Engine bay - prettyfying...

**M-R-P** · Friday 26th August 2011, 20:01

Ok, I finally got round to starting the long slog of making my engine bay look pretty (cos I cant aford to do any propper mods). Hampered by rain, no garage to work in and failing light, I got started...

First I primed everything with Galvtec cold galv paint...
then I painted the plastics for the head
finally, while the paint was drying, I brushed the head and rubbed in some silicone grease to bring the ally up and stop it corroding so quickly.

Opinions please (I know there's some overspray, gonna fix all the odd bits when i do some more)

**JelT5** · Friday 26th August 2011, 20:04

Looks tidy mate. Nice choice of colour...non-chav ftw!

**AndysR** · Friday 26th August 2011, 20:36

Nice work, time well spent. I wonder how long it will stay that White for..? I like the idea alot although I think I'd try a little darker for mine perhaps a light grey/light anthracite. Still the White on yours works well with the colour of the car so top work.

**M-R-P** · Friday 26th August 2011, 20:39

Originally Posted by AndysR

Nice work, time well spent. I wonder how long it will stay that White for..? I like the idea alot although I think I'd try a little darker for mine perhaps a light grey/light anthracite. Still the White on yours works well with the colour of the car so top work.

The bay is very clean and never has splatters so I recon if I wipe it all down regularly, it should stay sweeet!

**M-R-P** · Saturday 27th August 2011, 08:13

What next...? Was thinking about blacking - in the logo on the head cover, respraying the strut brace (gonna polybush it first) and maybe some replacement hoses. Any body got any suggestions? All ideas greatfully accepted

**p fandango** · Saturday 27th August 2011, 08:33

Originally Posted by martinrpeachey

What next...? Was thinking about blacking - in the logo on the head cover, respraying the strut brace (gonna polybush it first) and maybe some replacement hoses. Any body got any suggestions? All ideas greatfully accepted

don't bother with the engine bar polybushes for the P2, they really are crap. I'm going to get these LINK

engine bay looks good now, be interesting to see how long the white lasts lol

**M-R-P** · Saturday 27th August 2011, 08:41

Originally Posted by p fandango

don't bother with the engine bar polybushes for the P2, they really are crap. I'm going to get these LINK

engine bay looks good now, be interesting to see how long the white lasts lol

Ooooh shiny! Nice one Pedro, I'll probably go for that.

**p fandango** · Saturday 27th August 2011, 08:46

Originally Posted by martinrpeachey

Ooooh shiny! Nice one Pedro, I'll probably go for that.

the Powerflex bushes really don't work on the engine bar, i bought a set & ended up binning them because the sizes were totally wrong. The IPD mounts do look nice, i'd just check postage beforehand because IPD are known for being quite dear

**lego hair** · Wednesday 7th September 2011, 19:15

what paint do you use ?

**M-R-P** · Wednesday 7th September 2011, 19:42

Used Halfrauds ford diamond white for the white bits and metatec galv-tec zinc cold galv spray for primer and the charge air tube, gotta few more bits to do in there after I get the DIM replaced on tuesday.

**Happygilmore78** · Thursday 8th September 2011, 14:15

Looks good bud, nice job

**shrekblackR** · Sunday 11th September 2011, 20:17

looks sweet mate ,, keep it up

**M-R-P** · Monday 3rd October 2011, 22:35

Had the air inlet pipe off today do do bit of investigation. Took the opportunity to do a bit more on the "prettifying" side of things. I took the pics in the dark, with my phone so please excuse the quality.
Took a pic of the blower, just to make sure it was ok...

Ooh! I thought they all looked like that, officer!

That's enough for one night.

**AndysR** · Monday 3rd October 2011, 22:40

Originally Posted by martinrpeachey

Had the air inlet pipe off today do do bit of investigation. Took the opportunity to do a bit more. I took the pics in the dark, with my phone so please excuse the quality.
Took a pic of the blower, just to make sure it was ok...

Ooh! I thought they all looked like that, officer!

That's enough for one night.

Visually it looks fine i.e no visable impacts from debris to the blades and it doesn't appear to be contacting the housing. But that's very basic and not really a true indication. You can tell more by giving the shaft a wiggle, awaits the rude profanities, a little up and down is acceptable as the oil will take up the play but side to side movement and you might as well start saving now. But honestly regardless of what you can see and feel if it's boosting fine, not noisy, and not consuming huge amounts of oil then it's best left to it's own devices

**volvokid** · Monday 3rd October 2011, 22:46

Engine looks really good

**M-R-P** · Monday 3rd October 2011, 22:46

Originally Posted by AndysR

Visually it looks fine i.e no visable impacts from debris to the blades and it doesn't appear to be contacting the housing. But that's very basic and not really a true indication. You can tell more by giving the shaft a wiggle, awaits the rude profanities, a little up and down is acceptable as the oil will take up the play but side to side movement and you might as well start saving now. But honestly regardless of what you can see and feel if it's boosting fine, not noisy, and not consuming huge amounts of oil then it's best left to it's own devices

I was in the process of investigating possible boost loss. I had a look at the recirc and subjected it to vacuum and it seemed to be working fine (although I couldn't test how much negative pressure it needed to operate). I also checked the vac lines and pcv pipes (all of which needs changing). the pic of the turbo was just so I could have a look and maybe work out which unit it had (16T?).
The problem I have is that with the new cone filter, I can not only hear the recirc dumping into the inlet (which is superb) but it also sounds like the recirc is letting-by under boost. any ideas?

EDIT the turbo had almost no play and moved smoother than a cashmere codpiece!

**AndysR** · Monday 3rd October 2011, 23:09

Originally Posted by martinrpeachey

I was in the process of investigating possible boost loss. I had a look at the recirc and subjected it to vacuum and it seemed to be working fine (although I couldn't test how much negative pressure it needed to operate). I also checked the vac lines and pcv pipes (all of which needs changing). the pic of the turbo was just so I could have a look and maybe work out which unit it had (16T?).
The problem I have is that with the new cone filter, I can not only hear the recirc dumping into the inlet (which is superb) but it also sounds like the recirc is letting-by under boost. any ideas?

EDIT the turbo had almost no play and moved smoother than a cashmere codpiece!

If you want to eliminate the recirc valve why not put 10 psi pressure into it and let it hold it over a few minutes and see if it looses pressure. Using a Mityvac for this task is the way forward. Either that or fit a blanking plate as they sound better without a recirc anyway

**M-R-P** · Tuesday 4th October 2011, 08:29

Originally Posted by AndysR

If you want to eliminate the recirc valve why not put 10 psi pressure into it and let it hold it over a few minutes and see if it looses pressure. Using a Mityvac for this task is the way forward. Either that or fit a blanking plate as they sound better without a recirc anyway

Cheers Andy, Gonna try to make up a test rig for the weekend and see where I am. As for the blanking plate, I'd love to but the missus saw the turbo chatter video that Pedro posted a while ago and said "that sounds broken - don't even think about it!" so that's out. She likes the BBWWWWAAAAAARRR-SSSHHUUUS noise it makes at the moment (which surprised me!)