Painted Engine Components

Painted Engine Components

I really like the look of the C5 engine bay with body colored components. The problem that I have with them is that they are way too expensive, so the way around the cost is obivously to paint them yourself.

After investigating having some 23U Nassau Blue mixed up at a auto body paint outlet and then pressurized and put in a can, I saw a post on the Corvetteforum about someone purchasing spray paint from GM in the color of their C5. That was all it took and I was on the phone with my local dealer to order some paint and clear coat. Total investment for this was about $30.00 for paint, primer, model paint and some 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper.

One note of caution. The GM paint is lacquer based and the Testers model paint used for the lettering is enamel. These two do not mix very well and I had problems after I clear coated the engine covers. If I were to do this again, I would paint the covers, then clear coat them and then apply the Testers Gloss Black enamel for the lettering.

This first picture shows what the GM Nassau Blue and clear coat looks like. These cans are small, so you will need two of them to do the fuel rail covers. The other pictures show the fuel rail covers after they were washed with Dawn and then wet sanded with 400 grit sand paper.

After wet sanding the covers, I painted them with four coats of primer. Once the primer was dry, I again wet sanded the covers with 400 grit sand paper. After cleaning the covers, it was now time to start painting them. This GM spray paint is very high quality and there was no sputtering or spitting, the paint went on very nice and smooth

After the paint had dried for a hour, I broke out my handy brush and gloss black model paint. You have to be very careful while painting the Corvette letters, it was not very difficult since the letters were recessed. The stripes and 5.7 letter was a different story. Basically it was a bitch and took way too long. If I were to do it again, I would most likely not even paint the stripes and 5.7 letters, I would just leave them blue. The last two pictures in this set show the finished covers after the clear coat. You can not really tell by the pictures, but the clear coat really makes these covers shine!

Stock fuel rail covers in black. Second picture is what your engine looks like with no covers....yech! Ahhh, the finished product. Very striking and well worth the $30.00 and 3 hours spent. I highly recommend this to brighten up your engine compartment.