of body paint is pretty cheap.  Probably cheaper than all the cans of spray paint you'd buy. 

Second, I had a 70 Duster painted at Maco and they shot the engine compartment for free, I supplied the paint.

Third, If you shot it yourself you can use the experience to decide if you want to paint the entire car. 

Fourth, Mopars painted both the trunk and the engine compartment the body color, even if it's a race car you should do the same.

Fifth, will your mopar friends give you any crap if the engine bay isn't the same color as the car?

Best of luck with the project.

Regards

Joe Dokes

[CudaSRT8]

First, I'd have to say "satin" instead of "flat" if you decide to go black.   That said, I always liked the satin black look of my friends Camaros and Mustangs engine bays "back in the day" when I had my 440-6 Challenger.  My car was Deep Burnt Orange.   I had pulled the engine to change cam, head work, etc. and painted my engine bay satin black while I had the engine  out.    Never did like it.   It just didn't look right on a Mopar and I always regretted painting it black.  To this day, when I see a Mopar engine bay in black, it just doesn't look right to me.   

I DID see a black Charger once, where the guy had painted the engine bay satin black.   It actually looked pretty good in that it provided a slight contrast to the gloss black on the rest of the car. 

If you're going silver w/pearl, my vote is for body color...

[73swinger]

Well I figured that mismatched factory paint would look worse, and the B5 didn't look right with my turquoise engine anyway. When the whole car gets paint I will paint it all body color. It was a cheap, fast way  of cleaning up a ratty looking engine bay. In my case there had been a battery explosion at some point, so there was no way to salvage, plus took out battery tray, charcoil cannister etc,  etc, etc. I'm more about function anyway.....mine functions REAAAALLLLLL GOOOOOD

[Ace]

Thanks fellas for all the input.  I was leaning towards body color, as these inner fenders are so freakin' huge compared to any/all of the Mustangs I've had my hands on.
Any and all feedback is welcome.

Also, I could care less if I "fit in" with ANY crowd.  I'm not a "Mopar" guy, or a "Ford" guy, I'm a "Musclecar" and "Drag" car guy.    I want to do it my way, I was just curious on your thoughts and why, and you've done a GREAT job of posting that, and photos to boot!  I greatly appreciate any/all feedback though.

Thanks!

[CudaSRT8]

73swinger,
Hey, make no excuses man.   Your car looks good under the hood and is surely an ultimate "sleeper".   We're just giving our input to Ace since he asked for it.   Personally, I STILL wrestle with painting my compartment satin black when the time comes for paint, but I won't simply because I regretted it the last time I did it. 

To me, black SEEMS right for an engine bay, but I've been a Mopar guy since 1963 and have seen SOOOOOO many Mopar (body color) engine bays, I think that's why it doesn't work for me in black.

Like Ace, don't worry about "fitting in" with popular opinion.  My "small block" Gen.3 Hemi doesn't particularly fit in here on this BIG BLOCK site      

[Jim_Lusk]

Black, IF the car is black................................................

[Ace]

The car will be a silver with a pearl coat in the clear of purple.  I was debating on running the engine bay the silver, or just spraying it black.

Just wanted to make aware of the third sentance in my first post.      

[guzzimike]

I went with a semi-gloss Dupli Color Cast Coat Iron engine block paint. I like the way it looks in contrast to the Orange.



Besides, we built this car in our house garage, had no compressor so we were limited to the rattle cans..

It's a '69 Dart GT with a GTS hood and a 1969 Road Runner engine, so it's not exactly a "Collector" or show car.

The paint job is one step above an Earl Sheib.

It's built to be a daily driven street fighter. And that's all that it is.

If I was building a correct clone car, the body color engine bay would be important, I guess... but for this car of ours, I am OK with this color combo.

[dusterdarryl]

Gee thats a tidy engine bay m8,

[Crazy68Dart]

Mike, I like.

[texasmopar340dart]

I like body color!

[NYrr496]

Do it the silver you're painting the body, but I'd probably pass on the pearl.  This way, it's easier to touch up mishaps from tools or engine swaps.

[Duster Five-O]

Paint it light gray like the NASCAR boys 

[CudaDon65]

Do it the silver you're painting the body, but I'd probably pass on the pearl.  This way, it's easier to touch up mishaps from tools or engine swaps.

. Body color.