Engine compartment cleanup/dressup/paint conundrum

[vwthingboy]

Hey everybody,

As my car's piecemeal restoration continues, the engine is pulled and I want to clean up the compartment.

I'm not ready (financially) to re-paint the whole car, so I'm thinking about the options.

Maybe linex/rhinoliner...or does that hold dirt and make it hard to clean?
Maybe fully chrome it out...just kidding.

Does the color matter at all for heat retention?

Thanks.

[Towel Rail]

If the metal isn't rusting away, I'd just clean it, and repaint when you have the right equipment. You'll *love* yourself when you're scraping off the rhinoliner...
_________________
1974 Thing -- under the knife
1967 Beetle -- spring/summer/fall driver
1996 Subaru OBW (EJ22, 5-speed, AWD) -- winter car, 3-seasons "don't feel like biking today" car

049 > 070 > 053 > 009

[Captain Spalding]

[Ferretkona]

Just look in any car that the owner has spray painted black around the motor, it always looks nasty. Repainting a car a different color and not doing a complete job in the door jambs and trunk and motor is disgusting as well. I enjoy a vintage original paint job over a bad repaint any day.

I just used the spray in liner in my wife's wagon because the floorboards were rotten and I had to replace much metal, but at least I got to carpet over that stuff.

[Woreign]

My Thing was repainted red by a previous owner. Who ever painted it did a great job, inside and out. In fact, the entire vehicle was media blasted prior to being painted (I'm still vacuuming out left over sand). Anyway, they didn't paint the engine compartment. Luckily the original color was white, so it doesn't clash too much with the red (as opposed to green or yellow).

[markie61]

PO painted the engine compartment in my Thing black. He didn't prep it and it looks awful now after I powerwashed a thick coat of black, oily grime and loose paint off (at least it was all black BEFORE I cleaned it....)

The best looking engine compartments are body-colored IMHO. In addition, a lighter color makes troubleshooting oil and exhaust leaks and other problems easier.

Mark
_________________
Whut is that-there Thang!?
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Chicks dig my Thing - so what if it's little and yellow...!?

[Towel Rail]

Well, markie, at least you're 1/4 of the way to the OG paint.
_________________
1974 Thing -- under the knife
1967 Beetle -- spring/summer/fall driver
1996 Subaru OBW (EJ22, 5-speed, AWD) -- winter car, 3-seasons "don't feel like biking today" car

049 > 070 > 053 > 009

[vwthingboy]

You're all right, alright.

I think body-color is the way to go.

I still want to try Dawn Power Dissolver to take a layer of bad paint off the whole car.

The bedliner sounds like "Bad Idea Jeans."
(Bad Idea jeans - a commercial featuring scenes of people discussing what can be considered "bad ideas" (for example, "Now that I have kids, I feel much better having a gun in the house"). After each scene, white text on a black background reads "BAD IDEA")
http://snltranscripts.jt.org/90/90abadidea.phtml

[germansupplyscott]

[Towel Rail]

[s_wypych]

The preivous owner of my Thing had the inside of the front trunk, the engine compartment and the insides of the doors all sprayed with a fire retardent spray.
For safety's sake I'm sure it seemed like a good idea. But what a mess! When it gets at all warm it is greasy and messy, I can't store anything in my front trunk or it gets all over it. They did put carpet down in there and in the door insides, but wow does it make things stink! I guess on the up side nothing wants to try to live in it when it is in my detached garage over the winter.