Engine Bay Paint and Clean up

Taylormx6 · 6-17-09, 0:07

I decided to paint a few things in my engine bay like the valve cover the thingy that says 2.2l turbo and others. i also repainted black a bunch of the old rusty stuff. check out before and after

Before...

After..

Biggest improvement would be manifold i think. used vht flameproof header paint. oh and the windshield wipers :P
Gonna paint calipers tomorrow. and smoke out some lights soon

**Keeloh** · 6-17-09, 0:23

You should buy a pressure washer and wash ur engine bay before u paint it.

Taylormx6 · 6-17-09, 0:29

hmm..didnt think of that..i just cleaned and sanded each piece before paint. and took the easy ones off

**Kansas** · 6-17-09, 1:15

I liked the before better.

**postulioTTM2C** · 6-17-09, 2:55

metallic blue flows alot better in a black engine bay, still a nice paint job.
im not too sure if it would be wise to paint a rubber
intercooler hose.

**90probef2t** · 6-20-09, 8:12

the best engine bay i have ever saw was in a mx6 at carlisle show in pa. bone stock but the guy looked like he started armalling the hoses and all the parts under the hood months before the show. i could see my reflection.

**Mazda Carnage** · 6-20-09, 13:22

Keeloh is right,wash the engine bay!

The paint came out nice, I like the brake reservoir cap.
I would put a black oil cap on the valve cover so it doesn't look like you painted them both together.

For the intake manifold get some acetone and wipe down the fuel pressure regulator and fuel hose and anything else that got over spray on it .

The throttle body, it looks like you painted everything, the entire linkage assembly, the springs and washers and the throttle cable inner and outer (I hope you had something pinning the gas pedal down to pull the inner throttle cable in so you don't get paint on the part that travels inside the sleeve).

These are all moving parts and that paint looks pretty thick and I doubt it will ever see the 400+ degrees needed to cure it properly, I would worry about it sticking or binding the throttle assembly, this could be dangerous.

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The trick to making things look good or at least done properly (looks are subjective to individuals, and wrong color choices or part choices can make things look worse) has as much or more to do with the prep work then the painting itself. Overspray is the fugliest thing you can do, taping everything is required.
Not painting the nuts and bolts is the difference between parts looking like they where purchased that way, then installed and someone taking a can of spray paint to there engine bay.

I would take the nuts and bolts on the intake manifold/throttle body off one at a time and clean it with a wire brush on a bench grinder and reinstall it to spec then do the next one....

The wipers only make sense with the hood opened, you might want to rethink that one.

SixSick6 · 6-20-09, 13:39

I smoke my lights out too.

**Mazda Carnage** · 6-20-09, 16:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by SixSick6

I smoke my lights out too.

**DarkMx-6** · 6-21-09, 14:41

Yeah really not diggin the blue, may be if it was a dark blue, metalic may be?

**Radinov** · 6-21-09, 15:51

I would have painted it to match the color of the car... not really digging the lightblue

**Mazda_MX6_Turbo** · 6-21-09, 17:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by 90probef2t

the best engine bay i have ever saw was in a mx6 at carlisle show in pa. bone stock but the guy looked like he started armalling the hoses and all the parts under the hood months before the show. i could see my reflection.

this was my engine bay 4 years ago when i used to own the car:

**maffatato15** · 6-23-09, 23:09

My engine bay is pretty clean. And the best part is, its all custom to my liking.

**Gabe17** · 6-24-09, 2:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by 90probef2t

the best engine bay i have ever saw was in a mx6 at carlisle show in pa. bone stock but the guy looked like he started armalling the hoses and all the parts under the hood months before the show. i could see my reflection.

I'll link some pictures after that description hah

http://www.mx6.com/forums/ny-nj-pa/2...plate-who.html (NJ Plate.. who is it?)

http://rixmag.com/coverage%20photos/..._IC_RIX_94.jpg

**90probef2t** · 6-24-09, 8:18

ahhh dude. there was a bunch of guys standing behind this car and i asked them whos it was. they said you werent there at the time.