Wanted to show off my UIM

[GPX]

This is a week after the first time I popped the hood after a really long winter. I drive almost 4 miles on a dirt road to work. I'm still working on the clean-up, but that UIM has been begging me to paint it since the swap last spring. Here's the before and after of my UIM. beforeand after

I sanded the numbers/letters down first. Then I removed all the bolts/hoses/brackets I could get to. Then I masked everything as best I could. Then three quick coats of engine primer and three quick coats of Duplicolor engine paint. Dries fast. The next morning I threw it all back together and waited a couple days before I sanded the paint off the numbers/letters again. I scuffed it a little while I was cleaning up the letters so I'm going to put some more coats on next week. Also planning to do the exposed block and rocker cover. Do I have a rubber gasket under that cover that I can expect to re-use, or should I plan on having a new one on hand?

[Euro]

Nice job. That turned out great!!! Now get the rest of the bay as clean!

[1990lumina]

I'd plan on a new gasket.

[Brian P]

Cool beans. The valve cover gaskets always stretch and leak, so pick yourself up a new set. It's relatively cheap anyway.

[19Cutlass94]

x2 on the gaskets.... you need some engine degreaser, then go from there. Itll look a million times better.

 

 

Ohh and one thing about the duplicolor stuff... I painted my exhaust manifold heatsheilds with that stuff, and everytime I drive it, I can smell that stuff. What started out to be nice and shiney... is kinda turning dull... I wish I would have gotten those powdercoated too.

 

It looks great though! Hardest part is keeping it like that!

[IRONDOG442]

Bad ASS !!!

[intern8tion9l]

looks great, but wouldn't it have been easier just to pull the uim off rather than mask everything in the engine bay?

[Stevo]

Very good work!

[GPX]

Thanks for the compliments and the advice. So far so good with the paint finish. I've used this stuff before and smelled it everytime I drove the car and had it get dull (haven't smelled it at all this time!). I never used the primer with it before though. I don't know if that made the difference or if it is that the UIM doesn't get as hot as exhaust manifolds (probably that). I keep working on the rest of the bay. About 70% complete but it's an ongoing battle working on a dirt road. I have two other underhood issues to work on and I'll have separate posts about those.

 

PS: did a really dumb thing Sunday that I just figured out today. I was cleaning the hood-latch mechanism and I unhooked the big spring to clean behind it. Then I forgot to re-attach it. Now the hood won't open. Haven't had time to find out how dumb it really is yet.

[AWeb80]

veddy nice

[GPX]

looks great, but wouldn't it have been easier just to pull the uim off rather than mask everything in the engine bay?

Probably, but I didn't want to get a new gasket and I wasn't sure what I'd be getting into with the TB and other stuff at that end. Masking wasn't too bad.