Come on in and watch the transformation of my "new" car!

I was just looking over this thread again, and noticed that I hadn't posted an updated pic of my engine bay, so without further ado...



Engine.JPG




I'm also getting ready to order custom license plates for the Protege.



license_plate_JSTWXD_Wolf.jpg
 
Good idea for the plates. Your transformation is impressive, I thank you for the details on the headliner I will be working on one soon.
 
Paul,



Nice job on the engine. In the future I'm just going to keep the hood closed. :chuckle:

I do have a question. My car has sound insulation under the hood and yours doesn't, did you remove yours? I have seen a few underhood shots on the board without insulation and thought maybe you guys took it out.



Again excellent job and obviously tons of work.



Gordon
 
Gordon, I didn't remove my sound insulation. I'm not sure why I don't have any, because the previous owner didn't care about the appearance of it, and took it to the Mazda dealer for service every time. I'm not sure why anyone would have taken the insulation out.



Yours is a '99 LX right? I have no idea why yours would have it and mine not. :nixweiss



Have you done any work on your engine bay?
 
Paul,



Mine is a 2000 LX. Maybe that is the difference. Have not touched the engine bay. Maybe this summer?

I did AIO, RMG & UPP the old girl yesterday. Was going for another coat of UPP today, but winds are 28 mph and there is too much dust. I will Natty's Blue after the second coat of UPP, then maintain after washing with OCW. I love the Optimum Car Wash (No Rinse). Made light work out of washing the minivan.

Hope your having a good weekend. :buffing:



Gordon
 
Yeah, the heat shield. It may get too hot even for hi temp paint I don't know, but I think that would look nice next to the polishing job you've done on the other piece.
 
Yeah that's one of the first plans I have for springtime. I'm going to remove that and paint it with either silver or chrome spray paint. I'm not sure which color would match better with the valve cover and other metal.
 
Not to butt in here, and that hood blanket may be for noise insulation, but frequently it's also for thermal insulation to keep the engine heat from affecting the paint on hood.
 
Yeah, I was thinking about that also. You may want to wrangle one up and install it. It will help in both regards. Silver paint I think would look great on that piece.
 
I've never had problems with cars that lacked the underhood pad and IMO that engine won't get hot enough to cause trouble.



For the heat shield, if you don't mind spending a little $ you could get a chrome-like ceramic coating from somebody like THESE GUYS. They handle the cleanup/prep/etc. too, all you have to do is ship it to them (and pay the bill).
 
Hmm, I'll probably just use some chrome spray paint first, just to see. I remember this guy in H.S. that used chrome spray paint on his wheel covers of his 323, and I was surprised at how good they looked. If I don't like it, it's only a few bucks wasted.
 
Accumulator said:
I've never had problems with cars that lacked the underhood pad and IMO that engine won't get hot enough to cause trouble.
Click to expand...



I never had a car without one, so whadda I know? (Wait...maybe that '66 Mustang I had briefly...<shudder>) I don't think that engine will get hot enough to do anything either.
 
I couldn't find it on their site, can you post a link? Is there a big difference between spray paints? I mean, it's just for a heat shield after all.
 
Yeah, there can be a pretty dramatic difference, especially with regard to durability (and peeling/flaking paint looks awful).



I hadn't looked on their website, but they have something in their print catalog...let's see...ah [shoot] the only thing listed for really high temps is:



Silver Hight Temp Coating, brilliant matte silver sheen. pn 10396Z $15.99 for a spraycan.



They have other stuff but it's only rated to 300F or lower. Both Almost Chrome (pn 10352Z) and Silver Exhaust Paint (pn 10020Z) are only good to 300.



So pull the shield off, get it blasted (should only cost a few bucks) and spray it with that High Temp stuff. Oughta look pretty good.
 
That seems like the easy way out to me! Instead of polishing the valve cover, they just put some plastic over it!

I do like that piece atop the radiator though.



Which iron pieces are you referring to? The piece that's holding the A/C line to the passenger side strut tower?
 
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