just got this car and i dont know where to start.....

Paint the engine compartment whatever color you feel is most practical and suits your personal taste. The only reason most Mopar engine compartments are body color is that it was convenient and cheaper to paint the unibody all at one time. Anyone who doesn't believe me needs to check out a few C bodies and later B bodies with separate splash shields. Racers who swap engines alot usally paint their compartments a different color, grey, black etc. If you're doing a resto, of course paint it body color, but otherwise do what you want.

BTW, great score!