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I may just leave it to the professionals from now on
Well if there were any rewards to today's project they were triumphed only by irritation and potential disaster. I started the day off with the simple plan to paint the engine bay covers and the strut tower brace. All went well initially, I did the covers in Duplicolor's NBP and finished with a high temp gloss. All is well so I moved on to the strut tower brace. The first two bolts removed fine, the third however I managed to strip almost completely....awesome. So then I figured, what the hell, I still want to paint something else so perhaps I'll do the manifold cover. I did that in candy red, the letters in NBP and finished with a high temp gloss. It came out ok, but all in all it can definitely be better. Turns out I'm not so great with painting letters. Finally, I go to put everything back on and decided that I would go ahead and break in half one of the manifold cover screws while tightening it.....awesome. So at this point I'm definitely a little disappointed and irritated and contemplating the work it's going to take to get that half of a screw out of there and just hope that in the mean time nothing will get damaged because of it.
The thing is, I think you'd likely pay out the wazoo if you got someone to paint that stuff for you. The other issue is that they could have very well stripped or broke the hardware also. I have a hard time believing they'd run out and get the oem replacement parts for you and if anything, may even just leave them as is, only for you to discover down the road.
Painting does take skill and practice and although your results may not have come out the best, I'm sure if you read online on how to do it better and tried again, the results would come out better.
I like how the black cover panels came out, but the red looks a bit cheesy. I'd expect that on a 18 year olds car, to be honest. I'd strip that paint, do the letters in black and leave the rest. It'll offer a nice contrast rather than look like a sore thumb sticking out.
The torque spec for the intake manifold cover plate is really nothing. I remember it being like 8 ft-lbs or something. There's also a proper sequence to tighten them down. I don't have the sequence memorized to tell you what it is, but I do pull it up when I need it.
PB blaster is kinda like WD-40 but lots better. It penetrates the rust.
I"m sure we all have stories about how it's better to let a professional do it.
Even worse are the stories of "if it aint broke don't fix it".
Last edited by guitarplayer16; 09-16-2015 at 04:33 PM.
Very true Taco. Of course I respect your opinion, but for now I'm happy with it. I'm doing subtle red pieces here and there on her. As it stands just the calipers and the manifold cover are red, and the only other thing I wanted was the strut tower brace and I planned on leaving it at that. Ad evidenced by the pics below you might see I have a thing for red and black
The torque spec for the intake manifold cover plate is really nothing. I remember it being like 8 ft-lbs or something. There's also a proper sequence to tighten them down. I don't have the sequence memorized to tell you what it is, but I do pull it up when I need it.
PB blaster is kinda like WD-40 but lots better. It penetrates the rust.
I"m sure we all have stories about how it's better to let a professional do it.
Even worse are the stories of "if it aint broke don't fix it".
The worst part is that I was prett sure I had them tightened correctly, but that last one I did I went back just to make sure and did it just a bit too tight apparently and I did it by hand and not with the torque wrench. I'll look into that PB blaster though
It just seems odd to me that you have this bright red thing on top but your engine bay is otherwise essentially entirely stock. If there was a turbo sitting in there, or something, then yeah, I can see it. Regardless, my opinion is just that. And opinions are like butt holes- everyone has one
It just seems odd to me that you have this bright red thing on top but your engine bay is otherwise essentially entirely stock. If there was a turbo sitting in there, or something, then yeah, I can see it. Regardless, my opinion is just that. And opinions are like butt holes- everyone has one
Lol! You do make a good point though, it does kind of seem out of place. Honestly I wasn't even going to do it, I just wanted to paint my tower brace and when I couldn't remove it I did something else to supplement that. Well fortunately its under the hood and out of site, so perhaps I'll rethink it and make some changes. Thanks man, the pad took a little bit to come together, and almost as soon as I finished my need to modify turned to my TL
Looks pretty good, sorry about the mishaps, you'll only get better next time.
I knew I couldn't handle the patience to even think about a different color for the lettering, opted instead to pain the intake manifold cover bolts RBP.
Yeah maybe I was just being a little too hard on my self, shit is annoying though.
Agree with EvilVirus above, working on car this shit happens all the time, don't beat yourself up for a snapped bolt. I snapped two caliper pins in the rear not long ago... righty tighty lefty loosy they say...
That doesnt have anything to do with putting a jack through your radiator does it?
</p><p>I fuck shit up! </p><p>the important thing is that I learn from the experience. that is until I fuck something else up. </p><p> </p><p>- justonjacks</p>
Looks good! Things like this always pop up with DIY projects but I love the sense of satisfaction you get from DIYing.
I just did some quarter panel repairs and I can safely say body work is not for me. It was my first time and did the best I could to make everything smooth and the paint blend. My wife doesn't notice the repair so I guess that's good. Me being OCD though notices the imperfections. I'll accept it though. For a day of my time and $50 in materials well worth the DIY.
Looks good! Things like this always pop up with DIY projects but I love the sense of satisfaction you get from DIYing.
I just did some quarter panel repairs and I can safely say body work is not for me. It was my first time and did the best I could to make everything smooth and the paint blend. My wife doesn't notice the repair so I guess that's good. Me being OCD though notices the imperfections. I'll accept it though. For a day of my time and $50 in materials well worth the DIY.
You should post pictures!
It's hard to be fair to yourself when doing a DIY, you know all the imperfections, others they just don't see it.
It's hard to be fair to yourself when doing a DIY, you know all the imperfections, others they just don't see it.
I know. I'm the same way with the projects I do around the house. Being a perfectionist and DIYing is tough haha.
Unfortunately I don't have any before pics but will try and snap some after pics when the weather clears. I had small rust bubbles on the bottom of passenger rear wheel (near the door) well that I fixed. Once I ground out all the rust I was left with a small hole that I had to patch and smooth out.
What a challenge and I was amazed how much dust it produced just working on a small area. New found appreciation for the art of body work. A lot of sanding and waiting for things to dry. Good learning experience
Looks good! Things like this always pop up with DIY projects but I love the sense of satisfaction you get from DIYing.
I just did some quarter panel repairs and I can safely say body work is not for me. It was my first time and did the best I could to make everything smooth and the paint blend. My wife doesn't notice the repair so I guess that's good. Me being OCD though notices the imperfections. I'll accept it though. For a day of my time and $50 in materials well worth the DIY.
Impressive! That is something I don't know if I would ever be comfortable with even attempting. Glad it worked out though, and like Polo said, let's see some pics!
09-16-2015, 04:14 PM
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